Mid-Pacific shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa gets set to rifle a throw to first base against Punahou. Evan Asato | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Marcus Doi slides into third just ahead of the tag by Punahou's Beau Branton. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Niko Takayesu sets up for a throw to first against Mid-Pacific. Evan Asato | SL

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Mid-Pacific pitcher Trey Saito throws a pitch to the plate against Punahou. Evan Asato | SL

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Led by a steady pitching performance by Trey Saito and a solid defensive effort, Mid-Pacific improved to 4-0 on the season with a 4-0 win over Punahou at Damon Field.

The 5-foot-8 right handed Saito pitched six strong innings for the Owls, scattering three hits while striking out three and walking just one.

"He's a hard worker, he throws strikes, and he catches once in awhile, so he has a good idea of how to manage the game," said Mid-Pacific pitching coach Craig Hayashi. "So as a pitcher, he knows how important it is to get ahead and to let the defense work behind him."

Saito was efficient on the mound, facing just 21 batters in his six innings of work (three over the minimum), including two very quick 1-2-3 innings in the top of the fifth and sixth.

"Today, I was just trying to go at them (the Punahou batters) and always God first, and was doing it for my grandpa, he just passed away recently so I just wanted to go out strong (for him)," said Saito.

Mid-Pacific manufactured the game's opening run in the bottom of the second inning, as Bryce Asao drew a leadoff walk, then moved over to second on Brent Sakurai's sacrifice bunt. That set the stage for Ryne Saiki, who roped a Cole Kanazawa pitch to deep left center for a stand-up double, scoring Asao from second base.

With Punahou threatening with one out and speedy Jake Fujimoto on first after drawing a walk, Mid-Pacific got a huge defensive stop from second baseman Quintin Collier, who made a sliding grab of a hot shot by Niko Takayesu for the first out, then got out of the inning as Daniel Fentriss rifled a throw across the diamond to catch Fujimoto trying to round his way to third for the slick double play.

"That was a game changing moment for us," remarked Saito. "That inning would have kept on going if we didn't get out of it with that double play right there."

The Owls added 2 more runs in the bottom of the third, as Collier drilled a pitch down the first base line and came home to score on Fentriss' double down the left field line. Doi, who was hit by a pitch on his at-bat following Collier's single, advanced to third on Fentriss' double, then came home on Asao's single to center.

But Mid-Pacific was not able to capitalize any further, however, as Kanazawa was able to get the next batter Sakurai to hit into a 5-6-3 double play to end the inning.

The Owls tried to get things going offensively again in the bottom of the fifth, as Doi stole second following a one-out walk, and Fentriss trotted to first after being hit by a pitch on the next at-bat. Doi and Fentriss both took off just a few pitches later to execute a picture perfect double steal, and Asao loaded the bases after drawing the second walk of the inning off of Punahou reliever Dylan Takamori.

Punahou was able to get out of the inning unscathed, however, as Thomas Morris, who came on in relief of Takamori, struck out Sakurai and then got Cameron Igarashi to ground out to third to get out of the inning.

The Owls added one more insurance run in the last of the sixth, as Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a sacrifice fly deep to left center to allow Saiki to tag up and score and easily from third.

Saito gave way to Daric Valoroso, Jr. in the seventh, and the sidearmed closer took care of business, inducing a ground out, line out and pop out to give the Owls its fourth shutout in as many games, a streak of 28 consecutive scoreless.

Collier finished the afternoon 2-for-4 from the plate with a run scored, with Saiki and Fentriss each contributing RBI doubles. Fentriss and Doi also combined to swipe three bases.

"Winning this first round is momentum, big momentum." said Doi of Mid-Pacific working its way through the first rotation of games in ILH play undefeated. "Now we just gotta keep on working hard, don't stop here until we reach our goal, which is the state tournament."