A day that broke dank and damp for the University of Hawaii at Hilo baseball team held the opportunity for a big step forward, but by the time it ended in the gathering dusk, all the Vulcans could do was
A day that broke dank and damp for the University of Hawaii at Hilo baseball team held the opportunity for a big step forward, but by the time it ended in the gathering dusk, all the Vulcans could do was run in place.
Saturday’s doubleheader against Holy Names University, the last place team in the Pacific West Conference heading into the series, was at the very least a chance for the Vulcans to extend a two-game win streak to three games. Maybe if things went right, they could sweep a series from a conference opponent, something that happened so long ago, the school’s sports information department has no record of its occurrence.
As it turned out, it was another case of splitting games against teams at their own level as Holy Names (8-25, 5-15 in PWC), used the bat of third baseman Chris Gnos and just enough pitching to sweep the doubleheader by scores of 9-5 and 8-4, leaving UHH (5-15, 5-13) in the same spot it began the weekend series, one game above the Hawks.
Both teams fared better after it was over because Hawaii Pacific (4-18, 4-16), dropped two games and fell into last place below HNU which maintained the cellar position when the series began. The Vulcans were ninth, but after the 2-2 split, they find themselves in eighth place.
The seven-inning second game had all the earmarks of a UHH win after a 4-0 lead headed into the second inning, but it all came undone in the top of the seventh when Holy Names, trailing 4-2, got a life when leadoff batter Jordan Zaragosa reached on an infield error, a kind of calling card for Vulcan losses this year.
“That opened it up for them,” said UHH coach Kallen Miyataki. “We’ve seen it before.”
Submarining right hander Deric Valoroso Jr. had kept the Hawks off balance in his 1 2/3 innings of relief, but after a base hit and a bunt moved two runners into scoring position with one out, Miyataki checked the book and recalled Gnos had hit Valoroso hard earlier in the series and didn’t like the recollection.
“I thought the better percentage was to bring our guy in because of what (Gnos) had done before,” Miyataki said. “I’d do it again.”
This time he brought in Kamalu Kamoku, but it didn’t work.
Gnos knocked in the tying runs with a single, then Nick Snyder delivered another base hit for the lead and it all fell apart. Kamoku was touched for five hits in six plate appearances and the Vulcans went down quietly in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.
“I knew their other pitchers were a little slower than him,” Gnos said, “so I was looking for a fastball. He got me on the first one, it was low on the outside corner, but it didn’t change my thinking.
“The next pitch was low but more over the plate,” he said. “I was able to get the bat on it.”
He did that a lot in the series. Gnus went 8-for-18 and bruised the UHH pitching staff in each game.
“I thought we had them,” Miyataki said of the second game. “It’s tough to give it up like that, but it’s baseball and let’s hope we can grow from it.”
It felt like a disappointing series by the time it ended but maybe some perspective is in order. At this time last year, the Vulcans were 3-19 in conference and just 4-21 overall.
Progress may be incremental, but it’s there.
The Vulcans started out the second game much as they did the first game, only a little better.
Dylan Sugimoto led off with a single to left off HNU starter Aiden McIntyre who then walked Kyle Yamada and hit Cole Nagamine around a fly ball out by Phil Steering. Jake Grijalva celebrated his birthday with a two-run double. Austin Forney single up the middle to score Nagamine and a fly ball to center by B.J. Freitas sent Grijalva home.
UHH starter Cole Nakachi started his own problems with two outs in the third when he hit Jordan Zaragosa, then Evan Maker made matters worse with a single that chased Zaragosa to third before Nakachi loaded the bases by hitting John Salda.
It was the perfect opportunity for Gnos. This time his single drove in two runs before Nakachi got the final out.
It was all set up for a split of the doubleheader until the seventh inning of the second game when it turned the other way.
Hawks 9, Vulcans 7
Thomas Warren’s early season struggles gaining command of his pitches continued when he started the game with two base on balls followed by a hit batsmen, loading the bases before he was able to get an out. Gnos brought home one run with a bloop single just behind second base and a double play scored another.
Warren issued another leadoff walk in the second inning, then walked his fourth batter later in the inning, giving him the unenviable accumulation of 13 base on balls and just 11 strikeouts at the start of the season.
“I felt like I needed to leave him in there a little while,” said Miyataki. “He needs to grow and develop and if I take him out every time he gets into a little trouble I feel it will just slow down his progress.
“It’s a little bit of a lesson in life, I guess,” he said. “How do they learn, anyway? He has enough velocity to get himself out of those situations, he just needs the experience. It’s his second year, his first year as a starter, are there growing pains? Yes. Did we all know there would be growing pains? Yes. It’s just a matter of working our way through it all.”
The Vulcans’ bats were alive and well early in the game as centerfielder Dylan Sugimoto and left fielder Kyle Yamada each opened with singles — Yamada’s hit sending Sugimoto to third before Yamada stole second base — and cleanup hitter Nagamine brought them both home to even the score.
UHH took the lead in the bottom of the second when B.J. Freitas led off with a double and eventually scored on Jonathan Segovia’s deep fly to right, but Warren’s issues continued in the third when he gave up three singles — two right back at hime that got into centerfield, scoring the tying run and bringing in Nicholas Asuncion from the bullpen after Warren’s work ended with 2 2/3 innings pitched, 4 base on balls, 4 hits and one hit batter.
Asuncion gave up a double in the left-centerfield gap that added an earned run to Warren’s total before he got the third out on a fly ball to right, but HNU had taken the lead, 4-3. It became 5-3 in the fourth when Gnos knocked in another run with a double.
A triple in the seventh by Jordan Zaragosa score two of the Hawks three runs to turn a close game into an 8-3 game. In the eighth, it was Gnos again, this time with a double, scoring later on a fielder’s choice for a six-run lead.
Notes: Morning showers delayed the start of the first game by 15 minutes, then the teams played another three hour-plus game, this one 3:08… . Cole Nakachi, in his first start of the season, went 4 2/3 in the second game, allowing two earned runs, lowering his earned run average to 7.07 after he started the day with a fat 17.05 ERA… . Warren had his ERA climb to 6.89 after allowing four earned runs in the first game. He started the day with a 5.54 ERA.
