Vulcans hit road to take on Eagles, Cougars
 
Hawai`i Hilo (7-10 overall/5-5 PWC) 
vs. Concordia (9-10 overall/4-0 PWC), March 16 & 18, Noon DH's, Irvine, Calif.
vs. Azusa Pacific (12-9 overall/2-2 PWC), March 21-23 (5 pm, 3 pm, Noon DH), Azusa, Calif.
Live Stats at hiloathletics.com.
 
Hilo Headlines: After playing eight straight games at home, the Vulcans hit the road for their first multi-series PacWest trip of the season. At Wong Stadium, UH Hilo lost three of four games to Biola, but bounced back to claim three of four versus Fresno Pacific to move to 5-5 in conference play.

Practice Makes Perfect: The Vulcans will open the trip with an exhibition game against Hope International in Fullerton, Calif. The Royals, a NAIA team that plays in the Golden State Athletic Conference, are 14-9 this season.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up: Trailing 4-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the third game of the Fresno Pacific series, all appeared lost for the Vulcans to win their third straight against the Sunbirds. But with two runners on base, Dylan Sugimoto kept the inning and UHH's hope alive with a single to load the bags, with Kyle Yamada coming to the plate. The senior centerfielder promptly lined a shot to right field,that skipped to the fence. The relay throw got away from FPU, allowing Yamada to scamper home with the improbable winning run. It was UH Hilo's second walk-off win this year (they also got one vs. Hawaii Pacific).

Alcorn's Awards: For the second time this season, one month apart, sophomore pitcher Kyle Alcorn was named the Pacific West Conference Pitcher of the Week. Alcorn earned his second win of the season against Fresno Pacific by throwing six shutout innings in the series opener. The sophomore recorded six strikeouts in as many frames with only four hits and three walks allowed. None of the hits went for extra bases. He now has a 3.32 ERA, 2-1 record and 15 strikeouts on the season (in 19 innings). The 6-foot-2 left-hander from Lakewood, Calif. also won the award on Feb. 11 after providing 5.2 innings of shutout work against Hawai`i Pacific. 

Hitting Headlines: Kyle Yamada went 6-for-15 against the Sunbirds to improve his batting average to a team-best .328. He also paces the Vulcans with 12 runs scored, 21 hits, 14 RBI and six walks. His on-base percentage is .400…Dylan Sugimoto is next at .317…Kobie Russell had six hits in the  FPU series to boost his average to .300, which included a monster home run to right…Freshman Casey Yamauchi leads the Vulcans with nine runs scored and is 8-for-9 in the stolen base department.

Pitching Progress: Christian Sadler has only given up three earned runs in his last 13 innings, which included a shutdown performance against Fresno Pacific. In that 9-1 win, he gave up only one run and five hits in seven innings, while also fanning a season-high nine batters. He is now 1-2 this year with a team-best 2.91 ERA…Kyle Alcorn is 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA and opponents are hitting just .240 against him…John Kea (1-1, 3.45 ERA) has three saves…Travis Burleson pitched a nine inning complete game in the 5-4 walk-off win over the Sunbirds.
 
Concordia Clippings: The Eagles are the first team this year to ground the Sharks of Hawaii Pacific, sweeping previously red-hot HPU four games in Irvine. Prior to that, the Eagles lost three of four to PacWest front-runners Point Loma and Azusa Pacific in non-conference games. Picked to finish third in the conference, the Eagles are led by Haloa Dudoit's .372 average and by the power numbers of Jair Donovan (4 HR, 18 RBI) and Cooper Moore (4 HR, 16 RBI). On the mound, Alex Zalasky is 3-1 with a 2.83 ERA. Last year, the Vulcans and Eagles split four games on the Big Island. The Eagles are currently 9-10 overall and 4-0 in PacWest play.
 
Cougar Watch: Preseason favorite and two-time defending PacWest champion Azusa Pacific is 12-9 on the year and 2-2 in conference play after splitting four games with Holy Names last month. APU recently lost three of four contests to Point Loma, but they were non-conference contests. They were ranked 14^th in the country prior to those losses. Ranked No. 3 in the latest West Region poll, the Cougars are led offensively by Osvaldo Tovalin's .412 average, six home runs and 14 RBI. AJ Woodall leads the mound staff with a 3-2 mark and 2.04 ERA. APU, ranked No. 1 at the time in 2018, won 5-3 and 3-2 games at Wong Stadium last year.
 
Around the Horn: The Vulcans sit in fourth place of nine teams in conference play at 5-5. Concordia is 4-0, Point Loma 2-1 and Biola is 5-3. Overall, the Sea Lions have the best record at 14-7, followed by Biola at 11-6.
 
Regional Round Up: Perennial World Series participant UC San Diego ranks first in the NCBWA West Region poll, and the rest of the field looks like this, with records listed through last weekend. (1) UC San Diego 13-4, (2) Point Loma 14-7, (3) Azusa Pacific 12-9, (4) San Francisco State 9-0-1, (5) Stanislaus State 13-7, (6) Western Oregon 6-2, (7) Cal State Monterey Bay 11-11, (8) Cal Poly Pomona 11-11, (9) Hawai`i Pacific 16-8, (10) Biola 11-6.
 
Last Year: The Vulcans finished 21-27, their best mark in seven years. They went 16-22 in the PacWest, and split four games with NCAA playoff teams Point Loma and California Baptist, and lost two-run and one-run games to then No. 1 Azusa Pacific. They graduated single-season (10) and all-time (16) home run leader Phillip Steering and also said goodbye to leading hitter, Jonathan Segovia (.372).
 
What's Next: After the southern California road trip, the Vulcans return home to host Academy of Art on March 28-30.
 
The Coach: Head coach Kallen Miyataki is in his sixth 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 2014.