Iolani's Everett Lau slides in safely to score a run during the Raiders' seventh inning comeback, where they scored five run in total to end Kamehameha's season. Steve Erler | SL

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04151645_4_14_16_iolani_kam_steve_erler-87.jpg - Steve Erler | SL

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WAIPIO – Iolani sent 10 batters to the plate in a five-run top of the seventh inning to stun No. 8 Kamehameha, 7-4, Thursday in the first round of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu second-round tournament at the Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.

The Raiders (5-11), the fifth seed of the tournament, will play top-seeded and No. 2 Mid-Pacific Institute (12-3), 10 a.m. Saturday at CORP to begin the double-elimination portion of the schedule.

Meanwhile, the Warriors (8-8) ended their season having lost their last five games.

"It's definitely a galvanizing win," Iolani first-year coach Kurt Miyahira said. "Hats off to Kamehameha; they're a great team. We battled. We had quality at-bats the last inning."

Miyahira was especially proud of his seniors, all of whom delivered with their bats or on the mound.

"The seniors, they faced a lot of adversity, especially from us," Miyahira said. "They're at the ground level of the culture change (from the new coaching staff). A lot of times, they're at the unfair end of it. To their credit, they battled They struck through it. They're buying in; they're doing it for each other."

Indeed they did.

It was senior Ezra Heleski who pitched two scoreless relief innings and benefitted from the rally. It was senior Devin Ide's two-out pinch-hit RBI single that ignited the rally. It was senior shortstop Matt Campos following with an RBI single to tie the game at 4. Senior Everett Lau – 3 for 3 and a homer shy of the cycle – was intentionally walked to set up senior second baseman Landen Moran's two-run single to put the Raiders ahead. Senior designated hitter Kaimana Bartolome's RBI single cushioned the Raiders lead to complete the big inning.

It was a heart-breaker for the Warriors, who were without coach Tommy Perkins the first half of the game as he was serving jury duty. He came in time to see starting pitcher Hunter Breault nursing a 4-1 lead and eventually 4-2 after six innings. He had entered the top of the seventh having throw 88 pitches, but he walked sophomore Cade Yonamine, who had an eight-pitch plate appearance, and sophomore Zack Kon on four pitches. Breault was pulled for seldom-used junior right-hander Francis Gora. He struck out Chad Suga and Shane Sasaki with a curveball that dropped like a hammer. But Ide and Campos tied the game on successive RBI singles. Lau, who singled, doubled and tripled his first three at-bats, was walked intentionally and Moran made the Warriors pay with a two-run single.

"They gave Chad a lot of curveballs and then Matt (Campos) got fastballs," Moran said. "When they got down to me, I got fastballs. He threw me a first-pitch fastball, then I thought he was going to throw me a curveball, but he came with a fastball so I swung at that."

As with most high school teams, coaches call the pitches.

"Maybe on our side, we should've stuck with (the curveball) a little bit more," Perkins said. "Part of it was, especially when a kid comes back (from an injury), I don't want to over-throw him. I want to just mix it up a little."

The Raiders got a decent outing from their starting pitcher Trevor Ichimura, who pitched three scoreless innings and had one bad fourth inning, when he hit two batters and allowed four hits, two of them doubles.

Mason Quinlan led off with a double to center before Revan Wong and Micah Hee were hit by pitches to load the bases to set up Makoa Mau's three-run double to left. Two outs later, Chase Miyasato singled home Mau to make it 4-0. Logan Salcedo reached on a single to third that allowed Mau to take third. But the inning ended when Miyasato was caught stealing home on a delayed double steal.

The Raiders drew first blood in the top of the fourth. Lau doubled, took third on Moran's sacrifice and scored when Bartolome reached on a hard single off Breault that caromed toward the shortstop. But catcher Wong picked off Bartolome at first before Yonamine grounded out to first to end the inning.

Iolani chipped away at its deficit in the sixth when Lau tripled with one out and scored on a wild pitch before the Breault retired the next two batters.

Brandon Yamane pitched a scoreless fifth and was aided when Wong lined out to shortstop and Kawai Takemura was doubled off second. Heleski finished the last two innings to get credit with the win.

"It's been a long time coming," Heleski said of the rally. "We've been saying this whole year we're a dangerous team. Our lineup can hit, so it felt good to see them finally come through."