UH-Hilo’s baseball team earned a quality win Saturday at Concordia using a touch of hitter’s inequality.
The Vuls put up crooked numbers in bunches during the second game of a doubleheader, scoring 13 runs in the final five innings for a 14-6 win and a split in Irvine, Calif.
Senior second baseman Mana Manago amassed a career-high five hits and drove in three runs.
In the first game, the Eagles won 5-3 with Kyle Alcorn pitching seven innings for UHH ( 8-11, 6-6 Pacific West Conference).
The Vulcans pounded out 21 hits in the second game. Rustin Ho and Kamalu Neal each collected three hits and drove in two runs. Ho had two doubles and Neal one. Kyle Yamada, RJ Romo, Kobie Russell and Dylan Sugimoto had two hits apiece to help hand the Eagles (10-11, 5-1) their first conference loss. Concordia came in off a four-game sweep of Hawaii Pacific, but the Vuls scored two runs in the fifth to pull within 4-3, took the lead with a four-run sixth, then added two in the seventh, one in the eighth and another four-spot in the ninth.
UHH starter Christian Sadler (2-2) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs while scattering eight hits. Brandyn Lee-Lahano, who also pitched an inning in the first game, pitched the final 3 1/3 innings innings without yielding an earned run, giving up just two hits and fanning four to get credit for a save.
While the Vuls finished the day coming back from a 4-1 deficit, they began it after losing an early 3-0 lead.
Yamada led off the game with the first of his two hits, two batters reached on walks, Neal’s grounder scored a run and Jaryn Kanbara plated two more with a single up the middle.
Alcorn fell to 2-2, allowing eight hits with two walks and a strikeout.
The Eagles went ahead 4-3 with two runs in the seventh, and Brett Vansant pitched a complete game for Concordia.
The teams play another doubleheader Monday.