Maui Gaison throws a pitch to the plate for the Knights. Johnny Wilson | Special to SL

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WAIPAHU — Castle pitcher Maui Gaison had his longest outing of the year while Roosevelt couldn't provide any support for its starter, Aaron Emoto, in a 7-2 Knights' win at Hans L'Orange Park Monday night.

Gaison, a sophomore right-hander, allowed two runs on four hits over five-plus innings to pick up his first win of the season. He struck out four batters and walked three to help Castle improve to 4-4 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I East.

The Knights solidified its hold on fifth place in the league standings, while extending its lead to 2 1/2 games over the Rough Riders, who suffered their second consecutive loss to fall to 2-7 on the season.

"I told the players yesterday that it was a crucial game and it comes down to how tight the East division is, especially the bunch right in the center," said Castle coach Rocky Fraticelli, whose team swept the season series against Roosevelt. "We had a win against Roosevelt (earlier in the season), we get a second win (Monday) and it's like we have two-, three-game lead on them now."

Castle scored in bunches early, plating three runs in both the top of the first and second innings. Ten different players reached base for the visiting Knights, who rapped out nine hits. Noah Yee, Inoa Robello and Nicolas Gibbons each paired hits, while Logan Madrona and Gaison drove in two runs apiece.

Meanwhile, Emoto struck out a season-high nine batters, but allowed seven runs (three unearned) on eight hits in six innings of work for Roosevelt and fell to 1-3 in his fourth start of the year. His defense committed five errors behind him, while the Rough Riders' offense managed just four hits off Knights' pitching.

"He was pitching well, but we didn't have the defensive support and the offensive support tonight," Roosevelt coach Les Loo said of Emoto. "(The errors) makes it tough to win, especially when we had a difficult time scoring runs, too. The defense needs to be perfect and we weren't tonight, so that's the story of the game."

Gaison, who was making his second start of the year, enjoyed a three-run lead before throwing a pitch.

Nickolas Yee led off the game with a triple and scored the first run on a Keonimana Kahooilihala error. Gaison, who batted sixth, hit a high chopper over the head of Roosevelt third baseman Hiram Kaikaina one batter later to score both Chase Kalama and Logan Madrona.

"(Emoto) threw me a first-pitch ball, so I knew the fastball was coming," Gaison said.

Gaison was appreciative of the early cushion provided him before taking the mound in the bottom of the first inning.

"There's nothing like it — I've never pitched on a TV game, a night game — but doing it was fun and now I know how it feels," Gaison said. "There were some nerves, but I had enough preparation during this week so we knew what we were going to go against."

Roosevelt got a run back off Gaison in the bottom of the first when Jonah Sasahara drew a leadoff walk and courtesy runner Jared Tamashiro came around to score on a wild pitch.

"The first inning he was a little shaky," Fraticelli said of Gaison. "He warmed up earlier and then we had a little bit more of a TV delay and then the first inning he kind of struggled, but second inning, third inning he settled down."

Robello and Gibbons had back-to-back singles to start the top of the second before Yee drove in Robello with a single to center. Later in the inning, Madrona brought Gibbons and Yee in with a two-out single to centerfield. Castle sent eight batters to the plate in the frame.

"We had some timely hitting," Fraticelli said. "I think we had two ‘Baltimore chops,' and a couple runs scored on that."

The Knights added a run in the third inning on a Gibbons' RBI single that plated Robello.

Roosevelt failed to score with runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom of the third after Gaison got a line out and consecutive strikeouts to get out of the jam.

The Rough Riders managed a single run in the fifth, but couldn't get anyone past second base the rest of the way.

Loo praised Gaison's command and lamented his team's missed opportunities.

"He did an outstanding job," Loo said of Gaison. "He threw a lot of strikes after he settled down from that first inning and then we couldn't mount any kind of offensive rally against him. He kept the ball down and was getting ahead of the batters, which was really important."

Gaison, who went four innings in a 2-1 loss against Kalani in his only other start this season, gave way in the sixth to Stephen Lee, who worked two scoreless innings of relief.

Roosevelt, which lost at Castle, 2-1, back on March 11, has been outscored 47 to 11 in its seven losses this season. It visits Kahala Field Wednesday for a 3 p.m. game against Kalani (4-4).

Castle, which was playing its first game in nine days, visits Kaimuki (0-8) Thursday.