HONOLULU – Redshirt junior Dustin Demeter had not played in a game since 2018 until Friday night for the University of Hawai'i baseball team at Les Murakami Stadium but that did not stop Demeter from making an immediate impact in 2020 with a walk-off two-run home run to top Hawai'i-Hilo 5-4 on Friday night.
 
The third baseman came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out and a redshirt junior Adam Fogel on first base. Demeter then saw a strike and swung at the next pitch to go down 0-2 in the count. The Santa Barbara-native then took an inside pitch and sent it out of the ballpark to ignite the Hawai'i dugout.

"Couldn't be more happy for Dustin," Hawai'i head coach Mike Trapasso said. "It was a great welcome back. We had opportunities all night but couldn't convert until Dustin came through."

Demeter had begun the game with a two-out double off the left field wall to score the Rainbow Warriors' first run of the game.
 
"I had seen [the inside fastball] enough to know it was probably coming in again," Demeter said. "It showed up and it was good.
 
"It's completely indescribable. I don't know how to put it into words what's going on inside my head right now."
 
In front of an opening day crowd of 3,061, the Rainbow Warriors and Vulcans traded blows early before both team's pitchers settled in and the score remained tied for three innings.
 
Hilo opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-run home run to center field by Jacob Igawa.
 
Hawai'i got a run back in the bottom half of the inning after sophomore Scotty Scott led off the inning with a hit by pitch. A sacrifice bunt from junior Kole Kaler moved Scott to second and a double off the base off the wall in left field by redshirt junior Dustin Demeter cut the Vulcan lead.
 
The Bows took the lead in the bottom of the second inning on a lead-off single from redshirt junior Alex Baeza, back-to-back sacrifice bunts from sophomore Dallas Duarte and freshman Aaron Ujimori. Duarte reached on the sacrifice bunt due to an error by Vulcan starter Ryan Alcorn. Sophomore Tyler Best then singled up the middle to score Baeza and Duarte.
 
The Vulcans tied the score in the third on a passed ball after reaching third via a single, a stolen base, a ground out and a ground out.
 
It remained deadlocked until the top of the seventh inning when Hilo put together two base hits to open the frame forcing head coach Mike Trapasso into a change. Junior Jeremy Wu-Yelland came in and recorded an out and induced a ground ball but Hawaii was unable to turn the double play and get out unscathed. Hilo scored Lawson Faria on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded and one out to take the lead.
 
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Fogel worked a walk to bring Demeter to the plate with just one out. With a 2-0 count, Demeter hit an inside fastball out of the ballpark to right field.
 
Hawai'i's  starter, senior Logan Pouelsen, finished his 2020 debut throwing six innings, allowing six base hits, four runs and striking out seven.
Wu-Yelland pitched three innings of relief and earned the win in his first appearance of the year striking out three, allowing just two hits and a walk.
 
Combined, Pouelsen and Wu-Yelland fanned 10 Hilo batters.
 
The Bows and Vulcans meet for the series finale Saturday at 1:05 p.m. HT from Les Murakami Stadium.