Mid-Pacific's Ryne Yamashiro slides in safely for a double against Punahou. Brien Ing | SL

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MANOA — For the fifth consecutive year, Mid-Pacific is on top in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

The Owls twice rallied from one-run deficits Tuesday afternoon en route to a 3-2 win over visiting Punahou in the final game of the ILH's double-elimination tournament.

Mid-Pacific, the No. 1 team in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Baseball Power Rankings, improved to 16-4 with its third straight win. It is assured of a first-round bye in the upcoming Wally Yonamine Foundation/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I State Championships.

The fourth-ranked Buffanblu fell to 11-9 and will face off against first-round runner-up Saint Louis Thursday for the league's second and final state tournament berth. That game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Hans L'Orange Park and will follow a Division II game between Saint Francis and Pac-Five.

The win also means a much-needed day off for the Owls, who have played five games in an 11-day stretch, including three times against Punahou. A loss Tuesday would have given the Buffanblu the second-round title and resulted in a seventh meeting between the teams this season for the overall ILH crown Thursday.

"Might as well kill two birds with one stone," said MPI senior Jacob Maekawa, the winning pitcher Tuesday. "Winning the ILH championship is good because we've been winning it the past few years, so it's good to keep that going, but for sure the bye. That's real important because we want to save as many arms as possible for the state tournament, so I guess getting the bye is more important."

Owls coach Dunn Muramaru agreed wholeheartedly with Maekawa.

"I think it's a combination of both," Muramaru said. "I think more not playing Thursday, because that's a grind. It's been a grind and I'm glad that this is how it turned out because if this doesn't prepare us for the state tournament, I don't think anything will."

Buffanblu starting pitcher Kahi Bisho — just one week removed from a solid five-inning performance in a win over MPI — pitched well before running into some trouble in the middle innings. He walked the leadoff batter in the fourth — which came around to score the tying run — and surrendered two more in the fifth, when the Owls plated a pair of runs to take the lead for good.

"Same like always: first batter walks always kill us," Punahou coach Keenan Sue said.

Bisho was lifted by Sue with one outs in the bottom of the fifth. He walked the leadoff batter, Zachary Gushiken, then got Hunter Hill to ground into a fielder's choice that erased Gushiken at second. Hill took second on a Bisho wild pitch, Maekawa then singled to left to put runners at the corners and Alex Oley followed by driving in Hill with his RBI-single. An error in left field on the play allowed Maekawa to advance to third and Oley to second.

Riley Guieb then came in in relief of Bisho, but allowed Maekawa to score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Both runs in the inning were charged to Bisho.

"If you walk the first batter of the inning that doesn't help, but we executed a great play — got the lead runner (Gushiken) — and then just gave it right back with a wild pitch," Sue said. "The course of the game can change with one pitch and that's what we tell these guys is you've got to play each pitch like it's the last pitch because it always makes a difference."

Bisho allowed three runs — two of them unearned — on three hits over 4 1/3 innings of work. He struck out three and walked three. Bisho retired the Owls in order in the first inning, then allowed a leadoff double to Ryne Yamashiro in the second, but got out of it unscathed. He stranded another base runner in the third, when he struck out Oley to end the inning.

"It wasn't our bats; it was his pitching," Muramaru said of Bisho. "From the start of the year until now, he has just grown tremendously. He's not even the same pitcher he was before. He's a sophomore going on to be a senior already."

Unlike the last time Bisho faced the Owls, however, he didn't get nearly the same kind of run support.

"I think he got a little tired," Muramaru said. "Things weren't as sharp as they were earlier. We have some veteran guys and they came up with big hits."

Colin Freeman, the Buffanblu's ninth hitter, put his team ahead with his two-out solo homer in the top of the third.

Punahou took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning, when Austin Horio scored on an MPI error.

Maekawa, who threw 2 2/3 innings in relief of starter Ethan Fujikami, got the win. Fujikami allowed two runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings of work.

The Buffanblu loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the seventh, but Maekawa got Noah Goss to pop out to shortstop for the final out.

Bisho was charged with the loss.