Hilo, Hawaii. -- Unfortunate news came late in the California night as Vanguard baseball dropped the final two games of the Pacific West Conference series at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.  The Lions were tied with the Vulcans in game one 4-4 in the ninth, but the home side got a walk-off knock in the bottom of the 10th.  A pair of two-run innings did the scoring for UHH in the nightcap, as the Vulcans won 4-2.  The Lions dropped to 5-18 overall and 2-15 in PacWest action, while UHH improved to 9-9, 8-6.
 
What Happened? After two quick frames, the Hilo offense took the initial lead in the bottom of the third.  Christopher Ceballos got a strikeout to begin the period, but a walk and a hit batter loaded up the bases, and UHH scored one on a single.  However, Ceballos then got two quick outs to leave the bases juiced, giving the offense a chance that was seized upon in the top of the fourth.  Colton Perez demolished a ball over the left-field fence to tie the game (his third of the year), and after a clean inning from Daniel Rivera, the Lions jumped ahead in the fifth.
 
James Derflinger reached on an error, stole second, and then got to third on a wild pitch.  All that hustle allowed a single by Bennett Vondrak to cash in, as the Blue and Gold tip-toed to a 2-1 edge.  The Vulcans were quiet in the fifth but got a runner to third in the bottom of the sixth, with a sacrifice fly leveling the score at 2-all.
 
Another VU homer returned the squad to the lead, as Vondrak crushed a ball over the fence in left to make it 3-2 on his first collegiate home run.  However, Rivera ran into trouble in the seventh, as a single and a walk put two runners on, with a sacrifice bunt pushing the duo to second and third.  Braden Turner came in to try to stymie the Vulcans, but a single scored two to flip Hilo to a 4-3 advantage.
 
Yet, the Blue and Gold used a determined top of the eighth to pry the lead away again.  Brian Paymard hit an infield single to start the inning for VU, and Chase Easter-Hairston ran for him.  A groundout sent him to second, and two batters later, Derflinger swatted a single to the right-center gap to bring Easter-Hairston home and make it 4-4. 
 
UHH got a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth, but Turner remained calm and got the next three batters out in order.  But the 10th was not a great moment for the Lions, who loaded up the bases in the top half but could not push a go-ahead run over the plate.  A hit batter for UHH was bunted to second, and a double gave the home side a 5-4 decision.
 
UHH had six hits, an error, and five runners left on base, while Vanguard had nine hits and 13 runners stranded.  Ceballos went three and had two strikeouts, with Rivera and Turner each pocketing one K.  Turner dropped to 0-2.  Vondrak had two RBI, tied for the game-high, and went 3-for-5.  Derflinger went 2-for-5, while both Tristan Gallegos and Nathan Hellein each had a pair of walks.
 
Game 2
Vanguard gave Seth Wrightstone an early advantage in the top of the second, as Angel Perez smoked a ball over the fence on a full count to put the Lions up 1-0 (his third of the season).  But the second and the third innings were successful outings for the Hilo offense, with two runs scoring in each interval.  A two-out single with runners at second and third put the Vulcans up 2-1 in the second, with a double and two singles extending the gap to 4-1 in the third.
 
The Lions had something cooking in the top of the fourth, as Joshua Sur got a one-out single.  Perez poked a single to right field to put Sur at third, and a Derflinger base knock sliced the deficit to 4-2, but VU could not close any more.  After giving up the four runs, Wrightstone and Colton Perez combined for only one allowed hit and two walks to keep the Hilo offense at bay the rest of the night.
 
Vanguard attempted to swing the game to its favor in the top of the seventh, as Rivera and Jaxson Davis had back-to-back singles with one out.  But the Vulcans got the next two outs to take the series 3-1.
 
UHH had four runs on six hits, one error, and six runners left on base.  The Blue and Gold had two runs, eight hits, one error, and seven left aboard.  Davis went 3-for-3 from the leadoff spot to lead all players, while Angel Perez went 2-for-3.  Wrightstone went 4.1 IP and collected three strikeouts but dropped to 1-4.  Colton Perez had one strikeout and one walk in his first appearance on the mound this season.   
 
 
What's Next?  Vanguard returns home and gets nine days until a home-and-home with CUI, with the opening two games in Irvine.