RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Missed opportunities were the name of the game on Thursday night for Hawai`i Hilo when they dropped a 9-4 decision to California Baptist under the lights at Totman Stadium.

The Vulcans stranded 13 runners on the base paths and left the bases loaded three times. The loss dropped UHH's record to 8-22 on the season and to 8-20 in the Pacific West Conference, while the Lancers improved to 29-15 overall and to 20-10 in PWC action.

UH Hilo left the dugout in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings with the bags full, accounting for 12 of the 13 left on base.

The bad news was of course the missed opportunities, but the good news is that the Vulcans were getting runners on base.  They had eight hits in the game and worked Lancer pitching for 12 walks. Four of those walks were to Phillip Steering, of the unintentional/intentional variety.

The Lancers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Vulcan starter Drew Ichikawa, who battled gamely through five innings before getting chased in the sixth. Down 3-0, UHH rallied back with a run in the second inning after Jacob Grijalva singled and was later brought home on Aalona Amimoto's base hit. They added two more to tie the game in the fourth (3-3) when Dylan Sugimoto laced a two-run double.

CBU regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of runs and they would never trail after that. The Lancers added four more in the sixth thanks in part to DJ Porter's three-run homer, taking a 9-3 lead.

That's where the major frustrations began for the Vulcans. They loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, but a ground ball double play and a strikeout allowed only one run to score. In the eighth, UHH had runners on second and third with one out when a potential sacrifice fly turned into another double play when the Vulcan on third base was gunned down at the plate.

Jonathan Segovia was 3-for-5 at the plate to lead UH Hilo on offense. Steering had the four walks, while Kyle Yamada and Amimoto reached base three times with a base hit and two free passes each. Thomas Warren was effective out of the bullpen with three innings pitched, one hit, one run, one walk and three strikeouts.

Tommy Bell was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI to lead the Lancer offense.

The Vulcans and Lancers will wrap up the four-game series in Riverside on Friday with a doubleheader that will begin at 4 p.m. Pacific time.