Yamamoto pitches No. 2 Saint Louis over No. 5 Kamehameha

Jordan Yamamoto pitched all innings and allowed only 5 hits and 3 runs while striking out 7 against Kamehameha. Greg Yamamoto | SL

WAIPAHU - On a day he labored on the mound, Saint Louis pitcher Jordan Yamamoto still had the right stuff.

Despite tossing 18 first-pitch balls to the 30 batters he faced and having thrown 111 pitches, the right-hander went the distance and No. 2 Saint Louis fought off No. 5 Kamehameha, 7-3, Thursday in Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I baseball at Hans L'Orange Park.

Yamamoto (3-1) allowed three runs, five hits (tying a season-high) and walked a season-high four, while striking out seven in completing his third game out of four starts. It was not a breeze to pitch against a Kamehameha batting order in which the bottom four hitters in the lineup accounted for four of the team's five hits, including three for extra-bases.

"He doesn't have to be perfect every time, as much as we think we have someone special," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. "He's just a 17-year-old kid going out there and trying to do his best."

Losing pitcher Nick Young (0-1) gave up five run and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings for the Warriors (3-4-2).

Designated hitter Ryder Kuhns and leadoff hitter Rayson Romero backed Yamamoto's pitching with three hits apiece. Kuhns was a homer shy of hitting for the cycle; his two-run double in the top of the seventh cushioned the lead for Yamamoto heading into the home seventh.

The No. 3 Crusaders (7-2) showed their versatile offense with a mixture of small ball and long ball. Jacob Gribbin safety squeezed home a run and tripled in another. Yamamoto executed a suicide squeeze and Jacob White had an RBI double.

"They got hits when they needed to get hits, they executed the little things when they needed to," Kamehameha coach Billy Pieper said. "Jordan (Yamamoto) pitched a hell of a game, even though he didn't have his great stuff. But I'm proud of (our) boys, the way they battled. They could have folded, especially with a guy like Jordan on the mound."

Yamamoto retired the side in order only once; he threw first-pitch strikes to two of the three hitters. In the first inning, he struck out the last two batters with a runner on third with one out. He had strikeouts in the second and fourth innings to strand runners at second. He got Codie Paiva to fly out to deep center with a runner on third for the last out in the fifth inning, when the Warriors scored twice on back-to-back RBI doubles by pinch hitter Keenan Lum and James DeJesus. He walked two batters in the seventh and ended the game by retiring Paiva on another deep fly out to center. The only other inning he did not strand a runner on base was the sixth, when he allowed a solo home run to Will Young.

"That's a testament to his upbringing and him being a fighter and knowing things aren't going to be handed to him," Pieper said of Yamamoto's gumption. "It's good to see that. I mean, yeah, we want to win, but hat's off to a guy like that."

Yamamoto might have had command issues, but he still stuck with his fastball, which a scout said topped out once at 93 mph, but sat in the 89-90 mph range. His out pitch was the slider, but threw a majority of fastballs, while staying away from his curveball and changeups, he said.

"I felt good in the warm-ups, but once I got in the game, I just never really had control of some of my pitches," Yamamoto said. "It was one of those days when you just don't have control. It just happens, but just have to bounce back. Thankfully for my defense, I got through the game with only a little bit damage."

Thursday's game was the first of three games in as many days for the Crusaders, who play Punahou on Friday (3:45 p.m. at CORP) and Mid-Pacific on Saturday (11:30 a.m. at CORP). Gusman said he used Yamamoto against the Warriors because of their top-down lineup strength.

"Kamehameha is a great hitting team," Gusman said. "If they have a strength, it's their hitting. That's why we started our best guy today, just out of respect for their offense."

Yamamoto, who has signed with the University of Arizona, is considered a prospect for the Major League Baseball first-year player draft in June.

The Crusaders' offense was a model of execution. They had five sacrifices, including the two squeeze plays, yet flexed their muscles with four extra-base hits.

"It makes these guys believe that the things we are doing can work when we practice it and see it in the game," Gusman said.

The Crusaders took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning against Kamehameha starting pitcher Nick Young on Romero's RBI single and Gribbin's safety squeeze. They added a run in the fourth on Jacob White's run-scoring double. Saint Louis increased its lead to 5-0 in the fifth when Gribbin tripled to left-center to score Romero, who led off with a single and took second on Jordan Mopas' sacrifice.

"Gribbin's probably the most unlucky guy," Gusman said. "He's hit line drives every game right at people. He finally got one in the alley, so I'm happy for him."

Gribbin then scored on Yamamoto's suicide squeeze to make it 5-0.

"I was pretty nervous, but you gotta do what you gotta do," Yamamoto said. "You gotta want to bunt and you gotta lay it down."

The Warriors got to Yamamoto in the fifth. Kahoea Akau led off with a walk and scored on Lum's pinch-hit double to right. Pinch runner Kody Cacal re-entered the game as a pinch runner and scored on DeJesus' double to right-center before Yamamoto retired the next three in a row, including Paiva on a deep fly to center for the third out.

Kamehameha pulled to 5-3 in the fifth on Will Young's solo homer over the left-field fence, about a 350-foot drive.

Saint Louis insured its lead with Kuhn's two-run double.

Kamehameha plays Friday at 'Iolani (3:45 p.m.) and Saturday against Pac-Five at CORP (9 a.m.).

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].