Phillip Steering and Travis Burleson made the trip back to Hawaii a lot more palatable for UH-Hilo’s baseball team.
Steering homered and Burleson stopped Dixie State’s hit parade Saturday and the Vulcans beat the Trailblazers 6-3 to salvage a doubleheader split and stop a five-game losing streak.
The Vulcans (12-16, 8-12) lost the opener 13-5, but Burleson (2-3) stopped the bleeding.
His six-inning stint in which he allowed six hits and three runs with two walks and two strikeouts will go down as a quality start, and it was Herculean considering what the Trailblazers did to UHH in the first three games of the series, scoring 36 runs.
John Kea picked up his fourth save of the season.
Steering hit his fifth home run of the year and freshman Jaryn Kanbara hit a two-run shot during a three-run first inning. Jonathan Segovia and Kyle Yamada each had two hits and scored two runs.
The Vulcans actually outhit Dixie in the opener (14-13), including a home run and double by Steering. Kanbara went 3-for-4, while Yamada, Romo and Dylan Sugimoto had two hits apiece.
Freshman Kyle Alcorn (2-1) had a rough outing, walking six before being pushed out in the second. UH-Hilo used five pitchers, and they combined for 14 walks.
Pitcher Gabe Taylor (2-4) lasted four innings to get the win, and he drove in five runs at the plate.
The Vulcans return home to face No. 1 Azusa Pacific in doubleheaders at Wong Stadium April 9-10.
Hawaii 14, UC Irvine 2: UH’s 1-2-3 hitters — Maaki Yamazaki, Johnny Weeks and Adam Fogel — each drove in three runs to power a rout at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif.
The ‘Bows set a team record for most runs and largest margin of victory for a Big West game.
The ‘Bows won the series, 2-1, after not winning a game in Irvine in two previous three-game series since joining the Big West in 2013.
The ‘Bows scored five runs in the second, punctuated by Fogel’s two-run double, and coasted after that.
Neil Uskali allowed 10 hits, but did not issue any walks in 7 2/3 innings to improve to 5-1.
The ‘Bows are 16-9 and 2-1 in the Big West. The Anteaters fell to 14-12 and 1-2.
The ‘Bows continue this seven-game road trip with a nonconference meeting against Pacific on Monday.
– Tribune News Service