UH-Hilo entered Thursday night’s series opener with worries about players it could be missing because of injuries.
The Vulcans didn’t have to fret after being rescued by a player just returning from one.
Keaau High graduate Jonathan Segovia has carved out a nice college baseball career for himself, but he hadn’t really been a part of an eventful early season slate at Wong Stadium until Thursday night. The senior delivered a game-winning single in the 10th inning, lifting UH-Hilo past Point Loma 6-5.
The Vulcans (6-7, 2-3 Pacific West Conference) fell behind 5-2 but chipped away, finally tying the game in the eighth when Dylan Sugimoto walked, moved around on a sacrifice and a single by Phillip Steering and scored on a wild pitch.
John Kea (1-1), UHH’s fifth pitcher, got out of a jam in the ninth and worked around two walks and got four outs to get the victory.
UHH finished with just six hits, two from Segovia. The Sea Lions (9-9, 5-4) belted 12 hits but made five errors and left 13 runners on base.
As a junior, Segovia flirted with a .300 season, finishing with the second-highest average on the team behind Steering, who missed practice time this week with an injury. Segovia, an outfielder, was playing in just his fourth game this season and second since being sidelined.
Sugimoto also started the winning rally with a walk, this time with one out. He took second on a wild pitch by Tommy Paul (0-2) and Segovia greeted Robert Ortiz III by lining the walk-off single to right. He’s 8 for 14 on the season.
Vuls freshman left-hander Kyle Alcorn pitched five innings and was touched for four runs (three earned), eight hits — Travis Flores launched his seventh homer — with a walk and three strikeouts.
Sandwiched in between relief stints by Cole Nakachi (two-thirds) and Daric Valoroso (two-thirds) was Drew Ichikawa, who came through with two 1/3 shutout innings as UHH mounted a comeback.
With one out in the sixth, Segovia singled to right, moved to second on a groundout and scored on RJ Romo’s hit.
Mana Manago manufactured a run in the seventh to make it 5-4, reaching on a error, making third on a steal and a balk and coming home on Edo Sakata’s groundout.
Point Loma freshman Garrett Irvin struck out seven in seven innings, and three of the four runs he was charged with were unearned. He lowered his ERA to 1.95.
A pair of errors led to two unearned runs for UHH in the third as Sakata and Kila Zuttermeister had hits and scored.
Kea wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth by inducing pinch-hitter Travis Takata to fly out.
Vuls ace Dylan Spain is set to start Friday (6 p.m.) and the teams close the series with a 4 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.