Vulcans Earn Doubleheader Sweep of Urban Knights

Jordan Murai blooped a single to shallow left field in the bottom of the tenth inning, scoring Travis Stancil to give the University of Hawaii at Hilo a 2-1 win over Academy of Art in game one of Monday’s doubleheader at Wong Stadium.

Murai’s hit off of Ryan Donahoe ended a 1-1 stalemate that had lasted since the fifth inning, when both teams traded runs. Academy of Art scored their lone run in the top of the fifth on a Wade Broadstreet single to left field, scoring Jared DePatto. DePatto reached on a fielding error by Vulcans third baseman Johnathan James and made it to third base on a Michael Reyes double before Broadstreet brought him in.

UH Hilo (13-32, 10-26) responded in the bottom of the frame with a pair of singles from Tyson Goo and Austin Cusack off of Urban Knights starter Zach Mexicano. Four batters later, John Abreu walked with the bases loaded, bringing Goo in from third to tie the score.

Academy of Art (5-38, 5-28) had their chance to take the lead off of starter Jeremy Dela Cruz in the seventh inning. DePatto smoked a double to left center field to start the seventh. Two batters later, Broadstreet tried to lay down a bunt and failed, but DePatto was hung up off of third base, and would be tagged out on a rundown.

In the top of the tenth, the Urban Knights had another shot against reliever Casey Bohlmann, getting runners at first and second with one out in the inning. Bohlmann was able to settle down, though, inducing a fly out to Zach Babbitt and striking out Myles Babbitt.

In the bottom of the inning, Travis Stancil was walked by starter Mexicano. Mexicano (2-8) exited after that at-bat, going nine inning of four-hit baseball, allowing four walks, striking out two, and throwing a wild pitch. Tyler Nitahara sacrificed Stancil over to second against Donahoe, setting up Murai’s winning at-bat.

Mexicano was charged with both runs allowed in the game. Donahoe worked a third of an inning in relief, allowing the game-winning hit. For UH Hilo, Casey Bohlmann (3-1) picked up the win. He allowed only two hits and a walk in three-and-a-third innings, throwing one wild pitch and striking out five. He backed up six-and-two-thirds solid innings from Jeremy Dela Cruz, who picked up the no decision. Dela Cruz allowed an unearned run on six hits with one strikeout.

Broadstreet was the only player to pair hits in the game. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI for Academy of Art.

Academy of Art 000 010 000 0 – 1 8 2

Hawaii Hilo 000 010 000 1 – 2 5 2

Urban Knights Gift Wrap Game Two to UH Hilo

Ten walks, six hit batters, and three wild pitches from the Academy of Art pitching staff helped give the University of Hawaii at Hilo an 11-0 win over the Urban Knights in game two of Monday’s PacWest doubleheader at Wong Stadium.

The Vulcans only collected three hits in the game, two of them from Steven Riddle, but they didn’t need to swing the bat to pile up the runs.

The Vulcans scored two in the first inning off of freshman starter Nate Gercken. Jordan Murai walked to leadoff the inning, and two batters later, Joshua Wong was hit by a pitch. That brought Riddle to the plate, and he took a 1-0 pitch deep into the right center field gap to score both runners to put the Vulcans on top early.

UH Hilo (14-32, 11-26) added another run in the second off of a wild pitch that scored Tyson Goo, and one more in the third when Goo hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Riddle, who reached base on a walk off of reliever Kallen Fletcher.

The problem inning was the fourth. With one out in the inning, Jordan Murai walked, and stole second. John Abreu followed with a walk of his own. Both runners advanced when Joshua Wong flied out to right field. New pitcher Yoshi Uemura entered, and on his first pitch, he hit Riddle to load the bases. Uemura then walked Johnathan James to bring Murai home, and then threw a wild pitch to score Abreu. After hitting Brad Fairweather on a 3-2 pitch to re-load the bases, Uemura was chased for senior Spencer Roland. Things didn’t get better at that point, as he immediately walked Goo to bring home Riddle, and then walked Travis Stancil to score James, giving UHH an 8-0 lead after four innings.

The Vulcans had only one hit going into the fifth inning, and Steven Riddle changed that in a big way. After Wong hit a sacrifice fly to score Murai, Riddle clubbed a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence to extend UHH’s lead to 11-0.

The pitching woes exhibited from the visitors overshadowed starter Seamus Yoneshige’s fine outing. Yoneshige (2-4) pitched six innings of scoreless baseball, allowing two hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Makana Ramie pitched a perfect seventh inning to finish off the visitors.

Gercken (0-10) took the loss for Academy of Art. He left after during the first at-bat in the third inning because of an undisclosed injury, but allowed three runs, two of them earned, on one hit, with three walks and three strikeouts, with one hit batter. Fletcher went the next inning-and-two-third, allowing three earned runs on four walks and one hit by pitch. Uemura failed to get an out while allowing two runs on a walk and two HBP, and Roland went the final two-and-a-third innings, allowing three runs, two of them earned, on two hits with two walks and one HBP.

Academy of Art 000 000 0 – 0 2 2

Hawaii Hilo 211 430 x – 11 3 0