SAN DIEGO, Calif.--The UH Hilo baseball team played two competitive games against the fourth-best team in the nation, forcing a split after winning the second game 2-0 and losing by just one run in the first 3-2. 

The Vulcans (26-16, 14-14 PacWest) broke the Sea Lions eight-game winning streak and are the fifth team to take a game away from the 36-6 Point Loma Sea Lions who are also ranked No. 1 in the NCAA DII West Region. 

Yesterday (Friday, Apr. 22) the Sea Lions had a strong hitting performance with 27 hits and 21 runs. Today, UH Hilo limited Point Loma to nine hits total and allowed just three runs to score in the first game. 

In the Vulcans 2-0 win, Aaron Davies had a strong performance on the hill. He went five innings and faced two batters in the sixth where he only allowed five hits. John Kea closed the game and received his 11th save of the season, which leads the conference (the runner up has nine). 

UHH pushed their first run across in the third inning. Joshua Fuentes walked to lead off the inning and advanced to second off a ground out from Brett Komatsu. Then came a single from Casey Yamauchi which successfully advanced Fuentes to third. Lucas Sakay then came in clutch for his team, producing a sacrifice bunt that scored Fuentes and gave the Vulcans the 1-0 lead.

Three scoreless innings passed until the Vulcans would break it up in the seventh. Komatsu singled with one-out to get the inning going for his team. Then the PacWest's player with the highest batting average (Yamauchi) blasted a double to score UH Hilo's second run (2-0).

The Vulcans play next Wednesday and Thursday (Apr. 27 and 28) against Azusa Pacific at the Cougar Baseball Field (11 am and 2:30 pm HST).