HILO, Hawai`i--Using timely hitting, speed and solid pitching, host Hawai`i Hilo ralled back for a 3-2 win over Academy of Art on Friday night at Wong Stadium.
Trailing 2-0, the Vulcans scored twice in the sixth and again in the seventh to slip past the Urban Knights.
John Kea closed out the game with a strikeout to record his fourth save of the season as UHH improved to 12-15 on the year and to 10-10 in the Pacific West Conference. The Urban Knights are 12-12 overall and 4-9 in the PacWest.
UH Hilo now leads the series 2-0. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, with the first pitch at 3 pm.
The Urban Knights grabbed the lead early, scoring before the Vulcans could come to the plate, thanks to a pair of hits and a pair of UHH errors. After that, both pitchers settled in to a nice duel, with
Christian Sadler on the hill for the Vulcans and Ben Kaser throwing well for Academy of Art.
Sadler escaped a bases loaded jam in the fifth with a strikeout to end the inning. He was replaced in the sixth by
Brandyn Lee-Lehano who gave up one manufactured run when the Urban Knights singled, bunted, used a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
The Vulcans finally got on the board in the bottom half the inning against Kaser, who had been cruising up to that point.
Dylan Sugimoto walked and moved to second on a wild pitch.
Kobie Russell followed with an RBI-double, and then he was plated by
Kamalu Neal's single to make it 2-2.
In the seventh, speedy
Mikey Rita got on first via an infield single, and then stole second base (his sixth of the year). Sugimoto brought him home with a single.
That would turn out to be the winning run as Lee-Lehano settled in to stop Art in the seventh and eighth innings. Kea entered in the ninth and gave up a single to Thomas Delgadillo, his third of the game. Delgadillo stole second, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. With the tying run just 90 feet away, Kea fanned the final batter to end the game.
UHH's Sadler got a no decision, but pitched well in five innings, giving up just four hits, one earned run, four walks and he fanned seven. Lee-Lehano got the win (2-0) with three innings of work, three hits, one run and two K's. Kea pitched the ninth, allowing one hit and striking out two. The Vulcan pitching trio kept the Urban Knight bats from clubbing any extra base hits. UH Hilo had seven hits on offense, two of them by Sugimoto. The senior outfielder also scored a run and had an RBI.
