HILO, Hawai`i—The milestones keep adding up, almost too many to keep up with.
With 5-3 and 6-2 wins over Holy Names on Monday night at Wong Stadium, the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans won their 11th and 12
th consecutive games, their longest win streak in the last three decades. They did so on a festive Senior Night, capping their record in 2019 at Wong Stadium at 14-7.
The Vulcans are now seven games over .500 at 22-15 on the season and they are 18-10 in the Pacific West Conference. They need just one more win in their final eight road games to guarantee a winning season, which would be their first since 1992.
Even more impressive, they will head to San Diego to take on second-place Point Loma this weekend, in a virtual tie with the Sea Lions. Point Loma is 15-8 in the PacWest (.652), while at 18-10 UHH is a mere percentage point behind at .643.
Holy Names is 14-26 overall and 8-16 in the PacWest.
In the first game, the Vulcans scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to break a 3-3 tie and
John Kea closed things out in the ninth with his ninth save of the season as the Vulcans won their 11
th straight.
The Hawks held the early lead, scratching out runs in the second (one) and third (two) against Vulcan starting pitcher
Christian Sadler. William Ruiz had a two-run single for the Hawks to help stake the to a 3-1 lead.
The Vulcans had scored in the second inning when
Nick Lugo singled home Kamula Neal, who had also singled. UH Hilo would get one more run in the fifth when
Dylan Sugimoto plated
Kyle Yamada with a one-baser.
The home team tied the game in the sixth via three consecutive hits by Lugo,
Casey Yamauchi and Yamada, and Lugo came home on Sugimoto's sacrifice fly. Meanwhile, the Hawk bats had gone silent thanks to the relief work of
Jacob Morales, who posted three innings of shutout work, allowing only one hit.
Devan Elson also kept the Hawks off the scoreboard for 1.2 innings, and
Brandyn Lee-Lehano got the final out of the eighth inning. As it turned out, that would set him up to earn the win.
In the bottom of the eighth, pinch hitter
Marcus Calamese led off the inning by getting to first via a hit by pitch. Lugo moved him to second with a bunt, and Yamauchi brought Calamese home with a sharp single. Sugimoto would later bring home Yamauchi with a single, his third RBI of the game.
Kea fanned two of the four batters he faced in the ninth to secure the win for Vulcans. Sugimoto was 3-for-3, while Yamauchi, Lugo and
Rustin Ho had two hits apiece. Lee-Lehano pitched to one batter and got the win to improve to 5-0 on the season.
In the nightcap, the Vulcans struck early. They scored four runs in the first inning, with some help from the Hawks. Four walks and a throwing error, along with a solo home run by
Jaryn Kanbara gave UHH a 4-1 lead. Holy Names had scored one run in the top half of the inning on a Ruiz-RBI single.
UHH added two more runs in the third on a two-run single by Yamauchi, scoring both Neal and Kanbara, who had singled. Meanwhile, starting pitcher
Travis Burleson settled in, keeping the Hawks off the board in the second, third, and fourth innings, and allowed an unearned run in the fifth.
Lee-Lehano inherited a 6-2 lead in the sixth, but ran into trouble quickly, allowing a walk and hitting a batter. But he battled out of it by fanning the next two batters and inducing the third out via a pop up.
Kea closed things out in the last stanza of the seven-inning contest in a non-save situation.
Kanbara and Yamauchi had two hits each in the game, and Kanbara's homer was his second of the year.
The Vulcans head to San Diego for Friday-Saturday doubleheaders with the Sea Lions, and then will wrap up the regular season with May 1-3 at Biola with four non-conference games with the Eagles.
