Baseball Weekly: Vulcans travel to Sharks to wrap up successful season
 
Hawai`i Hilo (20-25 overall/16-20 PWC) @ Hawai`i Pacific (20-27 overall/14-25 PWC)
Saturday, 6 pm \ Sunday Noon (DH) \ games played in Waipahu and Hans L`Orange Park
Live Stats at hiloathletics.com.
 
Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans head to Oahu for the final three games of the season, with a few reachable milestones to play for (see below). UH Hilo will take on the Hawai`i Pacific Sharks again on Saturday and Sunday, with the first two games of the three-game set serving as PacWest counters, while the final game is a non-conference bout.

Milestone Markers: With a 20-25 overall record, the Vulcans have already surpassed any win total from the past five seasons under head coach Kal Miyataki. The 2014 Vulcans won 14 games (14-33) and the most wins of this decade belongs to the 2011 team coached by Joey Estrella (21-25). The 2009 UHH squad had one of the best winning percentages in recent seasons at 20-21, but no Vulcan team has won more than 21 games in a season since the 1989 squad went 28-17-1 and advanced to the NAIA World Series. In fact, the Vulcans had 11 consecutive winnings seasons from 1980-1990, with a program best 41-10 record in 1983—a team Estrella coached and Miyataki played on.

Sharks Strike Twice: Rival Hawai`i Pacific claimed two lopsided victories over the Vulcans last weekend at Wong Stadium, while UH Hilo won the middle game of the set, 3-2. The Sharks erupted for a total of 28 runs and 36 hits in the 16-5 and 12-0 victories, using excellent pitching work from Joshua Muneno in the shutout (nine innings, six hits, no walks). In the middle game, the Vulcans had their own standout pitching performance, from sophomore Dylan Spain who went the distance, allowing only six hits and one earned run during the 3-2 win.

Senior Salute: The games were the final Wong Stadium contests for ten UH Hilo seniors, who were honored after Sunday's game. Those ten are Jonathan Segovia, Kila Zuttermeister, Phillip Steering, Reese Kato, Cole Nakachi, Morgan West, Edwin Stanberry, Deric Valoroso, Drew Ichikawa and Edison Sakata.

HPU Headlines: Hawai`i Pacific's Joshua Muneno earned PacWest and Division II west region pitcher of the week honors for his work against the Vulcans, in what was just his third start of the season. UH Hilo will likely see him again this week, with his 3-2 record and 2.20 ERA. Christian Kapeliela is one of the best hitters in the PacWest, topping the league with a .416 batting average, and has 13 doubles, eight home runs and 40 RBI (he hit a round tripper vs. the Vulcans). As a team, the Sharks are hitting a robust .286. The Vulcans and Sharks have met 256 times in their long history, with HPU holding a 150-105-1 edge through last weekend's games.

Segovia's Senior Weekend: Vulcan senior outfielder Jonathan Segovia had a Senior Weekend to remember in his final games at Wong Stadium. On Saturday, he went 6-for-8 at the plate, which included his first career home run. On Sunday, he was selected to speak for the entire team on Senior Day to the crowd, and then later also addressed the baseball team of his nearby alma mater at Keaau High School. After hitting .246 as a sophomore and .298 last year, he is sizzling in his senior season at .371 with 21 RBI. He has also only struck out 13 times in 132 at-bats.

Steering Slams: Senior first baseman Phillip Steering has just three games left in his unmatchable Vulcan career, and a final opportunity to add to his season and career numbers. Although he had a nine-game hitting streak snapped against the Sharks last weekend, he is still hitting .361 with 14 doubles and a school-record 10 home runs. He also has 36 RBI and a slugging percentage of .671, to go with an on-base percentage of .485. His 35 runs scored and 10 stolen bases also leads the Vulcan squad.
 
More Numbers (Offense): Kyle Yamada is batting .305 and has an on-base percentage of .448. He leads the team in walks (33)…RJ Romo is second on the squad in RBI (23) and doubles (10)…Edison Sakata is batting .280 with 26 runs scored. The Vulcans have a team batting average of .281.

Mound Mentions: Dylan Spain's terrific outing against the Sharks, with one earned run in nine innings, lowered his ERA to 3.71 on the season and improved his record to 4-6. It was the second complete game of the season for the 6-6 sophomore…Redshirt-freshman John Kea has nine saves, the second highest total in the PacWest. He is 3-2 on the year with a 3.38 ERA…Freshman Travis Burleson is 4-6 with a 3.79 ERA, and has given up just 53 hits in 59.1 innings, with a team-best 55 strikeouts.

Around the Horn: Azusa Pacific clinched the Pacific West Conference title yesterday (May 9) after topping Point Loma at home, 15-11. The battle for the title came down to the final regular season game of the season, with the Sea Lions, who had won 16 consecutive games coming into the series, in a virtual tie with game to go. It was the second straight PacWest title for APU, and they earn the PWC's automatic berth into next week's NCAA West Region tournament. Point Loma's post-season chances look solid as well. Heading into the week, the latest official NCAA west region poll looked like this….1) Cal State Monterey Bay (36-14), 2) Azusa Pacific (37-7), 3) California Baptist (32-14), 4) UC San Diego (35-15), 5) Point Loma (31-14), Chico State (30-20), 7) Cal State LA (25-22), 8) Cal Poly Pomona (28-22). The top six in next week's final poll will qualify for post-season.
 
The Coach: Head coach Kallen Miyataki is in his fifth full season as the leader of the Vulcan program, but his history in a UHH uniform goes much deeper than that. He had previous roles as an associate head coach, assistant coach and player for the Vulcans. He was the catcher, captain and team MVP for UH Hilo in 1983, and after a stint at UH Manoa as a grad assistant and assistant coach, he came back to Hilo for a 14-year run as an assistant (1988-2001). He was the associate head coach for three years (2004-06) before taking over the controls of the program in the fall of 2013.