HILO, Hawai'i – The Vulcans answered back late with a pair of runs in the eighth inning to overcome Northwest Nazarene, 7-6, Thursday evening at Francis Wong Stadium to start the non-conference four-game series with a win.
Down by a run entering the bottom of the eighth, Bradyn Yoshida led off by reaching on an error before Casey Yamauchi launched a double to left-center field to put runners in scoring position. Mason Cook was hit by a pitch to load the bases and a balk by Nighthawks pitcher Jonathan Zayas sent Yoshida home for the game-tying score.
A few batters later with the bases loaded — along with a partial blessing of Hilo rain — Blake Tweedt delivered a long flyout to left field for a sacrifice fly to safely score Yamauchi for the game-winning run.
The final frame saw the Nighthawks threaten with two outs after back-to-back fielding errors from the left side of the Vulcans infield. But John Navarro, who came onto the mound at the top of the inning, induced a flyout to newly inserted left fielder JP Tilley for the final out and the save.
The comeback victory capped a wild third inning that had Northwest Nazarene rattle off five hits for six runs followed by Hawai'i Hilo capitalizing on three NNU errors to bring five runners across the plate in the bottom frame.
OTHER NOTABLES
- Ty Honda was the second pitcher out of the Vulcans bullpen, entering a zero-outs, bases-loaded situation in the top of the sixth to put the Nighthawks down in order with a fly out sandwiched between two strikeouts.
- Yoshida's game-tying run in the eighth inning is already the fourth time this season the Vulcans have scored via balk by the opposing pitcher — seventh overall through the six games played this season.
- Yoshida also finished the night batting 2 for 3 with an RBI on a bases-loaded walk, two runs scored and two putouts in center field.
- Vance Oshiro had a 2-for-4 outing at the plate with a double while recording four assists and two putouts at second base, including a 6-4-3 double play.
- Nolan Walker and Shane Jamison both had two-hit nights with a run scored for NNU while Tyler Best was responsible for two runs scored on a single in the third inning. Jamison also had two putouts and three assists at second base.
- Ty Pohlmann had six strikeouts in 3.1 innings of relief work through the middle part of the game for the Nighthawks.
- The Vulcans 5-1 record is the best start to a season since at least 2007.
WHAT'S NEXT
Hawai'i Hilo moved to 5-1 overall, 0-0 Pacific West Conference while Northwest Nazarene moved to a 1-5 record (0-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference).
The Vulcans will continue their four-game series with Northwest Nazarene with a doubleheader Friday afternoon starting at 3 p.m. Both teams will conclude Saturday with first pitch slated for 3 p.m.
Hawai'i Hilo will then have a week off to prepare for the PacWest season opener against Concordia University Irvine Feb. 24-25 at Francis Wong Stadium.
