After a doubleheader split on Friday, the UH-Hilo baseball team is still alive, but barely, at the PacWest automatic qualifier pod series at Azusa, Calif.
In the first game, host Azusa Pacific roughed up UHH ace Kyle Alcoran in an 11-7 win at the Cougars field.
In the second game, the Vulcans outlasted Academy of Art 8-7 in 11 innings.
The Cougars are 2-0 while the Vulcans and Urban Knights are each 1-2.
Art (16-19) plays Azusa Pacific (31-8) at 9 a.m. Saturday and the Vuls (14-14) play the Cougars at 1 p.m. on the three-day tournament’s final day.
The Cougars beat up UHH’s pitching. They scored five runs (one unearned) in five innings off Alcorn, two runs off Jamieson Hirayama, who got two outs, and four runs off Jonathan Buhl, who pitched 1 1/3 innings.
Ty Honda was the most successful of UHH’s four pitchers. He threw two shutout innings.
Chris Aubort batted 3 for 4 with two RBIs, Brandyn Yoshida had three hits, and Casey Yamauchi had two hits for the Vulcans, who left 11 on base.
Aubort hit a two-run homer in the seventh to cut APU’s lead to 9-5. In the ninth, Kekaulike Kalua hit a solo homer to trim the lead to 11-5
The Cougars hit three homers, a solo shot by Osvaldo Tovalin off Hirayama in the sixth, a two-run homer by Casey Dykstra off Buhl, also in the sixth, and a solo shot by Aaron Roose off Buhl in the seventh. Dykstra is the nephew of former major leaguer Lenny Dykstra.
Cory Dawson pitched six innings of two-run ball for the win. David Wylie pitched 2 1/3 innings of five-run ball and Korey Shepard got two outs for the Cougars.
In the second game, the Vulcans scored two runs in the 11th with two out and down to their last strike.
With one out, John Bicos singled off Morgan Edwards and Kalua was hit by a pitch. Jaryn Kanbara was retired on an infield flyout.
Lawson Faria was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two out. Matt Sanchez replaced Edwards, who quickly got ahead in the count at 1-2 against Yoshida.
Yoshida hit an RBI single to right field for a 7-7 tie, and Bicos scored the winning run on an outfield throwing error.
Yamauchi had three hits, Bicos and Yoshida paired hits, and Mason Campbell had two RBI for the Vuls, who stranded 11 on base. UHH also rallied in the ninth, using Faria’s hit, four walks and an error to score four times.
Aaron Davies started and pitched 5 1/3 innings of four-run ball. Takashi Umino followed with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Christian Sadler tossed two innings of two-run ball.
Closer John Kea pitched two innings of one-run relief for the win.
Edwards took the loss with 1/3 innings of two-run relief (one unearned).
Noah Daubin hit two homers while Ty Conrad and Justin Summers each homered for the Urban Knights, who left four on base.