Dustin Imanaka and tenth-ranked Kailua will play host to Emmett Covello and Kaiser in the final game of the regular season for both teams before next week's OIA Division I Tournament. ScoringLive photo illustration

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The last time the Kailua baseball team faced off against Kaiser, it posted a convincing 10-1 win and was the start of its current six-game winning streak — just don't tell Corey Ishigo.

The longtime Kailua coach isn't worried one bit about winning streaks, but singularly on improvement.

"I think our main focus is focusing on what we need to do to improve as a team and now how we played against another team," Ishigo said, strongly discrediting the Surfriders' previous win over the Cougars as a reason for his team to be confident heading into Saturday's rematch. "Kaiser is a good team. Their win-loss record doesn't say how good this team is."

It is the regular-season finale for both teams.

Kailua (8-3), the No. 10 team in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Baseball Power Rankings, can clinch a first-round bye in the upcoming Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Tournament and at least the second seed out of the Eastern Division with a win over Kaiser (5-6) or a Moanalua (7-4) loss to Roosevelt (6-5).

If the Surfriders win and Kalani (9-3) losses to Castle (2-9), then they will ascend to the top seed.

"Basically our approach is to take care of our business," Ishigo said. "We're fine tuning some hitters right now. If we can get a few players going that are in the lineup or even not in the lineup to hit the ball more consistently that's going to help us out."

The Surfriders started the season 1-2 and had three losses in one four-game stretch before starting their current win streak, but Ishigo isn't a believer that a win gives his squad further momentum entering next week's OIA tournament.

"It's not even about wins or losses," Ishigo said. "It's about us preparing every player physically and mentally to be at their best at their time."

As for the slow start, Ishigo was never too worried with a squad that includes a dozen seniors.

"We just needed some time," Ishigo said. "We know that we usually never start off fast. Although we're heavy with seniors, our guys still need to play baseball to get ready for baseball. Baseball is a sport where you need some playing time before you can actually play and be competitive."

One player that has certainly come around for the Surfriders is junior pitcher Joey Cantillo. The southpaw is 4-0 on the year with a 1.08 ERA. He has 38 strikeouts to nine walks and has allowed just 10 hits in 26 innings.

Cantillo threw a 10-strikeout, two-hit gem over six innings against the Cougars three weeks ago, but pitched in Kailua's 8-1 win over Roosevelt Wednesday — when he struck out 10 and allowed one run on two hits in six innings — and won't be available Saturday.

That's just fine by Kaiser coach Ryan Umemoto.

"He was tremendous," Umemoto said of Cantillo. "We don't really expect to face him again, so it's going to be a brand new challenge and the tradition between Kaiser and Kailua is that both sides play hard for their schools and we give it all on the field."

The Cougars are coming off their first back-to-back victories of the season in a 5-4 upset of division-leading Kalani last Friday and an 11-1 six-inning win over Kaimuki Wednesday.

"Nothing has changed; We've been playing hard all season," Umemoto said. "We've been in absolutely every game except for that one game against Kailua. From preseason to regular season, our kids have played hard and they've learned from their mistakes. They keep learning, made a mistake and move forward; that's been our philosophy."

Umemoto said a three-game losing streak early in the season forced his players to do some self-reflection.

"We needed to figure out what kind of team we wanted to be and what roles we were missing and we believe we've figured it out," Umemoto said. "They've bought in."

The driving force behind the Cougars' maturation has been a trio of seniors of pitcher Kamalu Simeona, catcher Emmett Covello and right fielder Emmett Garcia.

"We've been dedicating a lot of our time on hitting, which is different from last year when we spent most of our time on defense," Umemoto said, whose team knocked around Kalani ace Connor Zalewski for 11 hits. "This year it's been a lot more offensive preparations."

Umemoto said Saturday's road game is hardly about retribution.

"I guess right now our team is not looking at anything like redemption; we're just on a roll. We're feeling good about how we're playing and we're just happy with that," Umemoto said.

Kaiser is locked into East's fifth seed regardless of the result of Saturday's game.

"We're playing strictly for pride, (but) we're going for the win," Umemoto said.

First pitch between the visiting Cougars and host Surfriders is scheduled for 11 a.m.