The only nice thing about this day for UH-Hilo baseball was the weather.
Cal Baptist got to Vulcans ace Dylan Spain early Thursday evening, and Justin Montgomery pitched seven sparkling innings as the Lancers beat UHH 10-2 in the opener of a four-game series at Wong Stadium.
There were concerns that Wong couldn’t take much more rain, but the field held up nicely after a partly sunny day.
As night fell, Cal Baptist (14-5, 7-2 PacWest) connected against Spain, scoring three in the first and four more in the fourth.
The sophomore right-hander hung in for seven innings for the Vuls (7-10, 3-6 PacWest), striking out three and walking one, yielding nine hits and seven runs (four earned).
For the Lancers – ranked No. 2 in the unofficial West Region poll – Andrew Bash doubled in the first and scored, and he smacked his fifth home run of the season in the ninth off Devan Elson, finishing 3 for 4 to raise his average to .510.
Cal Baptist connected for four its 11 hits in the fourth to take a 7-0 lead, and all the while Montgomery (1-1) was cruising, striking out seven and only allowing an unearned run and four hits.
In the eighth inning, UHH’s Jonathan Segovia led off with a walk and Dylan Sugimoto brought him home with a deep double to right center. Phillip Steering finished with two hits.
The teams play another 6 p.m. game Friday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader on tap Saturday.
• No. 3-ranked Dixie State (21-1, 7-1 PacWest) is coming off its first loss but the Trailblazers still ride their best start into Hilo for noon doubleheaders Friday and Saturday.
Dixie ace Cambrie Hazel is 8-1 with a record a 1.08 ERA, and she has struck out 63 batters in 52 innings of work, while UHH ace Cyanne Fernandez (11-3, 1.97) has lost three consecutive decisions.
Junior Isabelle Mejia gave Fernandez and the Vuls (14-7, 5-3) a lift Monday with a complete game victory against Cal Baptist.
