Kaiser pitcher Kelan Yoshioka gets set to make a pitch in the seventh inning against Castle. Brien Ing | SL

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041013_BI_castkais_0410264.jpg - Brien Ing | SL

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For the second time in as many games, Jeshua Bitanga brought a clutch bat to the plate to help lift Kaiser to a 8-5 win over Castle on Senior Day at Kaiser High School baseball field to close out the Cougars' regular season at 7-5.

"It was a big win, especially since its our senior game," said junior pitcher/infielder Kelan Yoshioka. "I felt that we had to do something for the seniors and just get the win."

Kaiser led 1-0 at the end of the first and strung together four more runs in the third to take what looked to be a commanding 5-0 lead, as Cougars' starter Makana Lyman looked strong on the mound through three.

The Knights rallied with a run in the fourth off of a Bobby Aiwohi RBI double, and then exploded to mount a four-run comeback in the fifth inning, highlighted by a 2 RBI triple by Dane Kamalu.

"That was a nice effort coming back, we forced them to use their closer (Yoshioka) early so to speak, and that was positive." said Castle head coach Rocky Fraticelli.

The scored remained tied until the bottom of the sixth, when Bitanga's bases loaded single bounded past the mound to drive in a pair of Cougars, breaking a 5-all deadlock.

Bitanga hit a grand slam home run to power Kaiser to a 5-0 win over Roosevelt just four days prior to his go-ahead base knock this afternoon against the Knights.

"I think mentally he's starting to believe," said Kaiser head coach Mark Rasmussen when asked about the recent play of Bitanga. "He was struggling earlier in the year, but in the Roosevelt game he hit the big grand slam and I think that gave him some confidence."

Two batters later, Jordan Simao's sacrifice fly to center added another insurance run to push the margin to 3, setting the stage for Yoshioka.

And Yoshioka delivered in a big way, bookending strikeouts around a ground ball out to shut the door on the Knights in the seventh. He pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out three and walking none to earn the victory.

"I felt good. My off-speeds were working really well for me, it helps when you have off-speeds to go with your fastball." said Yoshioka.

Castle fell to 9-2 in the OIA Red East, but Kailua's 5-1 victory over Moanalua Wednesday helped the Knights clinch their first regular season title since 2000.

"Its nice, its an accomplishment by them and we just take it from here. We got one day practice and then we got Kailua on Friday and we'll work hard." said Fraticelli.

Something the Knights do need to address, at least for the foreseeable future, will be the absence of Micah Camara in the lineup. The 5-foot-11 senior sustained an apparent concussion in the third inning and did not return to the game.

"Apparently he (Camara) has a concussion, so he's out for at least 10 days. But he's got some time to recover and hopefully its not too serious." remarked Fraticelli.

Kaiser, who completed its regular season against Castle, faces a potential two or three-way logjam with Moanalua (7-4) and/or Kailua (7-4) for the second, third and fourth seeds, as the Cougars split the regular season with both schools.

"This win was very big because we needed it to even have a shot (at the 2nd seed). Eventually it may come down to a coin toss." said Rasmussen.