Box Score ST. GEORGE, UTAH – The Dixie State College baseball team fell just inches short of a four-game sweep of Hawaii-Hilo at Bruce Hurst Field on Sunday. A close play at home plate in the final inning gave the Vulcans the series finale victory 12-11 to salvage one of four over the weekend. Hawaii-Hilo improved to 13-13, 4-8 in the Pac West while Dixie State dropped only its third game at home this year (18-10 overall, 8-4 in conference). Dixie State needed three runs in the ninth inning to pull even and closed the gap to one with RBIs by Alex Rosenhan (Highland. UT/Alta HS) and Abe Candaleria (Camarillo. CA/Camarillo HS). With two outs and the tying run, Tim Mott (Las Vegas. NV/Las Vegas HS), at second, Aaron Friend (Las Vegas. NV/Centennial HS) grounded a ball through the hole for a single to left. Mott was waved around third and was tagged out at home plate by catcher Matt Haasenritter on a good throw from left by Ronel Trias to end the game and the Storm's hopes. Hilo added what ended up being crucial insurance runs in their ninth with a two-run, two-out home run by Peter Rodgers off DSC reliever Todd Morlock (Magna, UT /Taylorsville). The Vulcans took the early 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and second. Dixie State scored three in the fourth capped by Candaleria's RBI single to take their first lead. Hilo tied the game with one in the fifth and took a 4-3 lead when Keoni Manago singled home Shane Kessel in the sixth. The Red Storm scored five times in their half of the sixth. Candaleria's second single knocked in two while three Hilo errors led to the innings' other three tallies. The lead was short lived as Hilo exploded for six runs in the seventh highlighted by a Manago grand slam off Nick Orgill (Idaho Falls. ID/Idaho Falls HS), pushing UHH ahead 10-8. Dixie State cut the advantage to one after Tony Nelson (St. George. UT/Dixie)'s sacrifice fly scored Aaron Nelson, who tripled with one out, in the eighth inning. The score favored Hilo 10-9 heading into the final inning. Hilo reliever Brian Shannon tossed three innings to get the win (2-2) and Christian Stephenson did enough to earn first save. Dixie State reliever Jake Bankowski (Woods Cross. UT/Woods Cross HS) allowed the go-ahead run in the seventh to drop to 0-1. DSC used eight pitchers starting with Jayson Madson (Tremonton. UT/Bear River HS) followed by Phil Finley (Washington. UT/Pine View HS), Tim McMahon (Littleton. CO/Heritage), Ryan Przestwor (Las Vegas. NV/Bishop Gorman HS), Bankowski, Orgill, Payton Rentmeister (Riverton, UT/Riverton) and Morlock. Dixie State returns to action at home Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m. for the first of four games with Cal State Dominguez Hills. The non-conference series can be heard online at DixieAthletics.com with John Potter.