Sunday, April 15, 2001
[ HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ]
Punahou rallied to beat St. Louis, 7-5, yesterday at Aloha Stadium to tighten the logjam atop the Interscholastic league of Honolulu baseball standings. Punahou beats St. Louis;
ILH tightensBy Jason Kaneshiro
Star-BulletinPunahou and St. Louis now stand tied at 8-4 with two games remaining in the regular season. Iolani, which has a make-up game with Damien next week,and Mid-Pacific are in first-place by a half-game at 8-3.
Punahou held the league lead for much of the season before losses to Maryknoll and Iolani knocked them back in the standings.
But the Buffanblu's comeback win against the Crusaders -- highlighted by a four-run sixth-inning outburst -- may have turned the momentum back in their favor.
"I'm just very proud of them," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said of his players. "We've been struggling hitting, though we've been playing well. They could have easily given up, but they believed in themselves and came through."
After falling behind, 3-1, St. Louis rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead.
Milton Grado's double to the left-center field alley scored Brandon Sato with the go-ahead run.
Crusader starter Kaimi Mead kept the Buffanblu bats silent until the sixth inning. Mead hit David Marsh and reliever Guy McDowell plunked Ryan Shimizu. Chad Moriyama singled to load the bases, leading St. Louis coach Dean Sato to summon ace Brandon League from the bullpen.
"You have to be real aggressive against League," Kadooka said. "We watched Kamehameha and Mid-Pac face him and take the approach that you have to be real aggressive. He's going to throw strikes, so we just have to go up there and swing at fastballs."
Punahou's aggression paid off as Justin Ariki lined a single to right field to score pinch-runner Kevin Sahara with the tying run. Ryan Kitamura followed with another single to right to bring in Shimizu with the go-ahead run. One out later, Spencer Kam lined a shot up the middle to bring in a pair of insurance runs.
St. Louis scored in the bottom of the inning when a throwing error on Kitamura allowed Mike Espinueva to score. Punahou senior reliever Peter Phillips allowed no hits and struck out four to earn the win.
"This was a gutsy performance, coming in down and keeping us in there," Kadooka said. "He was able to throw strikes, get ahead and dictate what he wanted to throw."
At Aloha Stadium
Punahou (8-4) 102 004 0 --7 7 1 St. Louis (8-4) 103 001 0 --5 5 2 Shawn Kiriu, Peter Phillips (5) and Randall Mizuno, Todd LaFountaine (6); Kaimi Mead, Guy McDowell (6), Brandon League (6) and Nick Tudisco. W--Phillips. L--McDowell
Leading hitters--Punahou: Toby Hanzawa 2B; Spencer Kam 3 RBI. St. Louis: Tudisco 2-3, 2B, 3B; Milton Grado 2B, RBI.
Pac-Five 8, Damien 2:
Jon Kato tossed a four-hitter and drove in three runs to lead the Wolfpack past the Monarchs.At Aloha Stadium
Pac-Five 110 201 3 -- 8 9 1 Damien 000 110 0 -- 2 4 2 Jon Kato and Korey Shinagawa; Matthew Higa and Cheyne Kawamoto.
W--Kato. L--Higa.
Leading hitters--Pac-Five: Brent Yonemori 2-3 3B; Jeff Soranaka 2-4 3B; Kato 2B, 3 RBIs. Damien: Makana Kanoa RBI.
Iolani 8, Maryknoll 2:
Two Spartan fielding errors helped the Raiders break the game open as Iolani scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning.At Aloha Stadium
Iolani (8-3) 020 303 0 -- 8 9 1 Maryknoll (3-8) 200 000 0 -- 2 3 4 Rich Olsen, Ivan Ing (6) and Travis Mitsuda; Kody Seminara, Brendan Higa (5) and Brandon Goshima.
W--Olsen. L--Seminara.
Leading Hitters--Iolani: Aaron Ing 3-4; Brad Takamori 2-5; Blaine Umeda 2-3, RBI; Travis Mcgaughy, 2b, RBI; Kila Kaaihue, 2b, 2 RBIs. Maryknoll: Sean Ortiz, 3b, RBI.
Mid-Pacific 9, Kamehameha 1:
Ricky Bauer tossed a complete-game two-hitter for the Owls, who gained a share of first place in the ILH with Iolani.At Aloha Stadium
Kamehameha (6-6) 000 010 0 -- 1 2 5 Mid-Pacific (8-3) 221 220 x -- 9 8 1 Hubert Pruett, Shannon Kahale (4) and Danny Nitahara; Ricky Bauer and Matt Inouye.
Leading Hitters -- MPI: Kyle Yanabu 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Kevin Kahn 2 RBI; Isaac Omura 2 RBI.
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