This is one that has been waiting, just under the surface, for the baseball team at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where the Vulcans have earned a reputation for battling until the very end and not quite getting there.
This is one that has been waiting, just under the surface, for the baseball team at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where the Vulcans have earned a reputation for battling until the very end and not quite getting there.
That changed Saturday night at Wong Stadium when the Vulcans (6-15,), spotted Fresno Pacific (11-15, 8-9 PWC), a six-run lead in the first two innings and then came all the way back for a 9-8 win in 10 innings.
“It’s been coming, you could feel it, the way these guys fight,” said UHH coach Kallen Miyataki. “That was a rough start but we didn’t quit and there at the end, (Cole) Nagamine came through for us again.
“I’m just happy for them” he said. “They needed to be rewarded for their efforts.”
UHH (6-16, 6-13 in the Pacific West Conference) also rallied in the second game, storming back from a seven-run deficit before giving up five runs in the ninth and losing 13-8.
A three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth that included base hits by Nagamine and Jacob Grijalva after Phil Steering drew a leadoff walk was aided by a wild pitch from FPU closer Matt Bergandi, a 6-foot-4 senior with six saves so far this season. Edwin Stanberry’s ground ball out scored Grijalva from third to send the game into extra innings.
Deric Valoroso Jr. (2-1), got the win after a 1-2-3 10th that set up the winning rally. With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Kyle Yamada singled, moved up on another Bergandi wild pitch (he had three in 1 1/3 innings pitched), then Steering was walked intentionally to give Nagamine a chance to drive in the winning run.
“The opportunity was created for me by my teammates,” Nagamine said, “I had to do something.”
He had seen Bergandi an inning earlier to get a feel for what he was throwing, and paid close attention to the rest of the lineup.
“You get one close look at the plate but you get eight more looks in the dugout,” he said. “He was challenging our guys with fastballs so I was looking for one. When he fell behind 2-0 I knew he’d throw a fastball.”
Nagamine spanked it into left field, Yamada scoring easily from second base.
For as pretty as it ended for the home team, it couldn’t have started much worse.
Junior Eric Vega, the No. 1 starter in the Vulcans’ rotation, started off the first five batters he faced with a strike. It was after that first pitch that the problems emerged.
He ended up walking the leadoff batter on four straight balls, then he gave up a double and hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out. A pickoff throw to first caught the dirt, allowing runners to move up and score the first run. Then came another base hit before Vega retired three in a row and seemed to be growing into the game.
But in the second inning, it got worse, with a leadoff single followed by a double, a base on balls and another single.
That prompted coach Kallen Miyataki to summon Cole Nakachi from the bullpen and Vega’s work was done for the day after some heavy damage was visited upon his earned run average. Vega was able to go just one inning plus the four batters in the second, allowing five earned runs while his ERA soared from 4.44 to 5.93.
“He didn’t want to come out,” Miyataki said, “but I told him not to worry, we need him. He’ll pitch again Monday.”
Vega wound up throwing only 34 pitches, 19 of them strikes. He’s likely to pitch in Monday’s second, seven-inning game.
Nakachi took over and got out of the second with a double play and a strikeout, but by then, the Vulcans trailed 6-0.
They got four back in the third inning and nearly had a couple more until left fielder Michael Warkentin made a full-out, diving catch of a sinking line drive off the bat of Jonathan Segovia. That would have scored at least one run, catcher Stanberry, who had singled and moved to second on a base hit by Michael Suguro, who might also have been able to score.
Yamada started it off with a walk, a sharp single by Steering moved him up, and an infield error scored Yamada, sending Steering to third. Austin Forrey walked prior to Stanberry’s double, scoring Forrey.
It was 6-4 after three innings and the Vulcans were inflicting some damage on Trent Ashford, but the right-hander settled down and pitched into the bottom of the seventh before he was relieved. By then the lead was 8-4 after a solo home run by Eddie Sievers in sixth and a single by Joey Gallegos in the seventh that plated Hunter Villanueva who led off the inning with a triple.
The Vulcans couldn’t get Sievers out all day. He went 5-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and two singles.
Hawaii Hilo got one back in the eighth when Austin Forney singled to start things off and eventually scored from third on a wild pitch after two walks loaded the bases.
Notes: Vega’s previous early exit as a starter came at Azusa Pacific when he completed three innings… . UHH entered the series with 131 hits, the fewest in the PWC, FPU was next lowest with 148… . the Sunbirds’ leadoff hitter, Michael Warkentin, came to Hawaii with one of the better averages in the conference, .397, close to Steering at .406… . After the first game, Steering (2-for-2) was up to .424 and Warkentin (0-for-3), was down to .375.
