SOFTBALL
UH-Hilo’s softball team held out through extra innings to sweep Azusa Pacific with wins of 4-0 and 7-9 in Pacific West Conference action on Tuesday afternoon in California.
In the first game, the Vulcans gradually added runs while holding off the Cougars. Three of UHH’s runs were unearned and scored by Jayda Favela — one on a sacrififce bunt by Lexie Tilton, one on a passed ball and one on an error at third.
Chloe Sales earned the win on the mound — pitching all seven innings and surrendering three hits and four walks.
Favela went three-for-four at the plate and Rayna White went two-for-three with a RBI.
In the second game, UH-Hilo entered the bottom of the seventh inning ahead 5-0 , but surrendered seven hits and two walks to Azusa — allowing the Cougars to plate five runs and tie the score.
After two whole scoreless innings, the Vulcans took back the lead in the top of the tenth with two runs. Tilton tripled to bat in Favela then scored on Victoria Macias’ sacrifice fly.
Tara Skinner, Madison Rabe and Megan Yorba split mound duty — each pitching three or just over three innings. The Vulcans also committed no fielding errors. Dyoni Garcia had 11 putouts at first base, and Favela had four putouts and five assists at shortstop. Makena Nera had a putout and seven assists at third.
UH-Hilo (10-4 ovr., 5-3 conf.) will play another doubleheader against Azusa today.
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MEN’S GOLF
The UH-Hilo Men’s Golf team placed No. 8 at this week’s Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout hosted by Cal State East Bay at the Corica Park South Course.
Dylan Bercan continued where he left off from the last event to lead the Vulcans with an even-score individual finish, falling just outside the top 20 at a four-way tie for No. 22. Bercan posted a 65 in the third round of last month’s Battle In The Desert and followed up with a 68 score in Tuesday’s final round.
UH-Hilo posted round scores of 285, 294 and 288. The Vulcans were stymied in the first round by par-4 Hole 12, par-3 Hole 5 in Round 2 and par-3 Hole 16 in the final round with four golfers finishing each hole with a bogey. In the second round, the Vulcans posted two double bogeys each on Hole 7 (par 3) and Hole 14 (par 4).
Western New Mexico took the team win with a minus-28 score, placing individual golfers at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. HPU’s Shion Suzuki claimed the individual crown with a 11-under score.
Of the six schools competing from the Pacific West Conference, the Vulcans finished ahead of the rest — No. 11 HPU, No. 13 Dominican, No. 15 Academy of Art, No. 16 Chaminade and No. 17 Westmont.
UH-Hilo will have one more event of competition at the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational, March 25-26, at the Turlock Golf &Country Club hosted by Stanislaus State.
The Vulcans will then return home to defend their title at the PacWest Conference Championship, April 15-17, on the west side of the Big Island at the Mauna Lani Golf Course.
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BASEBALL
The Vulcans’ baseball team hosted Point Loma for a pair of PacWest play doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.
UH-Hilo went 1-3 against the Sea Lions — losing 11-1 in Friday’s opening game before winning 6-3 in the second, then getting swept Saturday in losses of 10-3 and 3-0.
Sophomore left handed pitcher Matthew O’Brien earned Pacific West Conference Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance during Friday’s win.
O’Brien surrendered no earned runs, no walks, four hits and just one extra base hit in a seven-inning game — striking out seven and throwing 108 pitches.
“We had a lot of energy in the dugout (Friday) which was a lot better because the first game we were kind of slow, and then second game everyone came out and we were on it all day,” O’Brien said in a UH-Hilo press release. “It was huge, a lot of energy and it was big time.
“Same mindset every time — get outs, and it worked for seven innings again.”
UH-Hilo moved to 11-14 overall (4-7 PacWest) while No. 4 Point Loma moved to a 6-4-1 conference record (14-6-1 overall).
The Vulcans will hit the road for 12 games in California against Fresno Pacific (March 15-16), Azusa Pacific (March 20-21) and Westmont (March 25-26).
UH-Hilo’s Alumni Game will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 30 — with the next home games set for April 13 against Chaminade.
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TENNIS
UH-Hilo’s men’s tennis team had excellent showings Friday through Sunday in Colorado, sweeping Metro State Denver and Colorado Mesa.
UHH posted its first wins with back-to-back 4-3 victories over No. 45 MSUD on Friday and Saturday.
Both matches came down to the wire, tied at 3-3, before Filippo Di Perna and Cian McDonnell clinched the victory for the Vulcans in the first and second matches, respectively. Both had to fight back from a 1-0 hole to take Sets 2 and 3, taking the match clincher on a 6-4 score.
Metro State claimed the doubles point Friday evening and were primed to take the win after going up 3-0 with singles wins on Courts 3 and 6, but UH-Hilo came roaring back to claim singles victories from Luca Matheiowetz (Court 4), McDonnell (Court 2), Lamar Bartley (Court 1) and Di Perna (Court 5).
Saturday’s match saw the Vulcans take the early 1-0 lead with Ryo Minakata and Bartley (Court 1) notching their first win as a duo as McDonnell and Matheiowetz remained unbeaten on Court 3.
Matheiowetz, Minakata and McDonnell were victorious to give UH-Hilo the back-to-back match victories.
On Sunday, the Vulcans completed their weekend trip to Colorado unbeaten after prevailing twice against Colorado Mesa, 4-1 and 4-1.
The Vulcans won the doubles point for both matches as the duo of Ryo Minakata and Lamar Bartley went 2-0 on the day on Court 1.
Minakata was also victorious in both of his No. 1 singles matches, making for a 4-0 record on the day.
Luca Matheiowetz (Court 4) and Bartley sealed up the match-clinching points of Match 1 and Match 2, respectively.