2019 Hawai`i Hilo Baseball Season in Review: 
Overall Record: 26-19             PacWest Record: 21-11 (second place)

Year for the Record Books: The 2019 season was one for the ages for the Hawai`i Hilo baseball team, posting a 26-19 overall record and a 21-11 mark in the Pacific West Conference. The overall mark was UH Hilo's first winning season since 1992 when the Vulcans went 20-16, and the .577 winning percentage was the best for the program since the 1989 squad finished 28-17-1 and qualified for the NAIA World Series.

PacWest Power: The Vulcans finished in second place (21-11) in the Pacific West Conference, their best-ever finish since joining the group in 2009.

Post-Season Progress: UH Hilo's season transitioned from a fight to get to .500 (Mid-March) to a fight for post-season play (late April). The Vulcans came the closest that they have ever come at the NCAA Division II level to at least be in the conversation (which they were) for play beyond May 1. Here is how it happened…..

Low Points: The Vulcans began the year 3-6 after nine games with rival Hawai`i Pacific. They fell to 4-9 after dropping three of four to open conference play against Biola. But they then began to right the ship, taking three of four against Fresno Pacific, and then three of four from Concordia. Defending conference champ Azusa Pacific then snuffed UHH's momentum by sweeping their visitors, with three of those games in romp fashion. The Vulcans were now 10-15 overall and 8-10 in the PacWest.

Sweep City: Everything began to change on March 28. The Vulcans began a series that night at Wong Stadium against Academy of Art, a solid team that came to Hilo with a 12-10 mark. The Vulcans snapped a four-game losing streak with a 8-6 win, and captured another close contest the following night (3-2). Next came a doubleheader twin killing of the Urban Knights on Saturday, giving the Vulcans their first series sweep of the season. The Vulcans then went on the road to play Hawai`i Pacific and claimed four more wins. All of a sudden, the Vulcans couldn't lose, taking another four games from Holy Names at home to push their winning streak to 12.

Sea Lion Stand-Off: The Vulcans took their 12-game streak to San Diego to take on perennial power Point Loma, sitting in a virtual tie for second place with the Sea Lions in the PacWest standings. In game one of the series, Vulcan hurler Dylan Spain shut out the Sea Lions 1-0, the only time all season that Point Loma didn't cross the plate. It also gave the Vulcans their 13^th consecutive victory. And although the win streak came to a close in game two of the doubleheader, the Vulcans went on to sweep the twinbill the following day (6-4 and 2-1) to clinch second place in the PacWest.

Post-Script: The Vulcans dropped three of four non-conference games at Biola to end the season, but their post-season fate was likely cemented back in early March with too much ground to make up. Point Loma and Azusa Pacific ended up as the two PacWest teams to make it to the six-team NCAA West Region tournament. The Sea Lions had beaten champion Azusa five times and nationally ranked Cal State Monterey Bay earlier in the season three times, securing precious ratings points and the No. 3 seed. UC San Diego was No. 1, APU #2, Cal State Monterey Bay #4, Stanislaus State #5 and Montana State Billings #6.  

Lucky 13: The Vulcans 13-game win streak was the fifth best in school history. Three other Vulcans teams in the early 1980's had 14-game runs, and the school record was set in 1982 when head coach Joey Estrella's team won 19 in a row.

Senior Salute: A big part of UH Hilo's success can be attributed to their largest senior class in many years. 13 Vulcans were celebrated on Senior Day--Nick Asuncion, Marcus Calamese, Devan Elson, Coryn Iwamasa, Mana Manago, Kamalu Neal, Mikey Rita, RJ Romo, Theron Shigematsu, Dylan Sugimoto, Jordan Tagawa, Thomas Warren and Kyle Yamada.

Youth Serving: While the Vulcans were senior-heavy overall on the roster, the UH Hilo pitching staff was effective and young. Two starting pitchers in the rotation were juniors (Dylan Spain and Christian Sadler) and two were sophomores (Kyle Alcorn and Travis Burleson). UH Hilo's closer John Kea is a redshirt sophomore.

Pitching with a Purpose: Junior righthander Spain topped the starters with a sparkling 5-1 record and a 3.80 ERA. He earned Third Team All-PacWest honors. Sophomore lefty Alcorn finished 4-4 with a 3.88 ERA and Sadler finished 3-3 (5.32). Burleson led the Vulcans in wins at 6-2 with a 6.42 ERA.

Saving the Day, Again: For the second season in a row, closer John Kea broke the school record for saves in a season. He had ten this year (9 in 2018), giving him 19 for his young career, also a school record. He had a stretch of nine innings where he did not give up a run, and he finished the year with a 3.37 ERA. He was named First Team All-PacWest Conference as a reliever and earned honorable mention NWBWA All-West Region honors.

Casey at the Bat, and in the Field: Freshman Casey Yamauchi made an impression around the league and was named Second Team All-PacWest as a utility player. The rookie hit a team-best .320 and stole 11 bases, while playing in both the outfield and the infield. He started in all 38 games that he played, missing seven games with an injury. Fellow rookie, redshirt freshman Kobie Russell, hit .280 with ten doubles and a team-best 29 RBI.

Senior Sluggers: While the freshman Yamauchi led the team in batting average, it was a foursome of seniors that posted most of the other leading offensive numbers for UH Hilo. Outfielders Kyle Yamada and Dylan Sugimoto had outstanding finishes to their Vulcan careers, with Yamada hitting .317 and Sugimoto .306. Yamada led the Vulcans in runs scored (34), hits (52), walks (26) and doubles (11). He was second in RBI with 27. Sugimoto scored 33 times, had 24 RBI and led the team in stolen bases with 12. RJ Romo hit .280 with 25 RBI, and Mana Manago—albeit with a smaller sample size (missed 15 games) laced the ball at a .343 clip.

Smart Ones: The Vulcans had 11 players named to the Pacific West Conference Scholar Athlete team, including Dylan Sugimoto, who was also named the UH Hilo Male Scholar Athlete of the Year and earned Co-SIDA All-District Academic honors. The PWC Scholar team members had to carry a 3.0 accumulative grade point average or better, with at least two semesters at UHH under their belts. Those players are Jordan Tagawa, Jaron Sugimoto, Dylan Sugimoto, Casey Yamauchi, Thomas Warren, Gaven Palagonia, Marcus Calamese, Coryn Iwamasa, Kyle Yamada, Jacob Morales, and Jamieson Hirayama.

Head Coach Kal Miyataki: Miyataki finished 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 2013. His 26-19 team in 2019 was his best in six seasons at the helm.

Record Books are Here!: For the first time, record books for the NCAA Division II era of the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans are available. Kyle Yamada and Dylan Sugimoto are among a handful of players that have listed themselves in the Vulcan Top 10 for the time frame of 2009-2019. UH Hilo single season and career records for the NAIA era (1977-1993) and the NCAA Division I time frame (1994-2008) are also here. For a look at the different sections, click here.
https://hiloathletics.com/news/2019/7/16/mens-baseball-baseball-record-books-online.aspx