No. 25 Dixie State opened its eight-game Pacific West Conference homestand in grand style as the Storm took both ends of a Monday doubleheader from Hawai'i Hilo at Bruce Hurst Field. DSU (22-6/10-4 PacWest) battled the elements and the Vulcans to rally from an early deficit to claim the opener, 11-5, before erupting for season-highs in hits and runs in cruising to a 20-6 triumph in the nightcap.

In a windy game one, Hilo (4-19/3-17 PacWest) broke open a scoreless ball game with a single run in the fourth and four more runs on six hits in the fifth off Storm ace Dylan File (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) (ND) to bolt out to a 5-0 lead. Meanwhile, Vulcan starter Jordan Kumasaka (ND) limited DSU to just three hits through his first five innings of work.

However the Storm solved Kumasaka and the Vulcans in the sixth as DSU plated eight runs on seven hits to erase the deficit and take an 8-5 lead. Trey Kamachi (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Kapolei HS) and Samuel Hall (Ogden, Utah/Bonneville HS) opened the frame with consecutive singles and junior DH Ryan Rodriguez (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago HS) brought them both home on a towering three-run home run to left centerfield, his second homer of the year, which chased Kumasaka from the game.

After UHH reliever Deric Valoroso (L, 0-2) recorded the first out of the inning, freshman infielder Bryce Feist (Emmett, Idaho/Rocky Mountain HS) connected for his second home run of the season to draw DSU to within a run at 5-4. Then the floodgates opened as Dixie State tallied four more runs in the rally, including consecutive RBI-hits from Miles Bice (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS), Tanner Morache (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada/Surrey HS) and Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS), while Kamachi drove home the final run of the frame on a sacrifice fly, as the Storm sent 11 batters to the plate.

Storm relievers Jeremy Alderman (Cheney, Wash./Cheney HS) (W, 2-1) and Tyler Burdett (Las Vegas, Nev./Sierra Vista HS) (S, 1) limited the Vulcans to just three hits and each struck out three over the final four innings. DSU would go on to tack on three insurance runs in the eighth, highlighted by a two-run Kamachi homer, to put the game away.

DSU pounded out 13 hits, including three apiece for Morache and Kamachi, while McLaughlin chipped in two safeties as the Storm 1-3 hitters combined to go 8-for-11 with six RBI. File struck out four but was touched up for five runs on 13 hits, though only two of the hits he surrendered went for extra bases.

Game two was plagued by steady winds and rain, which delayed the start of the game by 50 minutes. However the weather did not cool down the Dixie State offense as the Storm pounded out 14 hits and scored 16 runs over the first three innings of play to put the game on ice.

DSU began the rout with five two-out runs in the opening stanza, the first of which came on the back end of a double steal as McLaughlin stole home after reaching on a one-out double. Rodriguez followed with an RBI-single, while Reece Lucero (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS) drove home two on a base hit, and Bice doubled home another run to stake DSU to a 5-0 lead.

Dixie State followed that up with a nine-run second inning, including another two-run single from Lucero and a grand slam home run off the bat of Kamachi, his second homer of the day. DSU would go on to score two runs in the third, three more in the fifth, and another run in the sixth for good measure.

Junior righthander Mason Hilty (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) (W, 6-0) made the early run support stand up and he fired five innings of two-hit baseball with six strikeouts to earn his sixth victory of the season.

DSU finished with 21 hits, including a 4-for-4 effort with four RBI from Lucero, while Rodriguez had three hits and two RBI.

Dixie State and Hawai'i Hilo will wrap up their four-game series with another twinbill Tuesday beginning at 2 p.m.

NOTES: The series opener marked the first time this season DSU Head Coach Chris Pfatenhauer had duplicated a starting lineup ... DSU had used 26 different line-up combinations to start the season ... the last time DSU scored 20 runs in a game was last season at Point Loma (W, 20-9; 5/1/15) ... Morache extended his DSU career-best hitting streak to 17 games and has now hit safely in 26 of 28 games this season … Sam Hall also extended his hitting streak to 13 games with base hits in each game … DSU has reached double figures in hits in 19 of 28 games this season … 14 of DSU's 34 hits on the day went for extra bases ... Kamachi's grand slam in game two was DSU's second of the season ... Morache recorded the first grand slam of the year, which was a walk-off homer against Saint Martin's Feb. 21.