Rocked in the first game of Friday night’s doubleheader, UH-Hilo’s baseball team got back to what it does best: producing late-inning heroics.
Joe Gallagher’s hit brought in Brett Komatsu with the winning run in the 10th inning at Wong Stadium, and UHH beat Fresno Pacific 6-5 for its fourth walk-off win of the season.
The Vulcans (13-6, 2-4 PacWest) lost the opener 10-0, but they were seemingly cruising with left-hander Kyle Alcorn silencing the Sunbirds (9-5, 2-2) through seven-plus innings. Andrue Lackey hit a two-out, two-run single off of John Kea in the eighth, and Fresno scored three more run off the closer in the ninth.
In the bottom of the 10th, Komatsu doubled and moved to third on Casey Yamauchi’s bunt hit and Gallagher drove him home with a single.
Komatsu collected four hits, and Yamauchi and Gallagher each delivered three. Kea (3-1) recovered with a scoreless 10th, striking out four in 2 1/3 innings.
In the first game, James Yamasaki (1-2) was touched for six runs in the second inning and left after four having allowed nine hits and seven runs.
Garrett Cooper tossed a seven-hit shutout with seven strikeouts for the Sunbirds, andLackey hit a two-run home run as part of a 4-for-4 effort.
Yamauchi had two hits for UHH.
The teams play another 3:30 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.