HILO, Hawai`i--Cyanne Fernandez picked up two wins in the pitcher's circle and Bailey Gaspar hit an eighth-inning walk-off home run to lead host Hawai`i Hilo to 4-0 and 8-6 victories over Azusa Pacific on Thursday afternoon at the UH Hilo Softball Complex.

The Vulcans improved to 13-4 overall and they are now 4-0 in the Pacific West Conference. Azusa Pacific fell to 5-14 on the year and 1-7 in conference play. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Vulcans. 

Fernandez pitched a three-hit shutout in the first game, and came on in relief in the second, pitching 3.2 innings without giving up a run. She improved to 11-0 on the year with the two wins. In the eighth inning of the nightcap, Kiarra Lincoln hit a two-out single to keep the inning alive, and Gaspar followed with a shot over the left-center field fence, sending her teammates streaming to greet her in a mob at home plate.

Lincoln, a freshman second baseman, went 4-for-5 in the second game and had five hits on the day. Gaspar was 3-for-5 in the nightcap with three RBI, and had four hits on the afternoon and four RBI.

In the first game, the Cougars got a runner to second base in each of the first three innings, but could get no further. Fernandez and APU pitcher Kat Ung matched zeros on the scoreboard for the first four and a half innings. 

That all changed in the fifth. Darian Obara hit a one-out single to start the rally, and she moved to second on a ground out. With two outs, Lincoln singled Obara home, and Gaspar did the same to Lincoln. After Isabelle Mejia was hit by a pitch, Brinell Kaleikini brought home two runs with one-hop triple off the right field fence to make the score 4-0.

That's all the help Fernandez would need on offense. She didn't allow a hit after the third inning, although a diving catch in left field by Obara in the top of the seventh helped keep that streak alive. The senior right-hander walked two batters and struck out two in tossing the three-hit blanking, her third shutout of the season. Kaleikini had two hits in the game, two RBI and the triple. Cayla Broussard had two of APU's three hits.

The second game was much different.

Neither team scored in the first two innings, but both exploded in the third. Azusa Pacific laced out five straight hits and took advantage of a Vulcan error to push a big four runs across the plate. Erinn  Jaramillo had the big blow, a two-run single.

But the Vulcans answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning. The had six consecutive hits, including RBI-singles by Gaspar, Mejia, Kaleikini and Markie Okamoto to take a 5-4 lead. The Cougars came back with a pair of runs in the fifth inning on Becca Jewett's two-run shot over the left field fence to give the visitors a 6-5 lead, chasing starter Leah Gonzales.

That lead lasted until the bottom of the sixth when Lincoln's double brought home Obara to tie it at 6-6. Fernandez returned to the pitching circle and put down the Cougars in order in the seventh, and UHH had the winning run thrown out at home plate in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the eight, APU used a single and an error to get a runner to third, but Fernandez fanned Jaramillo to end the threat.

In the bottom of the inning, Cougar pitcher Megan Mejia got the first two outs of the inning before Lincoln singled and stole second. That brought up Gaspar, who with a 1-1 count launched her sixth home run of the season and maybe her most important one.

In addition to Lincoln and Gaspar's numbers in the second game, Okamoto also had three hits and the Vulcans had 15 total. 

UH Hilo's busy long weekend continues with a twinbill on Saturday vs. Concordia and Monday against California Baptist. Both home games start at noon.