Vulcans Bring Winning Record into Home Series with Hawks
 
Hawai`i Hilo (18-15 overall/14-10 PWC) vs. Holy Names (14-22 overall/8-12 PWC) 
Saturday (3 pm DH), Monday (3 pm DH), Wong Stadium, Hilo, Hawai`i
Live Stats at hiloathletics.com.
 
Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans climbed into unchartered territory, at least in this century, by winning their eighth straight game earlier this month with a four-game sweep of Hawai`i Pacific. With those four wins (two of them conference games), the Vulcans are now three games over .500 at 18-15 overall and they are 14-10 in the Pacific West Conference.

Hawks Fly In: Next for the red-hot Vulcans is a four-game slate with Holy Names. UH Hilo and the Hawks will play doubleheaders on Saturday and Monday (April 20, 22), with start times for both at 3 p.m.

Elite Eight: The last time that the UH Hilo baseball team had a winning streak of eight games or longer was in 1992, when the Vulcans won nine in a row to start the season. UH Hilo, under head coach Joey Estrella, was an NAIA program then. The school record is 19 straight wins (1982), another Estrella-coached team that current head coach Kallen Miyataki was a player on.

Coincidence, or Not? Coincidentally, the last time the Vulcans had a winning season in baseball was also 1992 when they were 20-16. Under Estrella, UH Hilo was a force to be reckoned, especially in the 1980's when they made three NAIA World Series appearances (1986, '87 and '89). The best records in program history belonged to the 1983 team (41-10), 1984 squad (32-13) and 1981 team (29-11).

PacWest Upper Echelon: The Vulcans currently sit in third place in the Pacific West Conference, the highest spot on the ladder that they have ever occupied this late in the season. At 14-10, UH Hilo sits two full games ahead of Biola and Concordia, who are both 12-12. Point Loma (13-6) occupies the second rung and defending conference champ Azusa Pacific is in first (17-3).

We Got a Vote! In the NCBWA NCAA Division II West Region Poll, the Vulcans didn't crack the top ten, but for the first time in memory they were listed in "Others Receiving Votes"—in this case one vote, unofficially putting them 13^th in the listing. See complete list at bottom of release.

What's Left: The Vulcans have 12 games left in the regular season, with four-game series' remaining with Holy Names, Point Loma and Biola. Five wins or better (5-7) in those dozen games leaves the Vulcans with a winning record, which would be the program's first in 27 years (1992).

Rest for the Weary: UH Hilo's last games, their four-game sweep of HPU, were on April 5-7. They had this past week and weekend off, and it was needed to help heal a number of bumps and bruises.

Senior Salute: This weekend's games against Holy Names will be the final home contests for 13 UHH seniors, and they will be honored after Monday's twinbill. Playing their final games at Wong Stadium are Nick Asuncion, Marcus Calamese, Devan Elson, Coryn Iwamasa, Mana Manago, Kamalu Neal, Mikey Rita, RJ Romo, Theron Shigematsu, Dylan Sugimoto, Jordan Tagawa, Thomas Warren and Kyle Yamada.

Hitting Headlines: Mana Manago continues to swing a hot bat, now leading the Vulcans with a .337 average. He has multiple hits in five of his last eight games. Fellow senior Kyle Yamada is next at .320 and paces the Vulcans in hits (41) and RBI (23). Kobie Russell is hitting .309 and is UHH's top power hitter with nine doubles and three home runs. Kamalu Neal is also over .300 (.309), and Dylan Sugimoto is just under the .300 threshold at .297 and leads the club in runs scored (25). Freshman Casey Yamauchi is hitting .286 and tied for the team lead in stolen bases (9) and he has struck out just five times in 105 at-bats. Rustin Ho has half the sample size in at-bats, but is tied with Yamauchi in stolen bases and is also hitting a scorching .370.

Can't Stop This: The Vulcans have 52 stolen bases in 61 attempts, tops in the PacWest. Casey Yamauchi and Rustin Ho lead with nine, followed by Dylan Sugimoto (7). Three players have six—Kobie Russell, Mana Manago and Mikey Rita. In all, 12 different players have stolen bases for the Vulcans this season.

PacWest POW's: Junior middle relief ace Brandyn Lee-Lehano became the fourth UHH Pacific West Conference Pitcher of the Week honoree after the HPU series. He didn't give up a run and only allowed 4 total hits in eight innings of work against the Sharks. The former Kamehameha-Hawai`i star has given up just two earned runs in his last 17 innings pitched. Previous PacWest POW's were Dylan Spain and Kyle Alcorn (twice).

Pitching Progress: Starting pitcher Dylan Spain has the Vulcans' lowest ERA at 3.13, and he has a 3-1 record to go with it. Closer John Kea is 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA and seven saves, while the before-mentionled Brandyn Lee-Lehano is 4-0 with a 3.70 ERA and three saves. Rounding out the starting pitching rotation, Kyle Alcorn is 3-3, Travis Burleson is 4-2 and Christian Sadler is 3-3.
 
Hawks in Flight: Holy Names is a dangerous squad with a four-game split to their credit against conference leader Azusa Pacific (ranked No. 11 at the time) and a win verses No. 20 Point Loma. Most recently, they dropped three of four to Fresno Pacific and won a non-conference game on Tuesday (April 16) against Menlo. William Ruiz leads the Hawks in hitting with 18 RBI, five home runs and a .336 batting average. Garrett O'Callaghan is one of the top pitchers in the conference with a 2.03 ERA, fanning 55 batters in just 46 innings. Last season, the Vulcans won all four games versus the Hawks in Alameda.
 
Regional and National Round Up: Perennial World Series participant UC San Diego ranks first in the ninth NCBWA West Region poll of the year, receiving all eight first-place votes. The field looks like this, with records listed through last weekend. (1) UC San Diego 26-7, (2) Azusa Pacific 27-10, (3) Point Loma 23-12, (4) San Francisco State 20-9-1, (5) Stanislaus State 23-17, (6) Cal State Monterey Bay 25-17, (7) Montana State-Billings 19-17, (8) Chico State 19-15, (9) Western Oregon 18-10, (10) Biola 21-15. Others Receiving Votes—Sonoma State (20-18), Cal Poly Pomona 20-22 and Hawai`i Hilo 18-15.
 
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: The Vulcans will head to San Diego next week for a four-game slate at second-place Point Loma, (April 26-27).
 
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.