ILH Baseball
No. 4 Mid-Pacific stages late rally to down No. 6 Kamehameha


   



Tue, Mar 22, 2016 @ [ 3:45 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Mid-Pacific 0 000030381
Kamehameha 0 1 00000151

W: Ethan Fujikami    L: Lii Pontes    SV: Chase Wago

KSK: Logan Salcedo 2-3 dbl; Lii Pontes 7.0 IP 3 ER 3 K
MPI: Chase Wago 3-3 run rbi; Ethan Fujikami 5.0 IP 1 ER


WAIPIO — Chase Wago came through at the plate then closed the door on the mound for the fourth-ranked Mid-Pacific baseball team Tuesday.

Wago batted 3 for 3 with the game-tying RBI and tossed two perfect innings of relief to help the Owls rally to a 3-1 win over No. 6 Kamehameha on an overcast afternoon at Patsy T. Mink/Central Oahu Regional Park.

It was Mid-Pacific fourth win in its last five games and its second victory in a row, while Kamehameha saw its three-game win streak snapped.

The Owls pulled even with the Warriors at 5-3, which puts both teams 1 1/2 games behind first-place Saint Louis.

Wago was at the center of the comeback for the Owls, who managed just four base runners in the first five innings against Warriors' starting pitcher Lii Pontes. He singled in each of his first two at-bats, but was left stranded on third base both times.

The Owls did all of their damage in the top of the sixth innings, when they recorded four singles and sent seven batters to the plate.

Jacob Maekawa led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Oley. Wago was the next batter and worked a 3-1 count before lining Pontes' offering back up the middle to plate Maekawa to even the game at 1-all.

"I was just looking for my pitch that I wanted to hit and because it was 3-1, I was looking for either a walk or hopefully a hit, so I was just looking for a pitch," Wago said.

"That was a clutch hit," Owls' coach Dunn Muramaru said of Wago's RBI single. "I thought he played a pretty good game."

Wago took second on the throw home and came around to score on Ryne Yamashiro's RBI single. Two batters later, Cameron Wong looped the first pitch he saw to short rightfield to score pinch runner Shea Yamaguchi from second.

Mid-Pacific was a combined 4-of-17 batting against Pontes — who pitched in relief the previous time the teams met — prior to the sixth inning. However, the third time around the lineup proved to be the charm.

"This time around it felt like we made a better adjustment on him and most of our guys were looking for pitches," Wago said. "I felt like from the last time we saw him we learned a lot seeing him at least once. He's a good pitcher; he shut us out earlier in the game, too."

Pontes, a sophomore right-hander, went the distance and allowed eight hits — half of them coming in the final two innings. He struck out three and walked none to fall to 2-1 on the year.

"I think he did a great job and with every game it seems like he's just getting better and better," Kamehameha coach Tom Perkins said of Pontes. "I thought he threw a damn good game today, (but) our base runner killed us. Small things that we've been working on for the past few weeks, but I think Lii did a great job keeping the ball down. We had that one bad inning and, you know, you can't give a team like Mid-Pac extra bases — that's going to come back and haunt you and it sure did."

Of the nine batters that reached base for the Warriors, four of them were left in scoring position. Another was picked off and one was caught in a run down between second and third after a passed ball.

"It's just those few mistakes that really hurt us today and it just didn't happen for us," Perkins said.

Ethan Fujikami got the win after allowing one run in five innings of work. He allowed just one run and walked three with one strikeout to improve to 2-0 on the year.

"He did a good job," Muramaru said. "He executed pitches, he stayed around the zone and he mixed up speeds this time."

Wago retired all six batters he faced and got his first save of the season. He was also the winning pitcher in Saturday's win over Iolani, when he threw 6 1/3 innings.

"I just want to help the team out," said Wago, who made his second relief appearance of the season Tuesday. "Whatever they need me for, I'll just come in and help. Coach Dunn just said to be ready at all times. That's what all of our pitchers are told so we're always ready and in the moment."

Logan Salcedo and Kawai Takemura each paired hits for the Warriors, who got their only run on a Makoa Mau RBI single to score Takemura in the bottom of the second inning.

Mid-Pacific avenged an extra-innings loss to Kamehameha at home back on March 4.

Both teams return to the field Thursday. The Owls will meet Maryknoll at Goeas Field in Hawaii Kai, while the Warriors will take on Saint Louis at CORP.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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