CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Iolani's Kela Marciel delivered a pitch during yesterday's 18-8 victory over Saint Louis at Eddie Hamada Field.

Iolani routs Saint Louis

Despite not being halfway through the Interscholastic League of Honolulu regular season, top-ranked Iolani is proving to be every bit worthy of its No. 1 ranking.

Chris Johnson homered for the second straight game and Case Miyahira's grand slam highlighted an 11-run second inning as the Raiders scored early and often in routing Saint Louis 18-8 in just six innings yesterday at Eddie Hamada Field.

Iolani's Travis Nishioka went 5-for-5 and scored three runs, and Reyn Nagamine's two-run double with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning ended the game due to the 10-run mercy rule.

"Our game is small ball and the kids know that," Iolani coach Dean Yonamine said. "We're able to put hitters in good counts and if we continue to get people in good situations at the plate, we're going to do well."

With freshman Kela Marciel making his first varsity start, the Raiders (6-1) gave him plenty of offense to work behind, sending 16 batters to the plate in a second inning that saw the Raiders score 11 runs on 11 hits. RBI singles by Nishioka and Wally Marciel helped knock out Crusaders starter Josh Saio, but relief pitcher Grant Costa fared no better, giving up a two-run homer to Johnson and a grand slam by Miyahira, all with two outs.

"I was looking for a pitch up to try to get the guy on third in," Miyahira said. "The leadoff batters really got that inning started and today everyone was just on."

Trailing 14-3 after four innings, the Crusaders (2-5) managed to stay out of the mercy rule by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth. Marciel hit and walked the first two batters of the inning before an RBI single by Cameron Bayne knocked him out of the game. Kelsey Outram relieved Marciel and proceeded to walk in a run. Rick Miyamoto followed with a two-run single and pinch hitter Cole Shidaki added a base knock before Outram finally worked out of the inning.

"It was Kela's first start and he did a good job for us," Yonamine said. "This league is tough and you can never be comfortable until the game is over."

After giving some at-bats to his reserves with the big lead, Yonamine put his starters right back in after Saint Louis cut the score to 15-8. Nishioka led off the bottom of the sixth with his fifth hit of the day. After Marciel reached on an error, Johnson doubled in a run off the wall in right to set up Nagamine's game-ending hit.

"C.J. (Johnson) is our power guy, so we know he can hit it," Yonamine. "Case is more of a contact guy, but he got a ball elevated and got it out."

The Raiders will get a chance to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the league Wednesday as they take on No. 2 Punahou in the first meeting between the two this season.