This Week—Wednesday-Friday (April 19-21) at California Baptist (Riverside), 6 pm Wed-Thurs., 4 pm DH Friday.
James W. Totman Stadium--Live Stats available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cbulancers/
 
Last Games—Won 8-7 @Point Loma, Lost @Point Loma 6-3, 14-7, 8-0.
Record: 8-20 overall, 8-18 Pacific West Conference

Bombs at the Beach: Phillip Steering hit three home runs at Carroll B. Land Stadium versus Point Loma, but the Sea Lions hit six during the four-game series as the San Diego hosts took three out of four games on Saturday and Monday (April 15/17).
 
More Drama: In the series opening 8-7 Vulcan win, UH Hilo scored six runs in the top of the ninth to rally from a 7-1 deficit to steal the victory. Phillip Steering hit a game-tying grand slam and Byron Freitas hit a sacrifice fly to drive home the winning run. It wasn't a walk-off win of course with it being a road game, but it did mark the fifth time in the last three series that the Vulcans have rallied back for a victory. It was also the first road win of the year for UH Hilo. Sterring was 2-for-3 in the game with two home runs and six RBI.

Steering Towards a Batting Title: Junior first baseman Phillip Steering continues to swing one of the hottest bats in the league. He is hitting a PacWest best .437 with a team best 17 runs, six doubles, six home runs, 22 RBI, and 17 walks. He is second on the team in stolen bases with seven. His .541 on-base percentage is tops in the conference. Before Monday's games at PLNU, when the official NCAA rankings came out, he listed sixth in the nation with a .451 batting average, and he was also sixth nationally in on-base percentage at .545. Both of those numbers were also tops in the west region.
 
Hitting Headlines: After Steering's .437 average, Jonathan Segovia is next on the Vulcan list at an even .300. Dylan Sugimoto leads the club with nine stolen bases and is second in runs scored with 16. Kyle Yamada also has 16 runs, is second in RBI with 13 and is tied for the team lead in walks with 17. Austin Forney is tied for the team lead in two-baggers with six.

"Now Pitching for the Vulcans":19 different entries were listed under "Pitcher" in the four-game series at Point Loma against the hot-hitting Sea Lions. 11 different hurlers toed the rubber, with Cole Nakachi and Devan Elson each getting the call three times. Deric Valoroso Jr. has the most appearances on the year with 14, followed by Drew Ichikawa and Nakachi with 13 each.

Lancer Lines: California Baptist is scorching-hot after taking three of four games from No. 3 nationally ranked Azusa Pacific over the weekend. All four games in the series were lopsided one direction or the other as the Lancers improved to 27-15 on the season and to 18-10 in the PacWest, sitting in third place in the conference but ranked fourth in the NCAA West Region. Ironically, the wins over the Cougars came right after they dropped back-to-back games against Holy Names. The Lancers are tough in their own yard, listing a 15-6 mark at home. CBU has one of the top pitchers in the PWC in Garett King, who is 7-1 with a 1.96 ERA in 10 starts. The Nebraska transfer has given up only 53 hits in 73 innings of work, and he has struck out 80. Bryce Macy leads the offense with a .340 average. Six players have 20 RBI or more, led by Ryan Williams' nine home runs and 31 RBI. California Baptist has won nine in a row vs. UH Hilo and leads the all-time series, 23-5.

What's Next: The Vulcans will return to Hilo for their final home games of the season on Tuesday-Wednesday (April 25-26) when they host co-conference leader Dixie State at Wong Stadium. The Tuesday doubleheader will begin at 3 pm, while Wednesday's twinbill will start at noon. Senior Day festivities will be held after Wednesday's doubleheader.

PacWest Progress: Dixie State has moved into a tie for first place in the Pacific West Conference.
Team                                                     PWC      Overall
Azusa Pacific                                          18-6         31-7
Dixie State                                               18-6         29-9
California Baptist                                    18-10       27-15
Point Loma                                             15-9         23-13
Concordia                                               15-9        19-18
Fresno Pacific                                        12-12       15-18
Academy of Art                                      12-16       16-26
Hawaii Hilo                                             8-18         8-20                                                                                                
Holy Names                                            8-20        11-30
Hawaii Pacific                                         6-24        16-26

NCBWA West Region Poll: Chico State 31-7, Dixie State 29-9, Azusa Pacific 31-7, California Baptist 27-15, UC San Diego 25-10, Cal State East Bay 23-14, Cal State Monterey Bay 23-15, Cal Poly Pomona 21-18, Western Oregon 19-9, Point Loma 21-13.

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.