The Hawaii baseball team stole the series opener over Big West leader Cal Poly on Friday. The Mustangs spent the rest of the weekend taking back satisfaction.

UH struck first in Sunday’s rubber match at Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif., but Cal Poly struck hardest in a 5-2 win that knocked the Rainbow Warriors (24-10, 10-8 BWC) into a tie for fourth — and four-way tie in the loss column past the midpoint of the conference regular season.

Cooper Walls (2-2) gave the ‘Bows a chance by blanking the Mustangs over the first four innings, and the UH offense gave him a two-run lead in the top of the fifth on a Xaige Lancaster single and Shunsuke Sakaino sacrifice fly.

But five straight Mustang singles in the bottom of the frame, including by four batters in a row, chased Walls and brought in three runs.

The hosts tacked on two more off of Ethan Thomas in the fifth. UH was unable to do damage against Jaccob Torres (1-2), who threw 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win.

This weekend’s road opponent UC Irvine dropped two of three at UC Davis, meaning Cal Poly (25-9, 14-1) resumed sole possession of the conference lead.

First, UH gets a chance at a palette-cleanser against USC (23-12) of the Big Ten at 3 p.m. Hawaii time Tuesday. Due to renovations at the Trojans’ Dedeaux Field, USC is using alternate sites in Los Angeles this season; Tuesday’s game is at Loyola Marymount’s Page Stadium.

The Trojans are coming off a 2-1 road series win over Penn State.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.