[ HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ]
Saint Louis' Johnny Gentry slid face-first as he stole third base yesterday at Ala Wai Field. Mid-Pacific's Brenton Endo tried to make the tag.
Mid-Pacific captures
ILH titleThe Owls survive a late Crusaders
rally for the regular-season
championship
No lead is comfortable in Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball.
That's why Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru went to his best pitcher with a four-run lead, two Saint Louis runners on base and no outs in the top of the seventh.
The move almost didn't pan out. Three runs and two outs later, right-handed senior Harrison Kuroda got Johnny Gentry to pop out to first base with a runner on first to secure the Owls' 6-5 victory for the league's regular-season championship.
"Harry didn't have anything out there," said MPI coach Dunn Muramaru, referring to the fact that Kuroda's arm hadn't fully recovered from Tuesday's complete-game 2-1 loss to Punahou. "But he had his mind. He's a guy who knows how to find a way to win."
Kuroda, despite a dead arm, was ready for Muramaru's call.
"Before the game, Coach asked me if I could give him one or two innings and I told him I could give him as much as he needs," said Kuroda, who saved the game for lefty starter Conan Young.
Due to the number of games this week -- Tuesday's final regular-season matchups, Wednesday and yesterday's playoffs and today's postseason tournament openers -- the top teams are forced to go deeper than usual into their pitching reservoirs.
Young went five scoreless innings before tiring and giving way to Jayson Kramer, who lasted one frame.
The Owls got off to a fast start in the bottom of the first after Kip Masuda and Randy Rundgren hit RBI singles off Saint Louis starter Danny Lee for a 2-0 lead.
Chad Takabuki's run-scoring fielder's choice and Chris Goya's RBI single led to MPI's three-run fourth inning. Two errors by the Crusaders also contributed to the rally, as the Owls took command 5-0.
Takabuki added an RBI hit in the fifth for a 6-0 count.
"We faced a great pitcher," Saint Louis' Lee said. "He (Young) got us the first time we played them this season and he got us again today. Good teams come back and we came back but fell a little short. We'll try to get back to a situation where we face these guys again."
Mid-Pacific pitcher Conan Young picked up the win as the Owls captured the regular-season ILH title yesterday.
In the sixth, Gentry's RBI double scored the Crusaders' first run, and Chester Wilson came home to make it 6-2 on Sheldon Santiago's unusual 1-6-3 fielder's choice. Gentry, who was on second, avoided being put out twice on the play. He strayed from second base far enough to avoid a tag on the 1-6 portion. Then, after Santiago was nabbed at first, he remained off the bag, got MPI first baseman Chris Freshour to charge after him and barely avoided another tag while Wilson chugged home.
Kramer prevented further damage in the inning when he stabbed Jowen Murray-Thornton's hard liner back to the box and fired to second to double up Gentry.
Lee's two-run single and Wilson's sacrifice fly in the seventh made it a 6-5 game.
But Gentry's check swing of a Kuroda pitch landed safely in the glove of Freshour to end it.
"I told myself I've got to bear down right then and there," Kuroda said. "In a tight situation against Punahou in our last game, it (the loss) was just terrible. I wasn't going to let history repeat."
Freshour wasn't too nervous about making the play.
"I had two popups in the game previously, so it wasn't uncharted territory," he said. "We practice it all the time, but there was a little more pressure in a game than at practice."
Saint Louis coach Scot Paiva was happy about the comeback attempt.
"What we did in those last two innings overshadowed everything else. We've shown we can compete with the best. We won two out of three this week against Kamehameha, Punahou and Mid-Pacific."
At Ala Wai Field
Saint Louis (12-4) 000 002 3 -- 5 9 2 Mid-Pacific (12-3) 200 310 x -- 6 11 1 Danny Lee, Ryan Sasaki (4) and Jowen Murray-Thornton; Conan Young, Jayson Kramer (6), Harrison Kuroda (7) and Kip Masuda. W--Young. L--Lee. S--Kuroda.
Leading hitters--StL: Lee 2-3, 2 RBIs; Chester Wilson 1-3, RBI; Johnny Gentry 2-4, 2b, RBI. MPI--Chris Goya 3-3, RBI; Ivan Kabei 2-3; Randy Rundgren RBI; Masuda RBI; Chad Takabuki 2 RBIs.
Final ILH standings
ILH
W L T x-Mid-Pacific 12 3 0 Saint Louis 12 4 0 Punahou 11 4 0 Kamehameha 9 5 0 Iolani 6 8 0 Pac-Five 4 9 1 Damien 2 12 0 Maryknoll 1 12 1
x-regular season champion
ILH Baseball Tournament
Double-elimination
Today
1: Mid-Pacific vs. Maryknoll, at Iolani, 3:45 p.m.
2: Saint Louis vs. Damien, at Mid-Pacific, 3:45 p.m.
3: Punahou vs. Pac-Five, at Ala Wai, 3:45 p.m.
4: Kamehameha vs. Iolani, at Ala Wai, 6:30 p.m.
Tomorrow
Note: ILH officials will make a change, depending on the Game 3 outcome. If Punahou wins, Game 8 will be moved to 3 p.m. at Ala Wai Field and Game 5 will be moved to 10 a.m. at Murakami Stadium. If Punahou loses, Game 6 will be changed to 3 p.m. at Ala Wai Field and Game 5 will be changed to 6 p.m. at Ala Wai.
5: Losers 1 and 2, at Ala Wai Field, 3 p.m.
6: Losers 3 and 4, at Ala Wai Field, 6 p.m.
7: Winners 1 and 2, at Murakami Stadium, 1 p.m.
8: Winners 3 and 4, at Murakami Stadium, 10 a.m.
Tuesday, May 4
9: Losers 5 and 8, at Aloha Stadium, 4 p.m.
10: Losers 6 and 7, at Aloha Stadium, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 5
11: Winners 9 and 10, at Aloha Stadium, 4 p.m.
12: Winners 7 and 8, at Aloha Stadium, 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 6
13: Winner 11 vs. Loser 12, at Aloha Stadium, 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 8
14: Winners 12 and 13, at Aloha Stadium, 7 p.m. (championship)
Monday, May 10
15: If necessary, Winners 12 and 13, at Aloha Stadium, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, May 11
Possible game to decide league runner-up, at Aloha Stadium, 7 p.m.
