Hawai'i squandered a 5-0 lead after six innings only to pull it out on Kevin Macdonald's two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 6-5 win against Loyola Marymount in the opener of a four-game baseball series last night.

The Rainbows (7-6) won their fourth in a row, while the Lions (8-8) have dropped six consecutive after an 8-2 start.

With one out in the bottom of the 10th, LMU reliever Xavier Esquivel walked Greg Garcia, who then stole second. But Esquivel struck out Kolten Wong, and with first base open, the hot-hitting Vinnie Catricala — 4 for 4 with double, triple and two RBIs — was intentionally walked, bringing up Macdonald.

The right-handed hitting Macdonald, who was 0 for 4, got around early on a 2-2 pitch and flared it toward the left-field line, just far enough away from left fielder Ryan Hawthorne for the game-winning hit.

"It was supposed to be a hard slider, but he hung it," Macdonald said. "I was out in front and I capped it to left. I thought it might hang too high, then I saw I had a chance."

Esquivel (2-2) allowed a run, one hit and two walks with three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings for the Lions.

The game winner came after the Lions threatened in the top of the 10th.

With one out, Sam Spangler walked Kyle Spraker and Ryan Wheeler doubled to right center to put runners at second and third. Angelo Songo was intentionally walked to load the bases to set up force plays all around. Spangler was pulled for Josh Slaats to face pinch-hitter Ollie Enos, who flied out to left. But left-fielder Matt Roquemore threw out Spraker trying to tag up to complete the inning-ending double play.

Slaats (2-1) was the beneficiary of the flyball double play, having thrown just two pitches.

The Rainbows bit a big-time bullet in pulling off the win.

"That happens in baseball," Macdonald said of the blown lead. "I'm just happy we played the whole 10 innings. Luckily, we got it done. Tomorrow we come out and try to do the same thing."

The Rainbows scored twice off LMU starter Lee Roberts in the third. Roquemore was hit by a pitch to start the inning and took second on Garcia's single to left. Both advanced on Wong's sacrifice to third and both scored on Catricala's triple off the right-field wall to give UH a 2-0 lead.

Hawai'i added three runs in the sixth. Landon Hernandez led off with a walk, took second when Christian Johnson grounded out to first and scored on Shane Hoey's double to left to make it 3-0. Roquemore followed with a double to right-center to score Hoey to make it 4-0 and chase Roberts for Chris Eusebio.

Garcia reached on a bunt single in front of the plate, moving Roquemore to third, but Wong struck out. A wild pitch on ball four to Catricala scored Roquemore to make it 5-0 and sent Garcia all the way to third. But Macdonald bounced out to the pitcher to end the inning.

The Lions got a run in the seventh when Songco doubled with one out and scored on Trevor Gee's single to right-center.

Loyola Marymount pulled to within one with a three-run eighth. With one out, Shon Roe singled and went all the way to third on a wild pitch before scoring on pinch-hitter Brad Bauer's flare single to right to make it 5-2. After Jonathan Johnson popped out to second, Spraker singled to right-center to move Bauer to third and end Jayson Kramer's night for Spangler. Wheeler's two-run double to left-center pulled LMU to 5-4. A wild pitch moved Wheeler to third, but Songco struck out to end the inning.

The Lions tied it in the top of the ninth. With two outs, Ryan Hawthorne reached on third baseman Catricala's fielding error, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Roe's single to center. Roe took second on a balk, but Josh Bryan grounded out to short to strand the go-ahead run in scoring position.

"You gotta make pitches," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "When you got somebody down, you better make pitches, finish it up. Sam didn't have it today. He was up in the zone."

While Catricala's error led to the tying run, Trapasso said physical errors will happen.

"But making bad pitches one after the other, you have to stop that," Trapasso said. "Sam's our go-to guy, but he didn't have it tonight."

Spangler used 41 pitches in his outing and that will keep him out tonight for sure.

Kramer turned in another strong start, allowing four runs and seven hits with six strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

"I'll never question our guys' heart," Trapasso said. "I'll never question our guys' toughness. But we gotta execute better."

The series resumes at 6:35 tonight.