Anderson propels No. 9 Saint Louis past No. 6 Kamehameha, 5-3

Saint Louis' Keith Torres comes home to scoring the winning run against Kamehameha in the top of the seventh. Brien Ing | SL

HAWAII KAI — Pono Anderson pitched three scoreless innings to help Saint Louis slide past Kamehameha, 5-3 Wednesday afternoon at Goeas Field.

It was the continuation of a suspended Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I contest that was played on March 28th. Due to rain, the game was paused in the bottom of the fifth inning with the score tied at 3.

Saint Louis, ranked ninth in the ScoringLive/OC16 Baseball Power Rankings, picked up its third win of the season to improve to 5-5. Sixth-ranked Kamehameha dropped to 5-5, setting up a tie for second place in the league standings.

Anderson pitched himself into a jam in the bottom of the sixth when he walked a Warrior, hit the next batter and allowed a bunt single to junior Micah McNicoll to load the bases. A couple of grounders and a full count flight to center field helped the Crusaders get out of the inning.

"I had no control over my pitches in the start of the sixth inning," said Anderson. "Fortunately I had good defense behind me. I was able to get ground balls and a pop fly."

The Crusaders were able to break the tie with two runs in the top of the seventh. Leadoff hitter Keith Torres got on base via a base on balls, and was able to advance to third thanks to a bunt from Taylor Meilleur and a flyout by Travis Tanaka. Saint Louis later loaded the bases after Ryder Kuhns was walked and Brendan Uchima was beaned.

With Anderson at the plate and the bases full of Crusaders, Torres was able to score on a passed ball to break the 3-all tie. Anderson then hit a ground ball that snuck in between the shortstop and third baseman to give the Crusaders a two-run cushion.

"I was just thinking if I see a fastball I'll adjust. Fortunately I saw a fastball and put a bat on it," said Anderson.

Anderson allowed a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh and got back-to-back flyouts to seal the victory.

"This win was pretty big," said Anderson. "We're all trying to fight for second right now and get ourselves into good position for the ILH playoffs."

Reach Shawn Sueoka at [email protected].