HONOLULU – Behind the starting pitching of sophomores Aaron Davenport and Cade Halemanu, and the ninth inning walk-off heroics of sophomore Scotty Scott, the University of Hawai'i baseball team swept the doubleheader against UH Hilo on Saturday by scores of 3-2 and 6-2, respectively. 
 
Game 1:

With two-outs, a runner on second, Scott lined the 2-2 off-speed pitch back up the middle and just in front of a diving attempt from the center fielder to score catcher Dallas Duarte from second to give Hawai'i a 3-2 walk-off win over UH Hilo in game one of the Saturday doubleheader.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Duarte reached on a hit-by-pitch and moved to second on a fielder's choice to set up Scott to play hero and win the game for the 'Bows (6-2). Scott's walk-off single was his fourth hit of the day and raised his batting average to .438 on the season. He also raised his on-base percentage to .630 in six games.
 
Sophomore Aaron Davenport took the ball to start the game and delivered six shutout innings giving up five hits and one walk. Davenport, coming off his career-best 13 strikeouts last week, struck out eight Vulcans raising is season total to 28 in three starts.
 
The 'Bows got out to an early lead in the second with the help of third baseman Dustin Demeter. Sophomore Tyler Best led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error. With the infield hit, Best extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Demeter then came up and singled up the middle to bring home Best and give the Bows a 1-0 lead. He finished 2-3 with a double.
 
The following inning, Scott led off with a double and was brought home on an RBI single by shortstop Kole Kaler. The base-knock gave Kaler a hit in six straight games.
 
After retiring seven Vulcans in a row, Davenport gave up a lead-off walk and single to start the sixth inning. He then dialed up his seventh and eighth strikeouts of the day to strand the runners.
 
Freshman reliever Tyler Dyball (1-0) entered the game in the seventh for Davenport. His first two batters hit balls to right field, one in foul territory and one in right center, and saw Best make back-to-back diving catches. 

Not one but TWO diving catches by Tyler Best on back-to-back batters! Wow! #D1Top10 #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/zMFVRolL49

— Hawaii Baseball (@HawaiiBaseball) March 14, 2021

 
In the top of the eighth, the Vulcans led off the inning with a single then quickly tied the game on a two-run homer by right fielder Chris Aubort. Dyball retired six of the last seven batters he faced to finish the game. He finished with two strikeouts over three innings giving up the two hits and two runs.

Game 2: 

Halemanu (1-0) spun five innings of one-run ball and struck out four Vulcans. He ran into trouble with his command as he got deeper into the pitch count, but was able to gut through and give the Rainbow Warriors (7-2) five innings, which tied his season-high.
 
Just like in the first game, the 'Bows jumped on the Vulcans early, this time scoring two runs in the first. Aided by two walks and a hit-by-pitch, third baseman Dustin Demeter hit a grounder into the shift that got by the second baseman which brought home two runs to give the Bows a 2-0 lead.
 
The Rainbow Warriors extended their lead in the bottom of the third when sophomore Tyler Best drove first baseman Alex Baeza home on an RBI double. The double gave Best a hit in 13 straight games.
 
In the top of the fifth, Halemanu gave up back-to-back singles to lead-off the inning. A strikeout and then a hit-by-pitch put him in a bases-loaded jam with one-out. He managed to allow only one run on a sacrifice fly and induced a groundout to end the threat. The Vulcans would tack on one more run on sophomore Cameron Hagan, who allowed three hits and a walk in his inning of work, and trailed the Bows 3-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
 
The Rainbow Warriors quickly added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks in part to two balks. After a lead-off single by catcher Tyler Murray and a walk to sophomore Scotty Scott, the Bows got runners on second and third thanks to a balk. A sacrifice fly from center fielder Adam Fogel brought home Murray and a wild pitch scored Scott to extend the lead to 5-2.
 
Junior Buddie Pindel came in and shut the door for the final three innings to pick up the save. Pindel gave up a hit and struck out one as he was called on to record the last nine outs of the day.
 
Murray would tack on one more insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on his third hit of the day. Making his second appearance of the season, he finished 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
 
Shortstop Kole Kaler picked up his seventh stolen base of the year which ranks him sixth in Division I. He picked up a double in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to seven. Fogel also got a hit in the second game pushing his streak to eight games.
 
The 'Bows will take on the Vulcans for the final game of the series on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. HT. Senior Logan Pouelsen will make his first start of the season for the Rainbow Warriors while junior Kyle Alcorn takes the ball for the Vulcans.