Baseball Weekly: UH Hilo to square off against Urban Knights in home series

This Week--Saturday-Monday (March 11-13) vs. Academy of Art, Wong Stadium.  Saturday doubleheader (4/7 pm), Sunday single (6 pm), Monday single (6 pm).
Last Games—Lost three of four to Hawaii Pacific on Feb. 25-26
Record: 1-3 overall, 1-1 Pacific West Conference

Well Rested, Vulcans Get Back at it: After a busy week (Feb. 21-26) that saw the UH Hilo baseball team play six games in six days (Chuo, Japan and Hawaii Pacific), they rested on the seventh day—and every day since until this coming weekend. The Vulcans will host conference opponent Academy of Art in a four-game series this Saturday-Monday, beginning with a Saturday doubleheader (4/7 pm) and single games on Sunday and Monday at 6 pm.

Remembering: UH opened the Hawaii Pacific series with an impressive 5-2 win, but the Sharks had the upper hand after that with three consecutive decisive victories. The Vulcans rode the pitching success of Eric Vega (seven innings, one earned run) and Deric Valoroso (save, fanned three in the ninth) in that opening victory. Offensively, Philip Steering had two hits and an RBI in that game, while Dylan Sugimoto and Austin Forney added two-baggers. Only the Saturday split games counted in the conference standings, Sunday's games were technically non-conference. The two teams will play a similar slate later in the year in Honolulu, with two PWC games and two non-conference encounters.

Subbing for Steering: First baseman Steering, the top returning hitter in the Vulcan line-up, missed the final two games of the series against the Sharks with an injury. He is expected to return to action this weekend. 

Small Sample Size: Through just four games, outfielder Marcus Calamese is hitting .500 (3-for-6) with a double and three RBI. Of those with at least 10 at-bats in the four games, second baseman Jacob Grijalva is batting .333. But the Vulcans are hitting just .198 as a team after running into some stellar Shark pitching--including a no-hiter thrown by HPU's Matthew Gunter.

Mound Mentions: In addition to Eric Vega (see above), the Vulcans have had strong work out of the bullpen from Valoroso (2 games, two innings, no hits, four strikeouts) and Thomas Warren (two games, four innings, two hits, five K's).

Art Attributes: Academy of Art will come to Hilo with a 6-11 overall record and a 2-2 mark in PacWest play. They split four games last weekend in their conference openers with Concordia, with all four games decided by two runs or less. In non-conference games, they dropped three of four contests to Cal State East Bay and Central Washington, split two with Sonoma State and fell two of three times versus San Francisco State. Alex Fernandez is a two-way threat for the Urban Knights, leading the team with a .306 average while also making four appearances on the mound (0-2, 3.29). Brennan Mauchline has three doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI. Academy of Art has been strong on the mound, led by Brett Bovee's 1.86 ERA in four starts (1-2 record). The Urban Knights have an impressive 3.67 ERA as a team. The Vulcans and Urban Knights split four games last year in San Francisco.

A Look at the Region: Here's an early season look at the NCAA Division II West Region poll, courtesy of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. The West Region consists of the Pacific West Conference, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

1. Azusa Pacific 13-1, (2) Chico State 15-4, (3) UC San Diego 13-3, (4) Dixie State 14-4, (5) California Baptist 12-6, (6) Point Loma 8-3, (7) Cal State Monterey Bay 11-6, (8) Cal State East Bay 12-6, (9) Cal State Los Angeles 13-5, (10) Cal Poly Pomona 11-8.

PacWest Progress: With No. 1 regionally ranked Azusa Pacific now the only team that has not played a conference game, here is what the early season Pacific West Conference standings look like.
Team                                                     PWC      Overall
Point Loma                                             4-0          10-3
Dixie State                                             3-1          14-4
California Baptist                                    3-1          12-6
Concordia                                              2-2            5-9
Academy of Art                                      2-2           6-11
Hawai`i Hilo                                           1-1            1-3
Fresno Pacific                                       1-3            3-8
Holy Names                                          1-3           4-13
Hawai`i Pacific                                      1-5           11-7
Azusa Pacific                                       0-0           13-1
 
The Coach: Head coach Kallen Miyataki is in his fourth full season as the leader of the Vulcan program, but his history in a UHH uniform goes much deeper than that. He had previous roles as an associate head coach, assistant coach and player for the Vulcans. He was the catcher, captain and team MVP for UH Hilo in 1983, and after a stint at UH Manoa as a grad assistant and assistant coach, he came back to Hilo for a 14-year run as an assistant (1988-2001). He was the associate head coach for three years (2004-06) before taking over the reigns of the program in the fall of 2014.

What's Next: After the Academy of Art series, the Vulcans will hit the road for the first time this season, traveling to Irvine, Calif. to tackle Concordia in a four-game set (March 18-20), followed by four games at Azusa Pacific (March 23-25). They then return home for a four-game series with Holy Names (March 30-April 1).