ILH Baseball
No. 2 Mid-Pacific squeezes by No. 4 Punahou, 5-4


  



Sat, Apr 23, 2016 @ [ 12:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Punahou 0 000004453
Mid-Pacific 0 0 0050X591

W: Alexander Oley    L: Noah Goss

MPI: Cameron Wong 3-3 rbi; Alexander Oley 7.0 IP 2 ER 4 K
PUN: Logan Williams 1-3 3 rbi dbl; Noah Goss 4.6 IP 3 ER


MANOA — Mid-Pacific did all of its scoring in the bottom of the fifth and held off a late push from Punahou for a 5-4 win in the league's double-elimination tourney on a showering Saturday afternoon at Damon Field.

Left fielder Cameron Wong batted 3 for 3 and drove in the game's first run to help the second-ranked Owls (15-4) force a rematch with the Buffanblu for the ILH postseason title next Tuesday. 

Fourth-ranked Punahou (11-8) was coming off a 7-2 win over the Owls earlier this week and will need a victory in one of its two games next week to clinch a state berth.

Pitcher Alexander Oley notched the victory over Punahou starter Noah Goss (3-2) in a duel between two left-handed pitchers. After giving up back-to-back hits to begin the game, Oley buckled down and just allowed two hits the rest of the way and tossed four strikeouts en route to his fifth pitching win of the year.

"I just try to trust my defense, I know they got me," he said. "I just try to regroup, throw strikes and trust the defense that they're going to get me and they bailed me out big time so I was thankful for that."

The 5-foot-9 senior also had the rare opportunity to close out the game after a pitching change. Chase Wago came in for relief with two outs in the seventh inning, which sent Oley to centerfield. Punahou was able to score four runs with Wago on the mound to make things interesting before Oley came in to seal the deal. 

"Alex is a competitor," Punahou coach Keenan Sue said on Oley. "Whether he's in center (field), whether he's at the plate, whether he's on the mound, I think Alex will just give you a 100 percent all the time. I really think the world of him as a player. He's really kind of a coach's dream.

"If we all had 20 Alex Oleys we would all win the state championship every year so I got a lot of love for his game."

After leaving five runners on base throughout the first four innings, Mid-Pacific broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the fifth to take control of the game. Nine-hole hitter Hunter Hill dialed up a double to centerfield and Jacob Maekawa was walked and Oley was beaned to load the bases with no outs.

Punahou nearly got out of the jam after Hill was putout at home and Ryne Yamashiro flew out to right field to put two outs on the board, but Wong knocked one in deep into the 5-6 hole to plate Maekawa and start a string of Mid-Pacific runs.

"I was just looking to punch it through the hole and hit it fast because they had the infielders up so I just hit it hard," said Wong. "Scoring the runners was my main priority."

During the play Punahou shortstop Andrew Matsueda had a throwing error to first which allowed courtesy runner Jarrod Infante to come in to make it 2-0 in a heartbeat. Kyle Layugan drew a walk at the next at bat which chased Goss in favor of Riley Guieb.

The Punahou reliever tried to pick off a runner at second, but the catch wasn't made at the bag and Wago was able to score on the error to give Mid-Pacific a 3-0 lead. Before the inning was over, Guieb got tagged for two hits which brought in the final two runs for the Owls.

"That's a heartbreaker," said Sue. "They had the momentum, and then Noah was able to fight back. We had two outs, all we need was one more play — and then anytime you make an error like that in a high-pressure situation, there's a tendency to come unraveled a little bit. That's a challenge, to be able to stop, nip it in the bud and bear down."

Punahou got its offense going in the seventh inning after Asa Kurasaki drew a walk and Jerick Nomura had a two-out single to bring things to the top of the lineup. Oley threw two balls with Cole Cabrera at the plate, but was then pulled for Wago with his pitch count at 85. Wago's first two pitches were balls which loaded the bases for Punahou.

Goss was relaxed at the plate and drew a base on balls which scored Kurasaki for his first run of the game. Catcher Logan Williams, who put out two runners at home to keep the Owls scoreless early on, had a clutch three RBI double on a full count to cut the deficit to one score. 

The rally came up short as Oley then came back in on the mound to record the final out to preserve the victory.



Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




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