HILO, Hawai`i.—For the second night in a row, the UH Hilo baseball team rallied for a dramatic win.
The Vulcans broke open a 6-6 game with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, two of them driven in on a ringing double by pinch hitter
Austin Forney to make the final score 9-7. That helped give UHH back-to-back comeback wins and victories in the first two games of the four-game series.
UH Hilo improved to 5-13 on the season and to 5-11 in the Pacific West Conference. The Hawks fell to 3-15 in league play and are now 6-25 overall.
Forney's opportunity came because of what happened earlier in the inning, when
Jonathan Segovia led off the frame with a double.
Dylan Sugimoto moved him to third on a bunt that turned into a base hit.
Kyle Yamada followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game. After an intentional walk to
Phillip Steering, Forney brought both of them home with the clinching double.
It turned out those extra runs were needed. The Hawks scored a run in the ninth and had the bases loaded with two outs, but Deric Valoroso came out of the bullpen to get the final out of the game and collect his second save of the season.
UHH had nine hits in the game. Segovia was 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Kamalu Kamoku got the win in relief and
Drew Ichikawa pitched 1.2 innings of hitless relief prior to that in the winning effort.
While the end of the game had similarities to Thursday's game, so did the front half when both teams took turns exchanging leads.
The Vulcans got off to an excellent start in their half of the first inning. Three consecutive singles by Sugimoto, Yamada and Steering brought in the first run, and a fielder's choice followed by a base hit by
Cole Nagamine brought in a total of three runs before the Hawks could get an out. UHH left the bases loaded in the inning, but took a 3-0 into the top of the second.
The Hawks answered back with two of their own in the second and added three in the fourth on just two hits. Two walks and an error helped the cause before starter
Dylan Spain fanned the final two batters of the inning.
Playing in a steady rain, the Vulcans rallied back in the all-important fifth inning (when the game became official). Two hit batters, a sacrifice bunt and a base hit by Segovia brought in one run, and a wild pitch tied the game. A ground ball by Sugimoto scored the go-ahead run to make the count 6-5.
But as the case on Thursday night, the game would go back and forth. The Hawks would tie the game on a pair of walks and two hits, including an RBI single by Jordan Zaragoza to make it 6-6. It stayed that way through a scoreless seventh before the Vulcan rally in the eighth.
The two will wrap up the series with a Saturday doubleheader at Wong Stadium. Start time is noon.
