This Week—Saturday/Monday (April 15/17) at Point Loma (San Diego), noon/3 p.m. doubleheaders
Carroll B. Land Stadium (Live Stats available at www.hiloathletics.com)
 
Last Games—Split four-game series with Fresno Pacific at home (W 9-8, 7-4/L 13-8, 5-1)
Record: 7-17 overall, 7-15 Pacific West Conference

Rolling Splits: For the second weekend in a row, the UH Hilo baseball earned a split of a four-game series, this time against Fresno Pacific. The Vulcans won the first game of the doubleheader on both days (Saturday and Monday) before dropping the nightcap. It was the third four-game split of the year for UHH, all at Wong Stadium (Academy of Art, Holy Names, Fresno Pacific).

Drama Kings, Part 3 and 4: One weekend after winning two games via walk-off fashion, the Vulcans did it again twice against the Sunbirds. On Saturday, Cole Nagamine drove in the winning run for the second time in a week, this time in the bottom of the tenth inning with a single for a 9-8 win. On Monday night, Phillip Steering gave the home team and crowd the ultimate walk-off send off with a monster three-run blast that gave the Vulcans a 7-4 verdict.
 
Never Say Die Vulcans: UH Hilo fans are learning the fact that they best not leave a home game early, even if their team is behind. Three of their four games against Fresno Pacific featured comebacks. In the opener, they trailed 6-0 and 8-4 before rallying for the 9-8 win in 10 innings. Even in the second game loss, they came back from an 8-1 deficit to tie the game at 8-8 before the Sunbirds scored five in the ninth to win, 13-8. In the 7-4 walk-off win on Monday, UHH trailed 4-1 and 4-3 before the four-run ninth.
 
Steering Towards a Batting Title: Junior first baseman Phillip Steering continues to swing one of the hottest bats in the league. Over the four games, he raised his average 36 points to .442, tops in the Pacific West Conference. More impressive perhaps was his on-base percentage for the series, as he reached base in 14 of his 19 trips to the plate (.737). His .522 on-base percentage for the season is tops in the PacWest. He leads the Vulcans in average, hits (34), doubles (6), home runs (3), RBI (14), and walks (13).
 
Hitting Headlines: After Steering, the Vulcans don't have anyone hitting over .300 but have three players hovering in the .290's. Jonathon Segovia is at .292 and Dylan Sugimoto is hitting .293 with a team-best 15 runs scored and eight stolen bases. Cole Nagamine has worked his way into the starting line-up with clutch hitting and has climbed to .292. Kyle Yamada is hitting just .212 but has scored 13 times and is second in RBI with 11.

Drew's Delivery: Hot hitting Fresno Pacific kept the Vulcan bullpen busy over the weekend, as 11 different pitchers toed the rubber in the four games. Drew Ichikawa had two appearances, including his second start of the season in the third game of the series. He gave up just two runs in 6.1 innings of work and did not walk a batter in 8.2 innings of work. He has now pitched 24 innings, given up only 19 hits, with an ERA of 3.38

Print on Point Loma: The Vulcans will travel later in the week to San Diego to take on Point Loma on Saturday and Monday at "America's Most Scenic Ballpark." The Sea Lions are 20-12 on the season and 12-8 in the PacWest, but are just 4-9 in their last 13 games. They had a 13-game winning streak earlier this year and have been ranked as high as No. 20 nationally. Ryan Garcia leads a potent Point Loma offensive attack with a .385 batting average, eight home runs and 25 RBI. Kellen Sheppard, already a three-time All-PacWest and all-region selection, is hitting .358 with 12 doubles and 25 RBI. Sheppard also has a 5-2 record on the mound, where teammate Stephen Young is the Sea Lion ace with a 6-0 record and 1.40 ERA. Young has given up just 28 hits in 58 innings of work. Point Loma won all three games played between the two teams last year and PLNU leads the all-time series, 11-5.

Lancers Loom: After the four-game set in San Diego, the Vulcans will head to Riverside for series with California Baptist on April 19-20.

PacWest Progress: Azusa Pacific, ranked third in the country and first in the west region, stayed in the top spot in the Pacific West Conference standings.
Team                                                     PWC      Overall
Azusa Pacific                                          17-3         30-4
Dixie State                                               18-6         29-9
California Baptist                                    15-9         24-14
Concordia                                               15-9        19-17
Point Loma                                             12-8        20-12
Fresno Pacific                                        10-10       13-16
Academy of Art                                       9-15        13-25
Hawaii Hilo                                             7-15          7-17                                                                                               
Holy Names                                           7-17        10-27
Hawaii Pacific                                        4-22        14-24

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 controls of the program in the fall of 2014.