Let’s play two. ADVERTISING Let’s play two. UH-Hilo baseball fans were beginning to realize a doubleheader was a bad idea Sunday right around the time Hawaii Pacific’s Mitchell Bumann was circling the Wong Stadium bases after his grand slam in
Let’s play two.
UH-Hilo baseball fans were beginning to realize a doubleheader was a bad idea Sunday right around the time Hawaii Pacific’s Mitchell Bumann was circling the Wong Stadium bases after his grand slam in the second game.
Days like this, the Vulcans swept 21-4 and 9-2 in nonconference play, are in danger of happening when you start two freshman pitchers, Brandyn Lee-Lehano and Alec Telles, on the mound.
“We need to throw them in the fire and see what they are going to do,” Vuls coach Kallen Miyataki said. “We’re trying to figure out who is going to be our starters.”
When Lee-Lehano was last seen on the mound at Wong in a real game last May, he was helping Kamehameha win the HHSAA Division II championship.
He received a harsh welcome to the realities of Division II college baseball.
“We believe in Brandyn,” Miyataki said.
But.
“He has to learn how to pitch,” Miyataki said. “Welcome to college.
“He told me, “Coach, I guess I can’t throw the ball by people.”
After walking the first batter, luck wasn’t on Lee-Lehano’s side as the Sharks (11-3) scored five runs in the first inning.
Ryan Torres-Torioka scalded a ball down the third-base line that was almost backhanded. But it wasn’t, turning into a double.
A misplayed ground ball fueled the rally, and later in the inning Bumann served a ball down the right-field line that almost curved foul. But it didn’t, and two more runs came home.
In two innings, Lee-Lehano allowed seven hits, six runs – three earned – with two walks.
“We talked about a lot of these things and that he gets by,” Miyataki said. “Today he didn’t get by.
“Now he understands better what we are the talking about in terms changing speeds.”
Torres-Torioka, a 2013 Konawaena graduate, had already scored five runs by the sixth inning from the No. 2 spot in the lineup. While the Sharks sprayed the ball all over the field and raked 20 hits against seven different pitchers, the Vulcans (1-3) fell apart defensively, committing five errors.
“Our coaches told us we need to stick to line drives and use the whole field,” Torres-Torioka said. “We know this a big field and the ball doesn’t really travel well here.”
Bumann tested that theory with a blast off Telles that cleared the left-field fence as Hawaii Pacific scored six runs in the first inning of the second game. Telles was removed after allowing a leadoff double in the second inning to Tanner Tokunaga, yielding four hits, seven runs, three walks with a strikeout.
In rebounding from a 5-2 loss in the opener on Saturday, the Sharks outscored the Vuls 37-6 in the final three games of the series.
Torres-Torioka, whose primary job is to move runners over and get on base and score runs, crossed the plate nine times in four games.
“It feels kind of like home because my family can come see me,” he said. “It’s always good to be here.”
Blake Flint (3-0) fired five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and only three hits allowed in the first game as the Vulcans allowed their highest run total since HPU won 24-4 at Wong in 2015.
“In life, adversity happens,” Miyataki said. “Do you just sit back and crawl into a whole, or do you find away to overachieve and get out.”
In the second game, UH-Hilo second baseman Jacob Grijalva touched Kyle Detwiler for a two-run double. In five innings, Detwiler (1-0) gave up three hits and four walks with three strikeouts.
The Vuls used five pitchers – Thomas Warren struck four and yielded only a run in three innings – and played error-free.
It didn’t come close to mattering, but UH-Hilo banged out 10 hits in the opener.
Marcus Calamese (3 for 3) hit an RBI single and a two-run double, and Keaau graduate Jonathan Segovia was 2 for 3 and made a fine diving catch in center field.
“We have to make corrections and get ready for Academy of Art (March 11-13 at Wong), which I feel very confident against,” Miyataki said.
