LA MIRADA, Calif.—UH Hilo built a 3-0 lead but host Biola rallied back to claim a 7-3 victory on Wednesday afternoon in the first game of a four-game set at the Eagles Diamond.
The non-conference series will continue on Thursday with another 3 pm (Pacific time) single game. The loss for the Vulcans dropped their record to 25-17 on the season while Biola improved to 27-18.
UH Hilo had won 15 of their last 16 games prior to the loss.
The Vulcans jumped out to a 3-0 lead through the top of the third, but the Eagles scored three of their own in the bottom half of the inning, added the winning run in the seventh and posted three insurance runs in the eighth.
Lead-off batter Joey Magro drove in four runs for the hosts, three of them on a home run in the third. In the eighth, the Eagles went yard back-to-back off reliever
Brandyn Lee-Lehano with long shots by Robert Anthony Cruz and Jerron Largusa to put the game away.
Earlier, UH Hilo used a home run of its own to take a 1-0 lead, when catcher
Jaryn Kanbara hit a solo shot over the centerfield fence. Also in the second inning,
Nick Lugo doubled home
Rustin Ho, who had singled.
The Vulcans took a 3-0 lead in the third after
Casey Yamauchi and
RJ Romo singled and
Kobie Russell brought home Yamauchi with a sacrifice fly.
But there would be no more plate crossings for the Vulcans. Four different Eagles toed the pitching rubber and were able to work around 13 total Vulcan hits.
For the Vulcans on the mound,
Jacob Morales made just his second start of the season and gave up three runs in three innings.
Christian Sadler pitched 1.2 innings, allowing no runs and just one hit, but Biola took the lead against
Devan Elson (one run) and then Lee-Lahano was charged with three runs in 1.1 innings.
Offensively, freshman second baseman Yamauchi had three hits for the Vulcans, while two hits each could be claimed by Romo, Kanbara and Ho.
Biola has now won four of the five games played between the two schools this season. The Vulcans will need to reverse that trend to keep their faint playoff hopes alive with the single game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday (noon).
