Vulcans cross islands to play Sharks again
 
Hawai`i Hilo (14-15 overall/12-10 PWC) vs. Hawai`i Pacific (19-15/6-12 PWC) 
Friday (6 pm), Saturday (DH, 1 pm), Sunday (1 pm) Hans L`Orange Park, Honolulu
Live Stats at hiloathletics.com.
 
Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans gathered their first four-game sweep of the season, taking out Academy of Art over the weekend (March 28-30) at Wong Stadium. The sweep pulled them to within a game of .500 overall (14-15) and they are 12-10 in the Pacific West Conference. That puts them in fourth place in the nine-team loop.

PacWest Games, Not PacWest Games: The first two games of the series, on Friday and Saturday, will be Pacific West Conference counting games, while the other two will be non-conference.

Spring Cleaning: The sweep of the Urban Knights was the first for UH Hilo since taking four games on the road last year at Holy Names.  

On the Plus Side: UH Hilo is now over .500 in conference play, the latest in the season (April) that they can say that since the "new" PacWest (with added SoCal teams) was formed in 2011. The latest to be hovering near .500 was last year when the Vulcans were 7-7 on March 24 after winning the first two games of the series at Fresno Pacific.

Hitting Headlines: Mana Manago went 6-for-15 in the Academy of Art series to raise his batting average to .326, tops on the Vulcans. That is just a percentage point ahead of Kyle Yamada (.325). Yamada leads the Vulcans in triples (two), RBI (18) and walks (10). Kamalu Neal is now above .300 (.314), as is Casey Yamauchi (.303). Yamauchi has missed seven games with an injury…Kobie Russell has raised his average to .292, and paces the Vulcans in doubles (8) and home runs (2)…Dylan Sugimoto (.282) leads his team in runs scored (21)…Smaller sample size, but Rustin Ho is hitting .368 in 38 at-bats.

Can't Stop This: The Vulcans have 45 stolen bases in 54 attempts, tops in the PacWest. The next closest team is Hawai`i Pacific with 37. Casey Yamauchi leads with nine, followed by Rustin Ho with eight, Mana Manago (six) and three others with five—Kobie Russell, Dylan Sugimoto and Mikey Rita.

Welcome Back, Dylan: Junior pitcher Dylan Spain made his first full start in nearly a month, and looked in to be in mid-season form. He tossed a seven-inning, four-hit shutout at Academy of Art during UHH's 2-0 win in the final game of the series. He didn't walk a batter and fanned eight. He was named the PacWest Pitcher of the Week for his efforts.

Pitching Progress: With the shutout, Dylan Spain dropped his ERA to a team-best 3.18 and improved his record to 2-1. He has given up 16 hits in 17 innings and has fanned 18 batters…Jordan Tagawa has a 3.60 ERA in ten appearances out of the bullpen…Sophomore John Kea now has five saves, tied for the conference lead in that that category…Brandyn Lee-Lehano pitched in three of the four games against the Urban Knights, picking up a three-inning save in one of those contests. He pitched a total of nine innings and gave up just two earned runs…Travis Burleson is the Vulcans leader in wins (4-2).
 
Shark Bites: After an 11-2 start, Hawai`i Pacific has cooled a bit. The Sharks are 8-13 since then, but snapped a six-game losing streak by taking three of four games against Academy of Art. HPU went 6-3 against the Vulcans earlier in the year in a series that spanned two weekends on both islands. Sean Coffey leads the Sharks with a .410 average, while Jordan Mopas has nine home runs and 38 RBI. Christian Kapeliela is hitting .406 with 28 RBI. Evan Spitzer paces the pitching staff with a 5-2 record and 2.95 ERA.
 
Around the Horn: The Vulcans are in fourth place in the Pacific West Conference standings (12-10), with Azusa Pacific leading the pack with a 13-3 record. Point Loma is next at 7-4, followed by Concordia at 9-7.
 
Regional and National 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 20-5, (2) Azusa Pacific 23-10, (3) Point Loma 19-10, (4) San Francisco State 16-5-1, (5) Stanislaus State 20-12, (6) Cal State Monterey Bay 21-13, (7) Chico State 15-11, (8) Montana State-Billings 14-14, (9) Western Oregon 15-8, and (10) Biola 16-12. Nationally, UC San Diego is No. 3, Azusa Pacific is 13^th, and Point Loma 20^th.
 
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 get a week off before returning to Wong Stadium for their final home games of the season. They will host Holy Names on Saturday (April 20) and Monday (April 22) in 3 pm and 3:30 pm doubleheaders. Monday will be Senior Day.
 
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.