WAIPAHU, Hawai`i—The numbers are a bit mind boggling and haven't been common reading in the past for the surging Hawai`i Hilo Vulcan baseball team.
The Vulcans swept host Hawai`i Pacific in a doubleheader on Saturday at Hans L`Orange Park, winning their sixth and seventh straight games to improve to 17-15 on the season and to 14-10 in the Pacific West Conference. They pounded out 25 hits on the day and 20 runs in winning 7-4 and 13-4.
The Sharks are now 19-18 in 2019 and are 6-14 in the PacWest. Today's first game was a league counter, the second was a non-conference game.
The Vulcans won the all-important first game when
Dylan Sugimoto ripped a three-run triple in the seventh inning to break open a 4-4 tie. UH Hilo had taken a 4-0 lead early, only to see the Sharks battle back to tie the game in the sixth inning.
With the lead, ironman
Brandyn Lee-Lehano pitched two scoreless innings, giving up only one hit and fanning three to get the win—moving to 3-0 on the season. It was his 18
th appearance of the year.
John Kea came on for a two-inning save, his sixth, also pitching two scoreless frames and fanning three. Those two subbed for starter
Kyle Alcorn, who didn't allow a run in the first four innings before getting into trouble in the fifth and sixth stanzas.
Kobie Russell,
Kamalu Neal and
Rustin Ho had two hits each for the Vulcans, who had 11 in the game.
In the nightcap, under the lights, UH Hilo scored in every inning and rapped 14 hits in the 13-4 win.
Kyle Yamada went 3-for-4, scored three times, had three RBI, a double and a stolen base. Sugimoto also had three base knocks, while
RJ Romo and
Mikey Rita added two hits each. Romo drove in two runs and Rita scored three times.
Christian Sadler was the benefactor of all that offense, pitching six innings to get the win (3-3). He disbursed 11 hits, but allowed only four runs, and he struck out six Sharks.
The two teams will play one more game on Sunday, with a scheduled start time set for 1 pm.
