Mid-Pacific's Noah Sills throws a pitch to the plate against Iolani. Sills through a scoreless 2 1/3 innings to help preserve the win for the Owls. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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033115_MidIo_5907.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Third-ranked Mid-Pacific opened up with a eight-run first inning, then held on down the stretch in a 15-9 win over Iolani in an afternoon contest at Goeas Field.

Eleven different players accounted for the 14 hits racked up by the Owls, led by Sean Kinel's 2-for-2 day at the plate that included a double, 3 runs and 2 RBIs and a stolen base.

"I felt good," said Kinel. "I saw the ball well, on the weekend in practice I was really working on hitting the ball solid. I guess it helped out today."

Iolani racked up 13 hits, but managed just 3 in the final three innings of play, as reliever Noah Sills and the Owls defense held off the Raiders' bats down the stretch.

In the two meetings this year between the two teams, 41 runs have been scored. Mid-Pacific has also scored more runs against Iolani (25) than against all other ILH opponents combined (24).

Jacob Maekawa boomed a bases-clearing double to cap off a big first inning that saw thirteen Owls' batters come to the plate and collect six hits and three walks off of two Raiders' pitchers.

Mid-Pacific plated three more runs in the top of the second, but Iolani responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, sparked by a well-hit shot to left field by Devin Ide that easily cleared the fence to open the Raiders' account. Pikai Winchester laced a hot shot up the middle to drive in two more runs, and a sacrifice fly by Nakakura trimmed the margin to 11-4.

The Owls got a run back in the fourth off a RBI single by Evan Suemori, but reliever Kaimana Bartolome kept the damage to a minimum, getting Alexander Oley to pop out to first with runners on first and second to end the threat.

Three-straight singles in the bottom of the fourth turned into four more runs for the rallying Raiders, highlighted by a line shot by Landen Moran that went deep into the gap in right for a two-RBI triple, and suddenly the lead was just three for Mid-Pacific.

Chase Wago, who allowed an uncharacteristic 9 runs in his 4 2/3 innings of work, got the first two batters out in the bottom of the fifth, and then yielded to Sills, who got Nakakura to ground out to second a batter later with two on to keep the Owls lead intact.

"He didn't have his good stuff, and he wasn't really locating too well," said Mid-Pacific head coach Dunn Muramaru of Wago today. "We went as far as we could (with him). He was 80-something (pitches) so we took him out, and Sills came in and did a good job."

Mid-Pacific pushed another run across in the sixth and looked poised to add to the lead with runners on first and third and just one out. But Iolani got Shackles to ground into a perfectly turned 6-4-3 double play to minimize any additional damage.

Sills was solid in relief, allowing no runs on just two hits in 2 1/3 innings of work. He struck out one and walked none to preserve the win for the Owls down the stretch.

"I don't have to make the perfect pitch," said Sills crediting the defensive effort behind him. "if they (the batters) catch it good, I know I can trust my defense to make the plays."

And the defense was exceptional for the Owls, with just one error committed on a booted ball in the infield, and a gem of catch on a deep fly ball to right field with a runner on that was tracked down in the quickly diminishing light by Kinel in right to end it.

"It was getting hard to see," laughed Kinel. "I tried to find the fence but couldn't really, it just dropped and I caught the ball. Pretty much the fence was right there."