Kailua's Joey Cantillo throws a pitch to plate against the Kaiser Cougars in both team's regular season opener. Leighland Tagawa | Special to SL

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KAILUA – A pitchers' duel christened the Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Divison baseball season opener.

Kailua's pro prospect Joey Cantillo scattered two hits over five scoreless innings to beat Kaiser, 2-1, Wednesday at the Surfriders' diamond.

While all eyes – and some radar guns – were on Cantillo, Kaiser starting pitcher Tyler Dyball turned in a stellar performance himself to keep the Cougars in the game long enough to pose a threat in the top of the seventh, scoring a run and stranding the tying run on third base in Cougars' Kila Kaaihue's coaching debut.

Cantillo (1-0), a 6-foot-5, 220-pound left-hander who pitches from the stretch, allowed two line drive singles to Kaiser's No. 3 hitter Lincoln Lima, walked one and struck out seven. He threw 67 pitches, three shy of coach Corey Ishigo's own ceiling for his ace.

"His command was there, he battled," Ishigo said of Cantillo, who has signed with the University of Kentucky. "His off-speed pitches weren't the greatest today. We're working on it and we've seen it better before but some days you have to go out and pitch with what you've got."

Cantillo was pleased but knows there is room for improvement.

"There's some things I have to work and some things the team needs to work on, but at least we got a win," Cantillo said. "The boys showed a lot of good stuff today and hats off to Kaiser; they played a good game."

This season, Hawaii teams are using the Hawaii High School Athletic Association's recommended pitch limit of 110 in a game. The state is following a mandate established last summer by the National Federation of State High Schools Association, the governing body of prep sports.

While not a power pitcher like his counterpart, Dyball (0-1) was nearly as effective. Except for a shaky first inning, when the right-hander allowed both earned runs, Dyball gave up seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings. He threw 84 pitches, which also was well under the 110 limit.

"He just has to get comfortable starting the game off," Kaaihue said. "Probably just a little nerves and excitement, but he pitched really well."

Cody Riturban's RBI single and Jalen Ah Yat's RBI double was all Cantillo and company needed for the day. Ryan Inouye added a scoreless sixth inning, allowing two hits, and Bryson Ballesteros gave up an unearned run, a hit and a walk, but stranded the tying run at third to net the save.

Three Surfriders accounted for the team's seven hits. Cantillo, Riturban and Ah Yat each had two hits. Ah Yat had two doubles.

Kailua jumped on Dyball quickly. Dakota Kadooka led off with a walk, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Riturban's single to right. Cantillo's ground single to right moved Riburban to second before Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo grounded to short for a double play that moved Riturban to third, where he scored on Ah Yat's double to the left-center alley. It appeared that the Surfriders were going to add more runs when Kalua Neves reached on a wild pitch when he swung and missed with two strikes. But his courtesy runner was gunned down trying to steal to end the inning.

Kaiser threatened in the seventh. Christian Reasoner walked after falling behind 1-2 to Ballesteros. Reasoner stole second before Landon Shigeta struck out. Ballesteros then retired Pono Lyman on a fly to left. Keoni Pangan's ground single to left moved Reasoner to third. After Pangan stole second, a passed ball allowed Reasoner to score and Pangan to take thid with the tying run. But Ballesteros got Micah Mashima to fly out to right to end the game.

"We trust all of out pitchers," Ishigo said. "They work really hard. We just believe in them, no matte what the situation is. We expect them to throw strikes and get outs."

Kaaihue, who was a first baseman and designated hitter with the Kansas City Royals (2008, 2010-11) and Oakland Athletics (2012), liked the way his team battled with the defending OIA champions.

"That's the makeup of our team," Kaaihue said of his team's attempted comeback. "We got a lot of heart. These boys play hard. They've done that the whole preseason."