Mililani hands Pearl City its first loss, 9-6


PEARL CITY-Troy Yoshizawa went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and Mililani scored seven runs in the first three innings yesterday to defeat previously unbeaten Pearl City, 9-6, in an O'ahu Interscholastic Association baseball showdown.

The Trojans improved to 6-1 in the OIA's Red Conference Western Division, now tied with Pearl City (6-1) atop the standings. The teams will meet again at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Central O'ahu Regional Park.

Mililani was coming off a heartbreaking, 10-9 loss at Kapolei on Monday in which the Hurricanes rallied for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win it.

"We're still a little young, we still need to learn how to win," Trojans coach Mark Hirayama said. "We have to play all seven innings, we cannot go into cruise control like we did today because these guys (Pearl City) can put up a six-spot easy."

The Chargers nearly proved Hirayama's point in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs with freshman Tanner Tokunaga's two-out RBI double closing it to 7-5 before he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Mililani got two runs back in the top of the sixth off RBI singles from Yoshizawa and Jacob Mariano, and Pearl City closed it to 9-6 on Isaac Shim's run-scoring triple in the bottom of the sixth.

Trojans reliever Jameson Madrid then sealed the victory with a strikeout with runners on first and second in the seventh.

"We knew they would come out more intense bescause they just came off a tough loss," said first-year Chargers coach Mitch Yamato. "They've got good team speed, but the bottom line is we didn't take care of the ball. We made too many mental errors."

Only three of the Trojans' eight runs were earned.

They took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first after Reid Uyehara's RBI single got past the right fielder, allowing Mariano to score with two outs. Mililani made it 5-0 in the second after a wild pitch, error, Yoshizawa's run-scoring single to center and a strike three passed ball.

The Trojans extended the lead to 7-0 in the third after another error, a two-out wild pitch on strike three and Ekolu Ramos' RBI single to center.

Mariano went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and Mariano and Uyehara each went 2 for 4. Tokunaga and Troy Scanlan each went 2 for 4 for Pearl City.