Pearl City's Nicholas Au celebrates at home plate after scoring the game-winning run against Mililani. CJ Caraang | SL

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PEARL CITY — Tyler Kushima batted 2 for 3 and drove in the tying run in a three-run seventh inning to help Pearl City to a 4-3 walk off win over previously-unbeaten Mililani Friday afternoon.

The Chargers sent eight batters to the plate and were aided by three Trojan errors in the final frame to improve to 7-3 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West standings.

Mililani, the top-ranked team in the ScoringLive/OC16 Baseball Power Rankings, fell to 9-1.

"We told our kids that Mililani is the class of the OIA, they made two state championships in a row, they know how to win and in order for us to get on that level we've got to know how to win and in order for us to do that we have to be able to compete with the Mililani's and the Campbell's, so just having the kids stick it out being down 3-1 in the seventh shows that we are making strides in that area, so we'll take this for what it is," Chargers' first-year coach Gavin Concepcion said.

The game was tied at 1 after five innings before the visiting Trojans plated a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to reclaim the lead. After Tyler Kaneshiro pitched two scoreless innings in relief of starter Koa Eastlack, they turned to closer Keolu Ramos to face the bottom of the Pearl City lineup for the final three outs.  

However, Ramos struggled to find the zone. Pinch-hitter Tyler Tashiro worked the count full before taking ball four to start the inning. Ramos also went to a full count against Brent Clymer before putting him on base, forcing Mililani coach Mark Hirayama to go to the bullpen.

"Up two runs in the top of the seventh and being able to bring our closer in and having seven, eight, nine (batters in the Pearl City lineup) coming up, we've got to do a better job of throwing strikes and going after guys and making them earn their bases and we didn't do that today," Hirayama said.

Ramos was lifted for Kyson Outram, who got Sam Prentice to hit a ground ball toward second base, but it was booted by Jarrin Morikawa. Mililani caught Clymer on a backdoor throw when he overran second base on the play for the first out of the inning. Nicolas Au then drew a walk to again load the bases for the Chargers and Hirayama responded by going to Robert Baker, his fifth pitcher of the game and third of the inning.

Kushima then hit the first pitch he saw to deep left field for a sacrifice fly that scored Tashiro from third. After the out was recorded, Justice Nakagawa committed a throwing error that allowed Prentice to score the tying run.

"I like to be aggressive, especially with a guy who comes in off the mound," Concepcion said. "The first thing I told (Kushima) was they just walked a few guys, what do you think they want to do? They're going to throw one over the middle, they want to get a lot of plate and give you something to hit, so go ahead and put a swing on it."

Baker then intentionally walked Matt Tsutomi and Christian Onomura — the third and fourth batters in the lineup, respectively — to again load the bases. Shaye Higa then hit a 2-1 pitch for a ground ball to Nakagawa at shortstop, but the throw to first was low and Ty De Sa was unable to find the handle, which allowed Au to score the winning run.

"Keolu Ramos, when I was coaching at Kamehameha, he was up with us, so I had a pretty good idea of what kind of guy he is and he was just off his game today," Concepcion said. "I told our guys that this guy is a strike-thrower and look for something over the plate that we can drive and it just so happens that the mentality we had at the plate, the approaches we had, we forced him to throw a strike that we could handle, that we wanted in that count, in that situation and we were just able to work counts and get guys on and eventually score the runs we needed to score."

Mililani took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Sean Sonognini struck out for what would have been the third out of the inning, but a dropped third strike allowed him to reach base. Courtesy runner Blaine Demello then stole second and took third on a wild pitch by Pearl City starter Trenton Darley before coming home on an RBI double by De Sa.

Darley allowed four hits in five innings of work before giving way to Chevy Sumile to start the sixth inning.

The Chargers tied it in the bottom of the fifth when Prentice scored on an Eastlack wild pitch.

Nakagawa scored on a Sumile wild pitch and Morikawa scored to give Mililani a 3-1 lead on an Aris-Shea Nakagawa single.

Sumile was credited with the win, while Outram took the loss for the Trojans.

"We've had to battle every game and I've said it before that on any given day anybody can beat anybody and they were just a little more hungry than we were today," Hirayama said. "They finished it out and we didn't so that's how it goes. We just have to come back on Monday and start working again for the next game."

Pearl City, which has won its last four games, has another test on the horizon in the form of a road game at No. 2 Campbell Wednesday.

"It's a win, it puts us in another position and we've got to go back and do the same thing with Campbell, just go back to work and have the same mentality and get that winning attitude to continue for us," Concepcion said.