HILO, Hawai`i--Effective pitching and a little help from a normally mistake-free opponent helped paved the way for a 2-1 Hawai`i Hilo win over California Baptist on Friday night at Wong Stadium.

The victory, the first for the Vulcans in their last 15 tries against the Lancers, evened the four-game series at a win apiece. UH Hilo improved to 8-10 on the season and to 4-6 in the Pacific West Conference, while CBU fell to 14-6 overall and to 7-3 in conference action.

Phillip Steering scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch, and freshman Kyle Alcorn had another impressive start on the mound for the Vulcans. 

Alcorn, a left-hander, pitched the first six innings, scattering four hits, had one walk and he fanned five batters. He gave up one unearned run in the sixth, which tied the game. Earlier in the third inning, the Vulcans had put the first run of the game on the scoreboard with a two-out rally after an Edison Sakata single, a Kyle Yamada base hit and Jonathan Segovia RBI-single to center field.

Other than that inning, the Vulcans struggled against Lancer starter Dylan Stowell. The 6-foot-2 right-hander had his longest outing of the season and seemed to get stronger as the game went along. He pitched 8.1 innings, giving up seven hits, walked one, allowed one earned run and struck out ten Vulcan batters. He struck out the side in the eighth inning

But he was still tagged with the loss because of a wild bottom of the ninth inning. Segovia led off by striking out on a pitch in the dirt against Stowell, but advanced to first when the catcher's throw to first was wild. Segovia was then thrown out at second base on an attempted steal. Steering followed with a base hit up the middle and RJ Romo added a single to left field to put runners on first and second with one out. Dylan Sugimoto then hit a sharp ground ball to the right side that moved Steering to third base, and was also booted, loading the bases.

Stowell exited and the Lancers brought in Angel Delgado out of the bullpen. Delgado's first pitch skidded off the dirt and away from home plate, allowing Steering to sprint home with the winning run. 

When the dust cleared, the Lancers had two errors and a wild pitch in the inning to hand Stowell the hard-luck loss, dropping his record to 1-2 on the year. John Kea, who pitched to one batter in the top of the ninth, got the win (2-1). Cole Nakachi (2 IP, no hits) and Junior Valoroso (two-thirds, one hit) were also effective out of the bullpen in relief of Alcorn.

Segovia had two of UH Hilo's seven hits. Ryan Williams and Tommy Bell had two hits apiece for the Lancers. Alcorn lowered his ERA to 2.36 on the year with the no-decision. He is 1-0 on the year.

The two teams will continue the series on Saturday with a 4 pm doubleheader at Wong Stadium.