Kaiser pitcher Noah Sakatani throws a pitch to the plate against Roosevelt. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Shawn Miyashiro rounds third base on his way to home against Roosevelt. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Roosevelt's Kainalu Pitoy slides into third base safely against Kaiser. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Roosevelt's Jonah Sasahara connects with a Kaiser pitch for a three-run double. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Aaron Oda connects with a pitch for a base hit against Roosevelt. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MAKIKI - Pitcher Noah Sakatani survived one bad inning with five solid ones and Kaiser rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh inning to edge No. 9 Roosevelt, 6-5, Friday at Stevenson Middle School field.

The Rough Riders (5-3) lost a chance to pull into a four-way tie for first in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red East when Kaiser (4-4) got an RBI double from Michael Austin followed by a two-run single by Aaron Oda that scored the tying and go-ahead runs. Roosevelt is fourth a game behind tri-leaders Kailua, Kalani and Moanalua, while Kaiser is fifth, a game behind the Riders.

"We needed something like this," Kaiser coach Mark Rasmussen said. "This is a big win for us. We take the lead, they take the lead and we take it back."

Roosevelt threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Kainalu Pitoy tripled to right with two outs when right fielder Luis Omphroy lost the fly ball in the sun. But Sakatani retired Keola Tamanaha on a fly to center to strand the tying run on third.

Sakatani (1-1) pitched a complete game, allowing five runs, five hits and three walks with one strikeout. But four of the runs and four of the hits came in the Rough Riders' third, when they sent eight batters to the plate. The only other inning Sakatani allowed a run was in the second, when he walked and hit a batter. He retired the side in order in three of the five scoreless frames.

"He's been walking too many guys," Rasmussen said of Sakatani. "He has good enough stuff where he doesn't have to nibble. The thing was (when he was successful), he changed speeds and he threw strikes and he went in and out (in the strike zone)."

Roosevelt starting pitcher Reece Okura (3-2) owned a 5-3 lead entering the top of the seventh having thrown 91 pitches. His counterpart, Sakatani, led off with a single to center. Courtesy runner Elima Haole was forced out at second when Kamalu Simeona reached on a fielder'c choice grounder to shortstop.

With a runner on first, Kelan Yoshioka reached safely when shortstop Jonah Sasahara bobbled a grounder that caused him to make a late throw, as Simeona took second. That brought Roosevelt coach Les Loo to visit his battery and infielders.

"I told the defense to try settle down, (worry about) one batter at a time, get the outs," Loo said.

Austin banged his second double of the game to score Simeona and put Yoshioka on third. On a 1-2 pitch, Oda lined a two-run single to left-center to give the Cougars the lead. Oda was erased when Omphroy reached on a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop. Omphroy stole second, but was stranded there when Okura, still looking strong in his 114th pitch, struck out Curt Clivio, who was 2 for 4.

The Rough Riders essentially died with their boots, as half the runs they allowed were unearned. Kaiser got two of them in the second inning when Clivio reached on third baseman Dustin Tsukanao bobbled grounder. Clivio advanced to second on Jeshua Bitanga's sacrifice and scored on Shawn Miyashiro's double to left. Sakatani grounded out to third, freezing Miyashiro, who scored on Simeona's single to center to make it 2-0 before Yoshioka flied out to center.

Roosevelt got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second. Okura led off with a walk and Aaron Emoto was hit by a pitch. Sasahara's sacrifice moved the runners to second and third.  Courtesy runner Brandon Leong scored when Taylor Torres reached first safely on a fielder's choice grounder to short in which courtesy runner Dylan Nakatsuka was gunned down trying to take third. But the damage was contained to one run when Riki Kobayashi flied out to center.

The Rough Riders found their timing against Sakatani in the third inning. Nick Matsuoka opened with a single to left, took second on Tsukano's sacrifice and went to third on Pitoy's single to center; on the play, Pitoy took second on an errant throw home from center fielder Bitanga. Keola Tamanaha's ground single to right scored Matsuoka and moved Pitoy to third. With runners at the corners, Okura grounded out to third, moving Tamanaha to second, but holding Pitoy at third. Emoto walked to load the bases, which were cleared on Sasahara's double to left-center to give Roosevelt a 5-2 lead.

"I kind of babied it that inning," Sakatani admitted. "I don' know why. I was looking too far ahead and I didn't take it inning-by-inning. I had to refocus."

The Cougars chipped away with a run in the fourth. Clivio led off with a single to center and took third on Bitanga's single to left-center. Miyashiro hit a hard grounder that deflected off Okura's glove to second baseman Matsuoka, who threw out the batter, as Clivio scored and Bitanga took second. But the next two batters stranded Bitanga in scoring position. The score stayed 5-3 until the Cougars' big seventh inning.

Both teams are back in action Wednesday. Kaiser will play Moanalua at Hans L'Orange Park and Roosevelt will host Kalani. Both games are set for 3:30 p.m.