WAIPAHU, Hawai`i—After giving up a total of 53 runs and 54 hits in the first three games of a baseball series with Hawai`i Pacific, Hawai`i Hilo head coach Kallen Miyataki sent two of his most trusted arms from a year ago to the pitching mound for the final game of the series.

A pair of sophomores, Travis Burleson and John Kea, stopped the bleeding and salvaged a split on the day for the Vulcans in the non-conference twinbill. After losing Sunday's first game, 20-10, and Saturday's contests (18-11 and 15-8), Burleson and Kea finally found a way to quiet the Shark bats in a 3-2 Vulcan win.

Hawai`i Pacific is now 11-3 on the season and UH Hilo is 3-6.

Burleson, a sturdy right-hander that had a 3.96 ERA as a starting freshman, went five innings on Sunday and gave up just four hits, two earned runs, walked two and had a strikeout to pick up his first victory of the year.
Kea, who had nine saves in 2018 as a redshirt-freshman, pitched a two-inning save today, giving up just one hit, a walk and he struck out the final batter of the game.

After a barrage of runs and hits in the first three games of the series, Burleson and HPU counterpart Shane Adams put mostly zeros on the board at Hans L `Orange Park. The Sharks scratched across a run in the first inning on a hit, a hit batter and a balk. But there would be no more scoring until the fifth inning when UHH's Marcus Calamese drove home John Bicos, who had walked, and Mana Manago (who had singled) scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1.

The Sharks tied the game in their half of the fifth on a single and a wild pitch. In the top of the sixth, UHH's RJ Romo singled, moved to second on a sac bunt and scored on Bicos' single. HPU did their best to knot the score in the bottom of the sixth, when Jake Selco singled (finally chasing Burleson) and the Sharks eventually loaded the bases. But Kea worked his way out of the jam.

It was a similar scenario in the seventh, with HPU staying alive with Christian Kapeliela's two-out double. Kapeliela then moved to third on a passed ball before Kea fanned Selco to end the game.

The first game of the doubleheader was one to forget for the Vulcans.

The Sharks scored eight times in the third inning on their way to 20 total runs on 19 hits. They battered six UHH pitchers, and Shark hurler Conlan Myers threw 4.2 innings without giving up an earned run to get the win.

Bicos, Kyle Yamada and Kamalu Neal had two hits for the Vulcans in the first game and Calamese hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning. In the second game, Romo had a pair of hits as did Manago.

HPU's Tanner Tokunago and Jordan Mopas had three hits each in the opener for the Sharks, and each scored four runs in the slugfest.

Next up for the Vulcans is a Saturday contest (Feb. 23) against their own Alumni (1 pm, Wong Stadium), followed by a four-game set against Biola in Hilo, Feb. 28 to March 2.