Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Kokko Figueiredo, while playing for the Humboldt Crabs two summers ago.

By Ray Hamill — Kokko Figueiredo joined the North Carolina Central baseball program at the right time.

In his first season with the team, the Division-I Eagles are 7-3 and on pace to match their best start to a season in the modern era, and as they’ve gotten hot, so too has Figueiredo.

The former Fortuna and College of the Redwoods standout has now hit in four straight games, including going 2-for-4 with a double on Sunday to help his team secure a weekend sweep of Norfolk State.

Figueiredo has started all 10 games for the Eagles and is batting .314, third best on the team among regular starters.

He also has three doubles and eight RBIs.

After going hitless in four of his first six games, the senior infielder has gotten hot and now has an impressive eight hits in his last four games.

And the Eagles are building momentum on a national level, receiving votes this week in the National College Baseball Writers’ Association Top 30 Poll.

They play three games against East Tennessee State this weekend.

Eureka’s Ethan Fischel, meanwhile, is coming off his most impressive game of the young season on Sunday, helping Willamette University clinch a fourth straight win.

Fischel, a 2018 Eureka graduate, finished 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs and a walk, as the Division-III Bearcats beat Linfield 15-9.

It was Fischel’s second multi-hit game of the young season, having also finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs in a victory over Whitman on the opening weekend.

The 6-2 Bearcats have four games this weekend against George Fox in Newberg, Oregon.

Fischel will play for the Humboldt Crabs this summer.