The standard line after a loss is, “Sometimes win, sometimes you lose,” but a third option was left out of that cliche that baseball fans understood pretty clearly Tuesday night at Wong Stadium.
The standard line after a loss is, “Sometimes win, sometimes you lose,” but a third option was left out of that cliche that baseball fans understood pretty clearly Tuesday night at Wong Stadium.
The UHH Vulcans opened their final home stand of the Pacific West Conference season against Dixie State — in a virtual tie for first in the conference — and the first game exhibited the difference in a fully funded team and a team at the dark end of athletic funding.
The truth of the first game was that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes you really don’t have a shot.
“They’re No. 1 for a reason,” UHH coach Kallen Miyataki said after watching his squad absorb a 17-4 pounding by the Trail Blazers, “we couldn’t stop them, no matter what we tried.”
The nightcap was closer, but Dixie State won 9-5 to improve to 33-10-1 and 22-7-1 in the PacWest, while the Vulcans lost their ninth in a row and fell back to 8-26, 8-24. The teams conclude their series with a doubleheader Wednesday, the first, 9-inning game scheduled to start at noon with the 7-inning second game to follow.
For Dixie State coach Chris Pfatenhauer, this is the kind of season they’ve been looking for at the Utah school. He’s in his fifth year at the school and all five teams have gone to regionals. This time, with 14 seniors, they have a shot to win the conference and go to the regional playoffs.
“We geared up pretty good two years ago,” Pfatenhauer said, “but yeah, this is the year we’ve been hoping to take another step.”
Those 14 seniors, 12 of whom started on scholarships at the school, turn out to be helpful in times like these, not that Miyataki would know about that.
His seven seniors include one transfer (Kamalu Kamoku, Yavapai College), and six walk-ons, all of them received by former coach Joey Estrella, who watched from the press box Tuesday as the retired coach saw his last freshmen class begin to wind down their UHH careers.
In a battle of the rich and poor, the Vulcans didn’t have much of an opportunity in the first game.
Dixie State opened the scoring in the third inning off UHH starter Eric Vega when the No. 9 batter in the lineup reached after being hit by a pitch, then came a single, a two-run double by Tyler Baker and a run-scoring single by Trey Kamachi that made it 3-0 but the Vulcans responded immediately to tie it, 3-3.
Freshman Luke Van-Artsen, batting in the No. 9 position, started things with a single, moved up on Kyle Yamada’s bunt, then Jonathan Segovia doubled Van-Artsen to the plate, Phil Steering drew a base on balls and Jacob Grijalva eventually doubled them both home.
That was about as competitive as the first game got, as the Trail Blazers gradually wore down the Vulcans’ pitching.
Vega made it through six innings in his final start of the season at Wong Stadium, leaving after allowing six earned runs and having his record drop to 1-4 while his earned run average climbed a bit from 6.57 to 6.70.
The Trailblazers scored 14 of their runs in the last four innings against UHH relief pitchers.
“It is what it is,” Miyataki said. “Those guys really hit; I actually thought Vega pitched pretty well, he jammed them, fought them, but they hung in and waited for what they wanted.
“Regardless of what we tried, we lost that game because of the way they hit the ball.”
The Vulcans started four seniors, third baseman Cole Nagamine (0-3), shortstop Jacob Grijalva (1-4), designated hitter BJ Freitas (0-3), and catcher Michael Suguro (0-2), who combined for a 1-for-12 game at the plate against the Trailblazers’ pitchers.
“You have to appreciate what (Miyataki) gets out them” Pfatenhauer said, “they don’t quit. We’re fortunate to have a good group of seniors like we have, most all of these guys have been here, they know about this trip and that you can get yourself in trouble if you aren’t on top of your game.”
In Tuesday’s first game, that wasn’t an issue for the visitors.
DIXIE STATE 9, UH-HILO 5
The Vulcans outhit the Trailblazers 13-12, but Dixie State broke a tie with a three-run six inning, getting singles from Reece Lucero, Trey Reineke and Tyler Baker, who each finished with two hits.
Miles Bice also had two hits for Dixie State, including a two-run single in the seventh.
Nagamine collected three hits and drove in two runs for the Vulcans, and Jonathan Segovia was 3 for 5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Tyler Burdett (2-2) came on in relief to get the loss for Dixie State, and Vuls starter Drew Ichikawa (0-3) was the losing pitcher. He went 5 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits, six runs (four earned) with a walk and a strikeout.