SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Just when you think you couldn't pinch yourself one more time, the Hawai`i Hilo baseball team gave their fans two more reasons on Saturday afternoon at Carroll B. Land Stadium.
The Vulcans, in the midst of their best season in nearly three decades, took two games from No. 2 regionally ranked Point Loma by the scores of 6-4 and 2-1. That gave the upstart Vulcans three of four wins in the series.
That also gives them a final mark of 21-11 in Pacific West Conference play, and sole possession of second place. They are 25-16 overall and have won 15 of their last 16 games. Point Loma is now 28-17 on the season and 16-11 in the PacWest.
RJ Romo went 5-for-8 at the plate for the Vulcans, and UH Hilo got outstanding pitching from
Jacob Morales,
Devan Elson and
Travis Burleson to leave San Diego and America's Most Scenic Ballpark on a high note.
UH Hilo finishes up the regular season this coming week (May 1-3) with a four-game series at Biola. The Vulcans and Eagles have already played their conference games this year, and these will be non-conference counters.
In Saturday's first game, it looked like UH Hilo's luck had finally run out. The Sea Lions scored four times in the first two innings on a combination of three hits, three walks and two hit batters against starter
Christian Sadler.
But the Vulcans rallied back with three runs in the fourth via an error and base hits by Romo,
Kobie Russell and
Rustin Ho. UHH then tied the game in the fifth when
Kyle Yamada walked, moved to second on a bunt, advanced to third on another Romo hit, and then raced home on the throw when Romo stole second to tie it at 4-4.
Meanwhile, Morales had come out of the bullpen to spell Sadler and was very effective. He kept Point Loma off the board for four innings, allowing just three hits. In the top of the seventh, the Vulcans gave him a 5-4 lead when Yamada greeted PLNU reliever Josh Richter with a home run.
In the bottom half of the inning, Elson came on for Morales. The 6-foot-7 lefty was dominant in his best outing of the year, putting down nine Sea Lions in a row. He fanned all three batters he faced in the eighth inning and finished with four K's.
UHH added insurance in the ninth on Romo's RBI-double down the left field line, scoring
Dylan Sugimoto, who had walked. Romo finished 3-for-5 in the game and Kamula Neal was 2-for-4.
The second game headliners were Romo again and Burleson.
The sophomore right-hander worked out of some trouble in the first few innings, including fanning three Sea Lions in a row after giving up two singles to lead off the second. He didn't have much trouble after that until the final inning.
Offensively, Romo provided the runs the Vulcans would need in the third inning. After
Nick Lugo singled and another reached via error, Romo doubled down the left field line to bring home both runners and give Burleson a 2-0 lead.
In the seventh and final inning, with Burleson at over 100 pitches, Point Loma made one last burst. Three singles and a wild pitch brought one run home and put runners on second and third with two outs. But Burleson reached back for one more bullet, fanning the final batter of the game to secure the upset and series victory for the visitors.
Burleson improved to 6-2 on the year in pitching his second complete game of the season. He gave up seven hits (three in the seventh), walked just two and fanned eight.
Romo had two hits and both RBI to give him three runs batted in on the day to go with his five hits.
UH Hilo's final four games of the season at Biola may be non-conference, but all of a sudden the word "playoffs" is bouncing around the dugout in a most unforeseen way. To stay in the conversation, the Vulcans will need to make an impression in La Mirada.
Six teams qualify for the NCAA Division II West Region tournament, including the champion from the PacWest (Azusa Pacific) and the tournament winners from the CCAA and GNAC.
