UH-Hilo’s baseball and softball teams traveled to California to play a pair of four-game series against Fresno Pacific and Concordia Irvine, respectively, on Friday and Saturday.
Now 10-10 overall and 5-9 in Pacific West Conference action, softball will remain in California for the next week and head to Turlock for an invitational tournament. The Vulcans will return to the Big Island by March 29 for a four-game series against Academy of Art.
Baseball is 14-16 overall and 7-9 in the PacWest. The team will also spend the next week in the Golden State, playing series against Azusa Pacific and Westmont. The Vulcans will be home by March 30 for the alumni game, before a series against Chaminade’s new baseball team beginning April 5 on O‘ahu.
Baseball
The Vulcans had a succesful trip, going 3-1 over the Sunbirds with wins of 9-6, 9-2 and 7-6.
UH-Hilo brought out the bats to claim the series-opening victory over Fresno Pacific but later saw its production reversed as the Vulcans split Friday’s doubleheader with a 9-6 win before falling, 11-5, at the FPU Diamond.
The Vulcans totaled 13 hits in the Game-1 victory, bringing the game-winning runs across on a three-run homer from Bradyn Yoshida in the eighth inning.
FPU reversed course in the second game as it managed to finish with double-digit hits, including three home runs to even the series at one apiece.
The Vulcans bashed out 13 hits to total double digits for the first time in the last seven games. Vance Oshiro, Mark Fedro, Cody Min, Bryce Lindberg and Bradyn Yoshida each pitched in a pair of hits.
Yoshida helped get the Vulcans going with a lead-off double in the top of the third to set up Oshiro’s RBI single for a 1-0 lead. Holding onto a one-run advantage going into the top of the eighth, Yoshida dropped the hammer with a three-run blast over the left-field wall — the first career home run for the fifth-year senior — to make it a 7-3 score.
Nick Agacki got the series-opening start, going 6.1 innings with three strikeouts for his first win of the season. Agacki allowed just three runs and five hits in overcoming eight free passes surrendered to batters (seven walks).
Arthur Soto set up the Vulcans’ first runs of the second game with a two-out double in the fourth inning. Mason Cook followed up with a two-run shot out of the park. Soto later drove in a run with another two-out hit for an RBI in the top of the sixth.
Soto finished with two doubles on the day, adding on to his early-hot-streak total of 12 on the season, currently ranking in a multi-way tie for No. 3 in all of the NCAA Division II.
In Saturday’s opening game, the Vulcans plated three runs in the third inning and four in the fourth to put the Sunbirds behind in a hefty deficit. The fourth-inning surge was spearheaded by M. Fedro, who hit a two-RBI single.
In the sixth inning, B. Lindberg hit a solo homer over left center.
Softball
The UH-Hilo Softball battled tough, but No. 22 Concordia University Irvine managed to squeak away with the doubleheader sweep, 3-0 and 3-2, Friday afternoon in Pacific West Conference play at the Golden Eagles Field. The Vulcans fell again, 3-2 in both of Saturday’s games.
The Vulcans couldn’t quite get the timely hits to land to score runners across as they were shutout in Game 1. The clutch hits fell for the Vulcans in the second game but defensive miscues allowed CUI to slip away with the win.
It was scoreless through three and a half innings before hit-less CUI collected four consecutive base hits to bring across the first run of the game. Still, Vulcans starting pitcher Chloe Sales stood strong to induce back-to-back outs to put out the fire.
UH-Hilo perhaps had two ample opportunities to score after putting two runners on in the fifth and sixth innings, but it couldn’t quite cash in as they were left stranded on the basepaths with zeros left in the scoring columns.
The Golden Eagles added a pair of runs with a two-run homer by Tessa Jerue in the bottom of the sixth. CUI kept it going with back-to-back singles, but Linsea Straugh entered the pitching circle and shut the threat down with a strikeout and a flyout.
The Game 1 loss marked a consecutive shutout defeat for the Vulcans, having previously fallen to Azusa Pacific also by a score of 3-0.