OIA Baseball
Roosevelt edges Kaiser in bizarre fashion, 9-8, in eight innings


  



Wed, Mar 12, 2014 @ [ 3:30 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Roosevelt 2 01030219122
Kaiser 0 0 1003408131

W: Reece Okura    L: Kelan Yoshioka

KAIS: Kelan Yoshioka 3-5 run 4 rbi; Luis Omphroy 4.0 IP 3 ER
ROOS: Dustin Tsukano 3-4 3 runs dbl; Mika Caris 5.7 IP 3 ER 8 K


HAWA'I KAI - In a bizarre finish, Roosevelt edged host Kaiser, 9-8, in eight innings Wednesday in O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red East baseball.

The Cougars (1-1), coming off a 22-9 win against Castle a day earlier, scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the Rough Riders (2-0) at 8, only to give up the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on successive passed balls that moved the runner from second to third and from third to home.

"Our defense got a little leaky," Roosevelt coach Les Loo said. "We have to tighten that up otherwise, we'd lose the game. Luckily, we could come back.

"The offense was outstanding today, except for the execution on the bunting. Our batters had clutch two-out hits. We put the ball in play with two strikes. That really helped today."

Kelan Yoshioka took over mound duties in the top of the eighth after catching the first seven and DH Royce Narahara, the emergency backup catcher, went behind the plate. Yoshioka allowed a lead-off double to Riki Kobayashi. Nick Matsuoka tried to sacrifice the runner over to third, but his bunt was a bit too hard back to Yoshioka. Kobayashi retreated back to second, but Yoshioka still threw to third with the ball sailing to left field. The ball was backed up by the left fielder, so Kobayashi held second as Matsuoka reached first safely on the fielder's choice.

Dustin Tsukano, who was 3 for 3 with a hit batsman, tried his hand at bunting, but his was lined back to the pitcher Yoshioka, who doubled off Matsuoka at first for a double play. With a runner at second and two outs, Kainalu Pitoy drew a 2-0 count. The third pitch went off catcher Royce Narahara's mitt for passed ball that sent Tsukano to third on ball three. On ball four, the ball slipped out of Narahara's mitt that allowed Tsukano to score. Keola Tamanaha struck out to end the inning.

"You can't blame Royce because he hardly catches," Kaiser coach Mark Rasmussen said.

Noah Sakatani is the backup catcher, but entered the game in relief in the fifth inning. Sakatani was lost, however, when Luis Omphroy re-entered the game in his spot as a pinch hitter in the seventh, leaving Narahara to catch.

Reece Okura, who started the game at first base for Roosevelt, retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth, striking out the last two batters to end the game and picked up the win.

The Rough Riders, behind starting pitcher Mika Caris, took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth. After Caris struck out the first batter, Curt Clivio singled, stole second and went to third on  Sakatani's single. Sakatani took second on the throw to third before Jeshua Bitanga walked to load the bases. Dylan Buck grounded out to second to advance the runners to pull Kaiser to 6-2 with two outs. Pinch hitter Shane Agbayani walked to reload the bases.

Jarron Maemori came in relief of Caris and gave up a two-run single to Yoshioka to pull Kaiser to 6-4. After a double steal put the tying run at second, Shawn Miyashiro grounded out to second to end the inning.

Caris went 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned), eight hits and two walks, while striking out eight. He threw 106 pitches.

"He tired at the end, put the balls in play, but our defense couldn't support him," Loo said. "He had to throw extra pitches and that's one of the reasons he had to come out."

Roosevelt increased its insurance policy with two runs in the top of the seventh off Sakatani. With one out, Caris re-entered the game as a pinch hitter and doubled to right-center and was lifted for courtesy runner Brandon Leong. Okura walked to put runners at first and second. Sakatani's pick-off throw to first got past first base, allowing Leong to score from second and Okura to take third. Aaron Emoto doubled home Okura to increase Roosevelt's lead to 8-4. Sakatani struck out Jonah Sasahara. With Kobayashi at the plate, catcher Yoshioka picked courtesy runner Taylor Torres off second to end the inning.

Undaunted, the Cougars chipped away against Maemori in the bottom of the seventh. Singles by Michael Austin and Oda and a walk by Clivio loaded the bases. Starting pitcher Luis Omphroy, who was lifted after four innings, re-entered as a pinch hitter and fouled out to first. But Bitanga's RBI single made it 8-5 and reloaded the bases. Dylan Buck reached on shortstop Sasahara's fielding error to score another run and keep the bases loaded. After Kamalu Simeona popped out to shortstop for the second out, Yoshioka's grounded a single to center to drive in two to tie the game at 8. With runners at first and second and the struggling Miyashiro at the plate, Rasmussen ordered a double steal, but pinch runner Ryan Wall was thrown out at third to end the inning.

"I blame myself," Rasmussen said. "I know that was the winning run. I was hoping we would steal and they would walk Shawn (Miyashiro). Shawn was having a bad day at the plate and I wanted Mike (Austin) up there. I thought if we got second and third, they'd walk Shawn."

Roosevelt took a 2-0 lead off Kaiser starter Omphroy on Tamanaha's two-run double and increased it to 3-0 in the third on Caris' RBI double with two outs.

Kaiser got a run in the bottom of the third when Yoshioka led off with a single and advanced to second and third on consecutive ground outs to the shortstop before scoring when Oda reached on Caris' throwing error.

The Rough Riders added three in the fifth on RBI singles by Tamanaha, Caris and Emoto to make it 6-1.

"The point was we were down five runs and we did come back so I was proud of the kids for that," Rasmussen said.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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