Wrap-up: Big Island Baseball Bash

UH-Hilo held its annual Big Island Baseball bash over the weekend.

• • •

THURSDAY

The Vulcans kicked off the tournament on Thursday with wins of 8-3 and 4-1 over Saint Martin’s in a doubleheader.

Arthur Soto tallied a four-hit day, going 3 for 5 with two doubles and two RBI in Game 1. Soto’s first two-bagger got the scoring going for the Vulcans in the bottom of the third inning after chasing three early Saints runs.

Bradyn Yoshida added another run later in the frame with a two-out bases-loaded RBI bunt single to make it a 3-2 score.

From there, the Vulcans poured it on with nine (of their 13 total) hits through the next five innings. Soto provided the game-winning run with an infield RBI single to score Bryce Tweedt in the bottom of the sixth.

In the eighth inning, Mason Cook and Vance Oshiro provided back-to-back jacks on solo homers before Alec Yamauchi brought in the final run with a pinch-hit RBI single to right field.

Game 2 saw UH-Hilo score all four of its runs in the fifth inning after SMU plated a lone run in top of the third aided by a throwing error.

Yamauchi led off with another pinch-hit single before Oshiro drew a four-pitch walk to put two runners on.

Two batters later, Chris Varljen pounded a double to left-center field to bring two runs across. Cody Min later scored Varljen with a sacrifice fly before Soto thrashed his seventh double on the young season for the Vulcans’ final run of the evening.

Ethan Salschieder (1-0) and Matthew O’Brien (1-0) were the winning pitchers on record while Jake Liberta and Orlando Leon Jr. each notched saves.

• • •

FRIDAY

On Friday night, UH-Hilo defeated Chaminade 4-3 in the pair’s first matchup in more than 40 years — thanks to a walk-off hit by Arthur Soto in the 11th inning.

Soto, who also got the scoring going with a solo homer in the first inning, faced a no-out bases-loaded situation with the score tied, 3-3, in the bottom of the 11th. The third baseman took the first-pitch offering and jammed it up through the middle to score Bradyn Yoshida for the walk-off victory. Christian Wood was the winning pitcher on record (1-0), coming in for 2.2 hitless innings and dealing four strikeouts to help preserve the tied score. He entered with one out and two runners on in the top of the ninth and delivered consecutive outs to get out of the jam.

Redshirt-freshman Devin Hayashi made his first appearance on the mound for the Vulcans, putting up a gritty 4.2 scoreless-inning performance with five strikeouts.

2024 marks the return of Chaminade Baseball after briefly playing one season in the NAIA in 1980. Earlier in the day in the Big Island Baseball Bash, the Silverswords matched up with HPU for the first time this season and also went to extra innings with Chaminade claiming the win in the 12th inning.

• • •

SATURDAY

On Saturday, the Vulcans suffered a 6-4 loss to HPU.

Arthur Soto continued his blazing-hot start to the season, coming off a clutch walk-off single the night before to get the scoring going for the Vulcans Saturday with a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning.Cody Min made it just a one-score game, 3-2, in the bottom of the fifth inning after bringing Kein Iwata home on a sacrifice bunt.

Timely hitting from the Sharks aided by two Vulcans errors extended HPU’s lead with three runs in the top of the seventh to make it a 6-2 game.Down to the final outs, UH-Hilo began to rally and plated runs on a Bryce Tweedt sacrifice fly and a Blake Tweedt RBI single to right field. But with the tying run at the plate, HPU managed to settle in and end the game with a strikeout.

• • •

SUNDAY

UH-Hilo closed out the tourney with another extra-innings win, this time over Saint Martin’s on Sunday.

Chasing three runs entering the final frame of regulation, the Vulcans rallied big time to tie the score. Bryce Lindberg brought Vance Oshiro in on a sacrifice fly followed by Bryce Tweedt lining a base hit to right field to move pinch runner Chris Varljen over to third base. Min flied a hit just beyond the shortstop’s reach in left-center field for an RBI. Soto once again clutched up with a full-count single up the middle to bring in the game-tying run.

The Saints almost pulled off a two-out rally in the top of the 10th inning, but Lindberg gunned out a runner at third base from left field to end the threat.

Blake Tweedt and Oshiro singled as freshman Brandon Wada took his first-pitch offering and laid down a sacrifice squeeze bunt toward first base with Blake Tweedt sliding home safely for the walk-off win.

Jake Liberta got the win, coming out to pitch the top of the 10th inning.

Starter Aaron Davies went 4.2 innings with three strikeouts and three defensive assists while allowing just four hits but surrendering three walks and three earned runs.

UH-Hilo moved to 5-4 overall (0-0 Pacific West Conference) while HPU moved to a 2-4 record (0-0 PacWest) and Saint Martin’s moved to 2-6 (0-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference).

The Vulcans will travel to O’ahu next weekend for a four-game non-conference series with Chaminade at the Patsy T. Mink Central O’ahu Regional Park.

Next home game is the PacWest Conference home opener set for Feb. 25-26 against Concordia University Irvine.