HILO, Hawai`i--In a game that re-defined the definition of a nightcap, the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcan baseball team defeated the Concordia Eagles 6-2 on Friday night and Saturday morning, April 13-14 at Wong Stadium.

Freshman Travis Burleson struck out 11 batters and Phillip Steering hit his school-record seventh home run as UH Hilo salvaged a doubleheader split. Earlier, in a contest that started two and a half hours late and featured a 25-minute rain delay, Concordia rallied to defeat UHH, 10-7.

The two teams will meet on Saturday to finish the four-game series. The venue has changed to Kamehameha School in Keaau, and the doubleheader start time is noon.

The Vulcans are now 13-19 on the season and 9-15 in the Pacific West Conference. Concordia is 13-23 on the year and 10-16 in conference play.

Burleson established a collegiate best for him by sending 11 Eagles back to the dugout via three strikes, and it was the highest total for a Vulcan pitcher this year. He worked quickly and efficiently through eight innings, allowing just six hits and two runs. He didn't walk a batter, although he hit four.

He looked to be in trouble in the first inning. The Eagles used a single, a sacrifice bunt and another single to score a run before the Vulcans came to bat, but Burleson showed a sign of things to come by fanning the last two batters of the inning. UH Hilo then took the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Jaryn Kanbara drove in his fourth run of the day and Mano Manago also brought a Vulcan run home with a base hit.

The home team made it 3-1 in the second on Kyle Yamada's RBI-single, and Theron Shigematsu followed in the third inning and an RBI-double (4-1). Shigematsu was making his first start of the season as the designated hitter, and that was his first hit and initial RBI of the year.

In the fifth, the Eagles got one run back when Chris Martin and Dillon Millar switched places with doubles, but Burleson only allowed one hit the rest of the way. He fanned two more batters in the eighth inning before being relieved by John Kea in the ninth.

In the seventh, Steering hit a line shot over the left field fence with Jonathan Segovia on base for his seventh home run of the season. That broke Steering's own school mark of six, also shared with Keiki Mattson (1997). 

Shigematsu went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in his breakout game. Yamada and Steering had two hits in the contest.