OAKLAND, California – The University of Hawai’i at Hilo baseball team dropped a twinbill to Academy of Art, 4-3 and 4-2, Thursday afternoon in Pacific West Conference action at Laney College.
The Vulcans fell in the first of two seven-inning affairs by being walked off in the bottom of the seventh inning, making it the fourth walk-off loss through this eight-game northern California road trip.
With just eight games to go in the conference season, UH-Hilo finds itself at the No. 7 spot with a 10-11 record (.476). The good news is it’s looking like a logjam for the top four postseason qualifying berths with Biola (6-6 / .500), Concordia University Irvine (8-7 / .533), Holy Names (11-9 / .550), Point Loma Nazarene (7-5 / .583), Fresno Pacific (9-6 / .600) and Azusa Pacific (13-7 / .650) slightly ahead.
In Thursday’s first game, the Vulcans took a one-run lead heading into the final frame of the game — making way for the nation’s saves leader in Jake Liberta. However, a lead-off single and a proceeding walk put two runners on as Hayato Niki brought in the final two runs for the win. Niki hit a slow-crawling chopper up the middle that was fielded by Vance Oshiro and thrown over to first base as the game-tying run was scored. Pinch runner Chris Fung took a chance home as the throw down was just a fraction late with ART U snatching the victory.
Oshiro was responsible for driving in all three of the Vulcans’ runs, first in the second inning with an RBI base knock to follow a lead-off double from Blake Tweedt. ART U added a pair of runs in the fourth inning with back-to-back RBI singles to make it a 2-1 score. UH-Hilo retook the lead in the sixth with a bases-loaded two-RBI double from Oshiro.
Casey Yamauchi singled in the third inning to notch career hit No. 225. The fifth-year senior is now just one hit away from tying the program’s all-time hits record set by Keoni Manago (2008-11).
In the day’s second game, ART U took an early 2-0 lead with a two-RBI double to left field in the bottom of the second. The Urban Knights added on another pair of runs with another two-RBI double in the sixth inning.
UH-Hilo got a run back in the third inning on an RBI single from Cho.
Casey Yamauchi added another run in the final frame, turning a lead-off walk into a score on a wild pitch, but the Vulcans went down to end the game.
The Vulcans had prime opportunities to score in the first and second innings but ART U managed two inning-ending double plays. The top of the fourth also saw the Vulcans leave runners stranded on all three bases. The third and fifth innings saw momentum killed after base hits led to runners thrown out on the base paths.
Oshiro led the team in hitting, going 7 for 15 (.467) with five RBI while recording eight assists and four putouts at second base.
Ryan Cho followed with near-identical numbers on 7-for-16 hitting (.438), five RBI, one assist and 34 putouts at first base.
Casey Yamauchi hit .417 and scored seven runs with nine assists and eight putouts at shortstop.
Alec Yamauchi batted .412 with five RBI and five putouts in left field.
Matthew O’Brien, Orlando Leon Jr., Kekahi Haina and Ty Honda each made two appearances on the mound and combined to allow zero runs in 9.2 total innings of work.
UH-Hilo moved to 10-11 in the PacWest (19-13 overall) as Academy of Art moved to a 7-13 record (14-20 overall).
The Vulcans will wrap up their road trip at Fresno Pacific on Monday and Tuesday before returning to Francis Wong Stadium to host HPU for its final home games, April 21–23.
The four-team PacWest Championships postseason tournament will be held May 10–12 in Fresno, California at FPU.
The previously 22nd-ranked Vulcans dropped out of the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association NCAA Division II poll released last Wednesday and received zero points in the latest Week 8 poll released this week.
UH-Hilo also fell three spots to a tie at the No. 7 spot in the latest West Region rankings released this past Monday.
The Vulcans shared the seventh ranking with Cal State Dominguez Hills as fellow PacWest Conference schools Point Loma Nazarene and Azusa Pacific sit above at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. Cal State San Bernardino holds the No. 1 spot.
