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Logan Pouelsen’s hitting sparked Hawaii’s offense and his pitching defused UC Irvine’s attack in Thursday’s 4-3 victory at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif. Read more

Logan Pouelsen’s hitting sparked Hawaii’s offense and his pitching defused UC Irvine’s attack in Thursday’s 4-3 victory at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif.

By winning their Big West opener, the ’Bows prevailed in Irvine for the first time in seven games since joining the league in 2013. The ’Bows amassed 14 hits against four UCI pitchers, chasing ace Andre Pallante after five innings, while getting dual boosts from Pouelsen.

Pouelsen had two doubles and a triple in five at-bats, and broke a 3-all tie when he scored from third on Kekai Rios’ single in the seventh inning.

“As impressive as the three extra bases were, we won that game with those three zeros he was able to put up,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said of Pouelsen’s three hitless innings of relief.

The Anteaters scored three fifth-inning runs to tie it at 3. Pouelsen, who was in the opening lineup as the designated hitter, was summoned to replace Jackson Rees at the start of UCI’s sixth. Pouelsen threw 33 pitches — 23 for strikes — to retire all nine batters he faced through the eighth inning.

“Logan came in and really settled the game for us,” Trapasso said.

Trapasso said it was an easy decision to turn the 4-3 lead over to closer Dylan Thomas in the ninth.

“There was just two days rest for Logan after throwing two innings on Monday,” Trapasso said. “He gave us three innings, nine up and nine down. He gave us one time through the lineup, and we were going into the heart of their order. It was a good fit for Dylan. That’s his role.”

Thomas pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save.

It was UH’s early hitting that complemented the clutch pitching. UCI’s Palante entered with a 3-0 record, an 0.87 earned-run average and a vicious slider.

“His numbers were as good as anybody’s in the country, maybe the best numbers in the country,” Trapasso said in a postgame phone call. “We were able to get some good swings. We laid off the power slider of his that he’s able to bury and wants you to chase. We did a nice job of having discipline at the plate on that slider.”

Every batter in the UH lineup had at least one hit. The ’Bows stranded 11, including two in the second after placing runners at the corners with no outs.

“That’s Big West baseball right there,” Trapasso said. “The teams are so good on the mound and defensively that they’re able to manage.”

The ’Bows took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Tyler Murray’s first career homer. They added two in the fifth on Eric Ramirez’s opposite-field double down the left-field line.

The Anteaters came back with three runs against Rees, a fifth-inning surge that started with a leadoff walk to Carter Coss.

“That’s one thing we need to get better at,” Trapasso said of relinquishing leadoff runners.

But the ’Bows took the lead when Pouelsen, who bats left-handed and pitches right-handed, pulled a drive into the right-field corner for a triple. Rios followed with an RBI single to left-center.

“Difficulty is an understatement,” Trapasso said of winning at Irvine. “It was a good start. We’ve got 23 more of these. That’s what our focus is on now. We still have plenty of work to do. It was good to get off the schneid at Irvine.”

The ’Bows improved to 15-8 overall and 1-0 in the Big West. The Anteaters fell to 13-11 and 0-1. The teams meet today at 3:30 p.m.