Baseball: Vuls break out big bats again, sweep Concordia

SHELLY BLUNCK/UHH Coming off a five-hit game over the weekend, Mana Manago collected three hits during each end of a doubleheader sweep Monday at Concordia.
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UH-Hilo coach Kallen Miyataki doesn’t know where this came from, but the attack started Saturday night.

The Vulcans have caught hitting fever in Southern California.

UHH racked up 32 hits in two games to sweep Concordia 10-6 and 12-7 on Monday in Irvine, Calif., to win three games in the four-game series.

“I had no idea this was coming,” Miyataki said, “but I’m not grumbling.”

The Vulcans (10-11, 8-6 PacWest), who won 14-6 to split a doubleheader Saturday, moved about .500 in the conference. The Eagles dropped to 10-13 and 5-3.

In the first game, Casey Yamauchi, Kobie Russell and Mana Manago each had three hits. Manago also had two RBIs.

Travis Burleson went 6 1/3 innings for the win. She allowed five runs on nine hits and three walks and struck out five. Brandyn Lee-Lehano pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and John Kea pitched one-run relief.

Alex Lalasky pitched five innings in the loss.

Tony Garcia batted 2 for 4 with two RBIs for the Eagles.

“All this time, we’ve been playing a lot better,” Miyataki said. “The kids have been working hard and put in a lot of time.”

In the second game, UHH compiled 18 hits and scored five runs in the second and six in the eighth.

Kyle Yamada batted 2 for 5 with three RBIs, Yamauchi had three hits and two RBIs, R.J. Romo added three hits. Kamalu Neal and Rustin Ho each had two hits, and Manago had three hits and three RBIs.

Lee-Lehano pitched two shutout innings in relief for the win. Kea pitched one-run relief to close the game. Devan Elson started and went 1 1/3 innings, Jacob Morales went two innings, and Kekai Mahiko pitched 1 2/3 innings of perfect relief.

Matt Lautz didn’t record an out, gave up six runs and took the loss.

Haloa Dudoit went 4 for 5 to lead the Eagles.