UH batters Hilo early, holds on to win
HILO >> Jacob Sheldon-Collins had a career-high four hits and Eric Ramirez drove in three runs as Hawaii went on the offensive with 20 hits in an 11-9 victory over Hawaii Hilo on Sunday afternoon at Francis Wong Stadium.
Chayce Ka’aua went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored and Alex Sawelson went 2-for-5 with a double, two runs and two RBIs for the Rainbow Warriors, who earned a split of the season-opening two games series.
It was still a struggle against the Division II Vulcans (1-1), who scored at least nine runs against UH for the first time since 2002, when UHH scored 10 and won.
Hawaii led 8-1 in the fifth inning when starter Kyle Von Ruden was roughed up for four runs.
Von Ruden (1-0) got the win, giving up six hits in five innings with one strikeout.
The Vulcans added two runs in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly off UH reliever Patrick Martin. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning made it 11-9.
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Cody Culp retired all four batters he faced to pick up the save for UH.
The two run allowed in the eighth inning were charged to UH reliever Isaac Friesen.
Hawaii made one change to its starting lineup. Freshman Kekai Rios started at catcher and went 1-for-2 with a run scored before Ka’aua replaced him defensively to start the bottom of the fourth.