It seems Hawai'i was literally shorthanded in its crucial series at New Mexico State over the weekend.

Relief pitchers Alex Myers and Lenny Linsky were sent home after last Tuesday's 17-2 loss at Arizona State for violating team rules, UH coach Mike Trapasso said. He wouldn't elaborate on the violations and said their statuses — including for this week's home series against Louisiana Tech — will be evaluated when he returns from New Mexico.

The Rainbows carry 13 pitchers on their 26-player active roster. Four are needed as starters in a WAC series, meaning they were down to seven relief pitchers for four games in three days.

"Obviously, it hurt us this weekend," Trapasso said. "There's no question about that."

The loss of the two pitchers had a domino effect on the Rainbows in their four-game series split with the Aggies.

Saturday's first game of the doubleheader ended in a 16-6 loss that was called in the bottom of the eighth inning because of the 10-rule rule. The second game of doubleheaders are scheduled for seven innings, but reverts to nine when the opener ends by run rule, according to the WAC.

Had the first game not ended early, Hawai'i would've won the nightcap, 5-0, in seven innings behind Nate Klein's six shutout innings and one from Connor Little. But the Aggies rallied for seven runs in the eighth before Kevin Macdonald's two-run homer in the ninth tied it to force extra innings and the Rainbows won it, 8-7, in 10. However, UH had to use 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief from Jared Alexander to pull off the win. Alexander was scheduled to start yesterday. Alex Capaul started and UH lost, 20-9, in yet another run-rule shortened game (seven innings).

"It had a bearing on every move we made, pitching-wise, because we knew we were short-handed," Trapasso said.

In the 16-6 loss, UH had pulled to within 8-6 in the eighth with Harrison Kuroda starting his fourth inning of relief. But with the second game of the doubleheader to consider, as well as yesterday's single game, Trapasso had the dilemma of staying with Kuroda or burning yet another reliever. Moreover, Ryan Davis "couldn't get loose," Trapasso said.

With the nightcap at the regulation nine innings, the Rainbows could not cash in on Klein's excellent outing in the home-run haven that is Presley Askew Field. He left after six innings, when he was at 99 pitches. It was his best outing of the season and just his third start since he missed two starts because of elbow tenderness.

"The fact that we were able to come out with a split wasn't ideal, but we didn't hurt ourselves at least," Trapasso said.