Red-hot Vulcans get cooled off in split

JOE POELLET/UHH UH-Hilo’s Joe Gallagher is congratulated by Kobie Russell, left, and Eric Peterson, right, after hitting a home run Saturday.
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The UH-Hilo baseball team split a doubleheader against Minnesota Crookston on Sunday to take five of the six games at Wong Stadium.

In Game 1, the Vulcans exploded for seven runs in the eighth to overcome a 7-3 deficit after the seventh inning for a 10-8 win.

In Game 2, Jake Dykhoff fired a three-hitter in a 1-0 win for the Golden Eagles (3-6).

In seven innings, the junior right-hander allowed three hits and struck out seven. Teddy Giefer hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth inning off losing pitcher Barron Holtz (0-1), who pitched five innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts.

Cody Hirata and Alden Norquist each pitched a scoreless inning.

In Game 1, Joe Gallagher hit a two-run single, Chris Aubort had a bases-clearing double, and Kobie Russell, who earlier scored on a wild pitch, hit a RBI single for the seven-run rally in the eighth inning.

Casey Yamauchi batted 3 for 4 with two runs, Jaryn Kanbara went 3 for 4 with two runs, Gallagher was 2 for 5 with four RBIs, Lucas Sakay went 2 for 3, and Aubort was 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

UHH relied on seven pitchers. Conor Meehan started and allowed two runs in three innings, Ty Honda gave up three runs and got one out, Jamieson Hirayama recorded two outs, Takashi Umino pitched 1 1/3 inn gins of two-run ball, Devin Meyer recorded an out, Jacob Liberta pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win, and John Kea gave up a run in an inning for his second save.

Logan Spencer pitched 3 1/3 innings of four-run relief in the loss. Matt Nunn batted 2 for 5 with three RBIs to lead the Golden Eagles.

On Saturday, the Vulcans rallied for a 2-1 seven-inning win when Sakay hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to score Kanbara.

Kanbara led off the seventh with a single. Bradyn Yoshida reached on an error, and Brett Komatsu had a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Sakay hit a one-out, game-winning single to right field.

Kea (2-1) pitched one scoreless inning with two strikeouts for the win. Aaron Davies pitched six innings of one-run ball with two hits allowed and five strikeouts.

Komatsu batted 2 for 3 with an RBI, and Sakay was 1 for 2 with an RBI.

UHH next plays a five-game series against Hawaii Pacific (4-0), starting with a pair of PacWest games on Thursday, Feb 24 and Friday, Feb. 25 at Hans L’Orange park on Oahu.