Moanalua's Tyler Fujimoto throws a pitch to the plate against Roosevelt. Greg Yamamoto | SL

×

032614_2hitter_MoaRoobb_0012.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase this image
4x5 5x7 8x10 image download

Tyler Fujimoto pitched a two-hitter and had two hits of his own to lead Moanalua over No. 7 Roosevelt, 4-0, Wednesday at Stevenson Middle School field.

Na Menehune (5-1) keeps pace with Kailua, a 5-3 winner against Kaiser, for a share of the lead in the O’ahu Interscholastic Association Red East baseball race. The Rough Riders (4-2) dropped to third place.

At one juncture, the right-handed Fujimoto retired 15 in a row. Relief pitcher Jarron Maemori reached on third baseman Kyle Aganos’ fielding error with one out in the sixth inning. But Fujimoto got Dustin Tsukano to hit a grounder to shortstop for the inning-ending double play.

“He mixed up his pitches well,” Roosevelt coach Les Loo said. “All of them were for strikes. He changed speeds really well. We were off-balanced today.”

Fujimoto allowed two singles – to Kainalu Pitoy in the first inning and to Mike Caris in the seventh – in the complete-game win. He walked none and struck out seven. Pitoy was the only Roosevelt runner to reach second base when he stole it, but was left stranded. He basically let his defense do the work, as he used his 72 pitches with efficiency. He never threw more than 14 pitches in an inning.

“I trust my boys on ‘D’ (defense),” Fujimoto said.

Center fielder Mark Kuga made a diving catch in the second inning to rob Reece Okura of a possible extra-base hit.

“That really helped me out,” Fujimoto said. “That was the first batter; the first out is always the hardest one. That was big time.”

Moanalua coach Scott Yamada said Fujimoto was able to get ahead in the count on the Roosevelt batters. Fujimoto had two balls in counts on only three of the Rough Riders’ 23 plate appearances. Only three times he threw the first pitch for a ball. He fell behind on the count only once, when he went 2-0 on Reece Okura, who grounded out on the next pitch, to start the fifth inning.

“He just let his defense work knowing he didn’t have to strike out anybody,” Yamada said.

Na Menehune could have inflicted some real damage, as they tagged Roosevelt losing pitcher Riki Kobayashi for four runs (three earned), nine hits, two walks and three hit batsmen in four innings. Moanalua, though, stranded 11 runners, twice leaving the bases loaded.

Moanalua loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning when Kuga, who was 3 for 3 with a triple, led off with a line single to left. Two outs later, Kuga took second when Fujimoto (2 for 2 with an intentional walk) singled to center. Drake Fukushima’s line single to left loaded the bases for Casey Isa, who was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to force in the first run of the game. Brayton Sakai followed with a walk to bring home courtesy runner Adam Tanoue before Kristian Yap grounded out to second.

Na Menehune insured their lead in the fourth. Isa led off with a double to the right-center alley, took third on Sakai’s sacrifice and stayed there when Yap struck out. Joshua Delaney singled to right-center to score Isa to make it 3-0.

Isa went to second on Kuga’s single to left. Nicholas Enrico’s sharp single to left should have loaded the bases, but left fielder Brandon Leong had trouble fielding the ball, allowing Dulaney to score before Kenji Yamaguchi struck out.

“He’s realizing he doesn’t have to swing so hard,” Yamada said of Kuga’s improved hitting. “He’s buying into what we’re trying to say.”

Moanalua was the home team because its field is still under construction. Na Menehune’s field might be ready for an April 16 game against Castle.