Before the UH-Hilo baseball team could blink, Academy of Art was ahead 8-0 after two innings.
The Urban Knights prevailed over the Vulcans 8-5 at the PacWest’s automatic qualifier pod series Thursday at Azusa, Calif.
The Vulcans (13-13) play host Azusa Pacific at noon, followed by another 4 p.m. game against Art.
Brandyn Lee-Lehano went six innings in the loss. He allowed eight runs (just two earned) on nine hits and two walks, and struck out five.
Jonathan Buhl pitched two scoreless innings and threw 25 pitches. Lee-Lehano fired 103 pitches.
Jayson Summers pitched seven innings of four-run ball for the win. Collin Carringer threw two innings of one-run relief.
In the fifth, Jaryn Kanbara had a fielder’s choice RBI, and Kobie Rusell had a two-run homer for UHH, which outhit the Urban Knights (16-18) 11-10.
In the sixth, Mason Campbell had an RBI groundout and Rusell had an RBI sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Russell batted 1 or 4 with three RBIs, Casey Yamauchi went 3 for 5, and Trey Yukumoto and Chris Aubort each had two hits for the Vulcans, who left nine on base and committed two errors, leading to the six unearned runs.
For the Urban Knights, Noah Daubin hit an RBI double in the first and a run-scoring single in the second, and Vincent Lontz doubled and drove in two runs.
Earlier, host Azusa Pacific slammed Academy of Art 14-2, getting two home runs from Spencer Rasmussen. Joseph Kim and Brett Soria also went deep for the Cougars (30-8), who amassed 13 hits. Rasmussen’s three-run shot and Soria’s two-run blast highlighted an eight-run first inning, and AJ Woodall (8-0) worked eight strong innings.
