BATON ROUGE, LA--Winthrop's Kamito Hirai shot a two-over par 74 during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional on Friday. He will enter Saturday's final round tied for 34th place with a 36-hole score of 153.

Hirai (Summerville, SC), competing in his second consecutive NCAA Regional, trimmed five shots off his opening round score and moved up 20 spots in the field of 75 golfers.  The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals. Hirai has his worked cut out for him if he is to become the first Eagle to advance to the  championship finals that will be held in Atlanta, GA in June. 

On Friday, Hirai carded 16 pars and two bogeys.  He was able to avoid most of the trouble on the back nine that plagued him on Thursday when he shot 79 with five bogeys and a double bogey.  His two bogeys during the second round came on the 10th and 18th holes.  

Hirai will tee off his third round at 9:10 a.m. EST Saturday, starting on the back nine.