RUSTON, La. — Jason Rodriguez drove in four runs and Brock Stassi pitched 7 1/3 effective innings to help Nevada eliminate Hawai'i from the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament, 12-7, tonight at JC Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.

The Wolf Pack (34-25) will need to beat top-seeded Fresno State twice tomorrow to win the tournament championship. The unbeaten Bulldogs need to just to win one.

Stassi (4-2) allowed five runs (four earned), six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts for the Wolf Pack.

Josh Slaats (0-5) lasted 1 2/3 innings, allowing five runs, four hits and three walks with three strikeouts for the Rainbows (29-31).

The Wolf Pack batted around in a five-run second, chasing Slaats in the process. Mike Hale led off with a walk and took third on Terry Walsh's double. Tyson Jaquez walked after a 10-pitch at-bat to load the bases. But Slaats struck out Kevin Rodland and David Ciarlo, but Jason Sadoian came through with a two-run single to center that sent Rodland to second. Matt Bowman walked to load the bases to set up Jason Rodriguez's three-run double to right to makei it 5-0. After falling behind 2-0 to Shaun Kort, Slaats was pulled for Jayson Kramer, who retired Kort on a comebacker to end the inning.

The Rainbows got an unearned run in the second. Brandon Haislet led off with a walk, but was forced at second on Jeff Van Doornum's grounder to third. Kevin Macdonald reached on third baseman Rodriguez's throwing error, putting runners at first and second. Both runners advanced on a balk and Van Doornum scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Vinnie Catricala to make it 5-1.

Nevada added to its lead in the third. With one out, Walsh and Jaquez hit successive singles. Rodland's RBI single got Jaquez caught in a rundown between second and third, as Rodland took second on the throw. But he was stranded there when Ciarlo grounded out to short to keep it 6-1.

Hawai'i got the run back in the bottom of the third when Landon Hernandez led off the frame with a home run to left-center to make it 6-2.

The Rainbows continued to chip away with a run in the fourth. Haislet led off with a double and two outs later, scored on Catricala's double to make it 6-3.

Nevada kept up the scoring in the fifth. Mike Hale led off with a double, took third on Walsh's single and scored on Jaquez's squib single to third to make it 7-3. Rodland popped out to short, but Ciarlo followed with an RBI single to make it 8-3. Kramer was pulled for Sam Spangler, who walked Sadoian to load the bases. A wild ptich scored a run and advanced the other runners, making it 9-3. Bowman walked to load the bases and Rodriguez walked to force in a run to make it 10-3. Spangler was pulled for Cameron Wheeler, who struck out Kort and retired Hale on a grounder to first to mercifully end the inning.

Ciarlo hit a two out, two-run home run in the sixth to make it 12-3.

The Rainbows added two in the eighth on RBI singles by Haislet and Van Doornum to pull to 12-5.

In the bottom of the ninth, pinch hitter Evan Zimny had an RBI single and Haislet had an RBI double to make it 12-7.