FRESNO, Calif.—Jonathan Segovia had five hits and the Vulcans used excellent starting and relief pitching to capture a doubleheader sweep over Fresno Pacific on Saturday at the FPU Diamond, 7-4 and 2-1.
After taking Sunday off, the squads will resume the four-game slate with a twinbill on Monday that will start at 2 pm Pacific. UH Hilo improved to an even .500 overall (11-11) and in Pacific West Conference action (7-7), while the Sunbirds fell to 9-11 on the year and to 6-8 in the PacWest.
The Vulcans scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning in game one to rally for the stunning win, and then rode the pitching of freshman starter
Kyle Alcorn to victory in the nightcap. Today's games were the first two road games of the season for UH Hilo after opening the year with 20 straight games at home.
In the opener, UHH's
Dylan Spain and FPU's Esteban Lizaola hooked up in a nifty pitching duel. The Sunbirds scored an unearned run in the first inning, but the Vulcans tied it in the fourth with a mini two-out rally.
Phillip Steering got it started with a single, and
RJ Romo followed with the same. A few pitches later, Steering would score on a wild pitch to knot the game up, momentarily.
FPU's Ross Dodd led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run, the first of three runs that the Sunbirds would score in the stanza. Three hits later, the home team had taken a 4-1 lead that would hold up all the way to the ninth inning, as Lizaola was dealing, allowing a total of three Vulcan hits.
But things came unraveled in the ninth for the Sunbirds. Segovia led off the inning with a single, and Steering then walked. After an out, Lizaola's day was done, but of course he was in perfect position to still get the win. But FPU's defense and relief pitching let him down. With two outs, Mano Manago singled and then the hits just kept coming.
Jaryn Kanbara drove in two runs with a hit,
Edison Sakata singled,
Dylan Sugimoto walked,
Kyle Yamada walked and Segovia added his second hit of the inning to drive in yet another run.
By the time the inning was over, six Vulcan runs had crossed the plate via five hits, three walks and two Sunbird errors. Solid relief pitching from UH Hilo's
Cole Nakachi (two innings, one hit, two strikeouts) and Deric Valoroso (1-2-3 ninth) closed the books on the stunning finish.
The win went to Nakachi (2-0) and the save to Valoroso, his first. Spain went six innings, allowed three earned runs, seven hits and fanned seven. Segovia had two of UHH's eight hits, all singles.
The second game shaped up as another pitching duel. Alcorn, last week's PacWest Freshman of the Week, chucked 7.1 innings and gave up only four hits. He didn't allow an earned run, walked only one and struck out three.
He matched up with Alex Garcia, who other than giving up two runs in the fifth, only one of them earned, was tough for the Vulcans to solve. Sugimoto, Yamada and Segovia hit singles in that inning, scoring one run, and getting another on an FPU error.
The Sunbirds scored one in the fifth (unearned) to cut the deficit to one (2-1), but despite putting runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth, they were unable to get anyone home.
John Kea closed things out in the ninth. After giving up a lead-off double, he put away the next three batters. It was his third save of the season. Alcorn improved to 2-0 and dropped his ERA to 1.85.
Segovia had three hits in the game and went 5-for-10 on the day. Dodd had two hits in the contest for the Sunbirds.
The Vulcans, who won eight games in 2017 and nine in 2016, have already surpassed both totals with their 11-11 mark.
