HILO, Hawaii – In a tale of two games, the Saints broke out for 16 runs in the first game of the doubleheader, before being shutout in the second half, as Saint Martin's fell in both games, 17-16 and 5-0, to Hawaii Hilo on Monday.
Saint Martin's (0-3) rattled off five runs in the ninth inning, but fell one run short in the offensive slugfest before being blanked in the second game by Hawaii Hilo (3-4).
From a 3-0 pitcher's duel on opening night to 33 run slugfest in game two of the four game series, Saint Martin's nearly completed a ninth inning rally to send the game into extra innings.
SMU took the early lead, after only collecting two hits in the first game of the series, responding with five runs in the first inning. The inning was highlighted by
Colton Peha first career home run in a Saints' uniform, a three run shot to left field.
Hawaii Hilo's bats came alive, also capitalizing on four SMU errors, to score 12 of the next 13 runs in the game to take a 12-6 lead after four innings. Saint Martin's began chipping away with three runs in the fifth inning, coming from an RBI single from
Micah McNicoll and an error on the Vulcans.
However, UHH added two more runs in the sixth inning, increasing their lead to 14-9. In the seventh, back-to-back RBI singles by
Steven Sordahl and
Austin Feist, once again cut the lead back down to three runs.
Hawaii Hilo answered with two insurance runs in the eighth, which proved to be two critical runs. In the final inning, Feist doubled down to center field, scoring
Ryne Oshiro. Pinch-hitter
Hunter Holmason came through with a clutch single, driving in two more runs and cutting the score to three runs.
Ryan Colvin tripled to left field, bring home Holmason, and scored on the next at-bat on a wild pitch, bringing the tying run to the plate. However, Hawaii Hilo sealed the wild 17-16 victory with a strikeout.
Aaron Shoup (0-1) got the start, going 3.0 innings, allowing eight runs, only three earned, on four hits, with three walks and one strike out.
Garrison Ritter,
Benjamin Wadowski, Zachary Robinson, and
Zach Stevenson combined to throw the final five innings in relief. The bullpen allowed a combined nine runs, all earned, on 11 hits, with three walks and two strikeouts.
In the second game, the Saints' offense went cold, as Hawaii Hilo shut out SMU. The Vulcans scored first with a solo shot in the second inning, followed by a two-run home run in the third. Hawaii Hilo added their fourth and fifth runs of the game in the fourth inning on a single and bases-loaded walk.
Clark Streby (0-1) got the start for SMU, going 3.2 innings, allowing five runs, all earned, on 10 hits before
Matthew Dunaway finished the fourth inning.
Robbie Shineman pitched the fifth and sixth inning to finish the game.
The Saints conclude their four-game series against Hawaii Hilo tomorrow, Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Live stats are available on smusaints.com.
