Saint Louis pitcher Zeke Wallace throws a pitch to the plate against Kamehameha. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kamehameha's Tyler Meditz slides in to score a run against Saint Louis. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Devan Stubblefield hit a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth drove in the tying and go-ahead runs for Saint Louis against Kamehameha. Sylvia Lee | SL

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After a devastating the loss less than 24 hours earlier, Saint Louis showed its heart in a 5-4 come-from-behind win against Kamehameha Saturday at Ala Wai Field.

On Friday, the Crusaders fell to 'Iolani, 9-1.

Devan Stubblefield's two-run single with two out in the bottom of the sixth drove in the tying and go-ahead runs for the Crusaders (5-4), who take sole possession of second place in the five-team Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I with three games left, including two this week against first-place Mid-Pacific (8-1).

"We struggled yesterday (Friday), we struggled today," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. "You never know if your team has it in them to just keep grinding and battling. They opened my eyes today. I thought my team showed me something today. They just hung around and found a way."

The Owls only need to win one of their next three games to clinch the regular season title and one of the ILH's two state berths. But second place improves a team's chance of getting that second berth and only 2 1/2 games separate the Crusaders from fifth place 'Iolani (3-7). Unless there's a different postseason tournament champion from the regular-season champion, the second-place regular season team will playoff for the second berth, unless it also takes second in the tournament.

"Both teams played pretty well," Kamehameha coach Vern Ramie said. "It was a good game. They just had one more big hit than we did."

Also, the loss for the Warriors puts pressure on them and 'Iolani. The fourth- and-fifth place teams have to play-off to get into the ILH double-elimination tournament. And that's the kind of pressure Saint Louis wants to avoid.

"We needed this big time," Gusman said. "It makes things interesting."

The Warriors (3-6) threatened in the top of the seventh when they loaded the bases with one out on a walk by Kekai Rios and back-to-back singles by Tyler Meditz and Ethan Rosehill. But center fielder Jacob Gribbin's sliding catch of a line drive robbed Hoku Botelho of a hit and denied the Warriors of at least tying the game, as the runners held their bases. Ryan Kaleiopu grounded out to first to end the game.

"He didn't have a great game at the plate," Gusman said of Gribbin, who was 0 for 3. "I told him you have to make it up in other ways. That was his way."

Zeke Wallace pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to get credit for the win.

"Zeke hasn't played baseball in two years, almost three years," Gusman said. "We asked him to come out as a possible backup catcher with an opportunity to pitch. He was around the plate and with the game on the line, in a tough situation, he didn't cover first base twice. But that's just his inexperience. But he's going to give you everything he's got. He's a fantastic kid."

Stubblefield was 3 for 4 with three RBI. Ryder Kuhns and DJ Dureg each batted for 2 for 3 for the Crusaders. Rayson Romero scored twice after drawing walks and had an RBI single.

Kamehameha took a 4-2 lead with a three-run top of the fifth against Saint Louis starter Jordan Yamamoto. Nakoa Ibaan led off with a double to right and scored when catcher Iolana Akau fielded JC DeJesus' bunt and threw wildly past first. DeJesus took second on the play and was credited with a sacrifice. Rios' grounded out to third, freezing DeJesus, who eventually reached third on a pickoff throwing error by Yamamoto. Meditz hit a liner to left that was misread by left field Stubblefield that allowed DeJesus to score and put Kamehameha ahead, 3-2. Meditz scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2 that ended Yamamoto's day. Wallace came in and retired the next two batters to end the inning.

The Warriors threatened in the top of the sixth when Jason Murakami and Codie Paiva reached on successive singles with one out. Ibaan reached on an apparent fielder's choice grounder to first, where first baseman Kaimi Umebayashi fired to shortstop Romero for the force that would've put runners at the corners with two outs. But the base umpire ruled Paiva didn't slide to the base and ruled the batter out because of the runner's inference, Ramie said. Ramie said he felt the slide had no impact on the play since Romero did not try to make a throw to first and appeared to consider throwing to third to catch the other runner.

"That's part of the game," Ramie said of the call.

Still, the Warriors took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth with starter Keenan Lum on the hill. He had thrown 98 pitches to that point before striking out Kawai Mook-Garcia to start the frame. But Kuhns singled to left and took second on Dureg's single to right. Lum ran a 2-0 count on Romero, prompting a visit by Ramie to the mound. Lum stayed, but walked Romero to load the bases. Jordan Mopas flied out to right, as the runners retreated to their respective bases. But the throw to home was wild, allowing Kuhns to score and the other runners to move up. Still ahead, 4-3, the Warriors intentionally walked Akau to load the bases with two outs. Stubblefield lined a two-run single to left to give the Crusaders the lead. The runners took second and third on the throw that got away. Lum was replaced  by Trey Smith, who got Umebayashi to pop out to second to end the inning.

"Felt good," Stubblefield said. "I made that error… I misjudged the ball (on Meditz's triple) that gave them two runs. After that, I told myself, "I have to get that back.'"

Kamehameha took a 1-0 lead in the third when Rios singled, took second on a wild pitch and after Meditz struck out, scored on Rosehill's double to right-center before Botelho flied out to end the inning.

The Crusaders tied it in the bottom of the third. Romero led off with a walk, took second on Mopas' sacrifice and an out later, scored on Stubblefield's chop single to shortstop. Umebayashi flied out to end the inning.

Saint Louis took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Kuhns singled with two outs and was lifted for pinch runner Brett Uchima, who took second on Dureg's bunt single to third. Romero's single to center scored Uchima, but Mopas struck out to end the frame.

"We're looking to build off of this and hopefully next week, we finish strong," Romero said.