HILO, Hawai'i – It was a rainy two days at Francis Wong Stadium, but the 23rd-ranked Hawai'i Hilo baseball team and visiting Biola managed to get through one of four scheduled games as the Vulcans took the victory, 7-1, Thursday afternoon in Pacific West Conference action.
Both teams traded runs in the fourth inning, first with the Eagles cashing in with two outs on two singles by Taylor Justus and Noah Ruiz followed by Blake Tweedt's sacrifice fly to score Trent Jackson, who got on with a lead-off double down the right-field line.
Vulcans got ahead in the sixth inning with a lead-off double by Casey Yamauchi before coming around to score on a thrown-away ball on a hard grounder up the middle by Jackson. Two batters later, Blake Tweedt once again brought Jackson home on a sacrifice fly.
Jackson later capped the afternoon with a two-RBI double to deep center field in the seventh inning.
Aaron Davies got the start, going 4.0 innings with four strikeouts and just one walk and one earned run given up, but it was Eamon Velarde (2-0) earning the win on record in 3.0 innings of relief work with three strikeouts. Orlando Leon Jr. closed out the final two innings.
WHAT'S NEXT
Hawai'i Hilo improved to 4-1 in the PacWest (11-2 overall) as Biola moved to an 0-5 record (4-13 overall).
The Vulcans will be back in action for their next two-day four-game series March 6-7 when they welcome 11th-ranked Point Loma Nazarene (0-0 PacWest, 8-3 overall) to Francis Wong Stadium for the Sea Lions' first conference-action of the season.
Hawai'i Hilo will close its home-opening slate with games against Azusa Pacific March 11 and 13 at Francis Wong Stadium before returning in late April to host Chaminade and HPU.
RE-ENTERED
Hawai'i Hilo made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II rankings after coming in at No. 25 in the Week 1 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 poll released Feb. 15.
After an idle week with no games, the Vulcans dropped out of the Week 2 poll before returning to the top 25 in the most recent rankings at the No. 23 spot.
In the West Region rankings, the Vulcans have remained steady at No. 4.
