OIA Baseball
Trojans walk off against Chargers, 9-8


  



Tue, Apr 4, 2017 @ [ 3:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Pearl City 0 1150108112
Mililani 0 0 010539104

W: Seth Thomas    L: Matt Aribal

MIL: Micah Kaohu 2-3 run 4 rbi trp; Shane Griffin 3.6 IP 5 ER 5 K
PC: Sam Prentice 2-3 3 runs 2 rbi; Dillin Hasegawa 5.3 IP 5 ER


MILILANI — Justin Ogasawara's pinch-hit single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh scored Thomas Nakatsukasa and helped host Mililani walk off with a 9-8 win over Pearl City Tuesday afternoon.

The Trojans (6-5) trailed by as many as seven runs, but scored eight runs in the final two innings to rally past the Chargers (4-7) in front of a home crowd of about 200 fans.

It was Mililani's fourth win in its last five games and served as revenge for a 9-3 loss at Pearl City back on March 10.

Much like the first meeting — when the Chargers posted four runs in the bottom of the second inning and never looked back — Tuesday's game appeared to be headed down the same path.

Pearl City jumped out to a 7-0 lead after four innings, highlighted by a five-run fourth, and its starting pitcher, Dillin Hasegawa, cruised through five-plus innings of three-hit ball.

However, the Trojans refused to fold. They faced an 8-1 deficit entering the bottom of the sixth, when they loaded the bases with one out for Micah Kaohu.

That brought an end to Hasegawa's day. He gave way to reliever Matt Aribal, whose first pitch to Kaohu was stroked to the gap in left center for a bases-clearing triple.

"I saw a first-pitch fastball, so I took a hack at it. It was right down the pipe," said Kaohu, who batted 2 for 3 with four runs batted in.

Zach Lafata's two-out, RBI-single plated Kaohu and cut the Pearl City lead to 8-6  after six complete. Mililani sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth and scored five runs on five hits.

Bryson Arakaki led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. He moved to second when Korrey Siracusa reached on an error and both base runners advanced to scoring position on Taylor Inouye's sacrifice bunt. Kaohu then scored Arakaki with his sacrifice fly to pull his team within a run.

On the very next pitch, Bryce Yonemori singled in Siracusa, who scored from second to tie the game before Ogasawara looped a 2-1 pitch over Chargers' second baseman Kulia Neal, which allowed Nakatsukasa to score the game-winning run.

"It's kind of surreal that I actually came up with a walk-off single. I never expected that to happen, but when I was up at the plate, I was just thinking, ‘How much do I want this?,' " Ogasawara said. "It was a fastball right middle-away, so I just swung at it and hoped for the best."

Mililani coach Mark Hirayama praised Ogasawara, who is listed as a pitcher on the roster, but has yet to log any innings this season while recovering from rotator cuff surgery in the offseason.

"He comes out, he works hard, he's had a rough year with his shoulder surgery and he's done whatever he can to help us out," Hirayama said. "He's pretty close to getting back to pitching, but he'll come and he can't throw, so he'll hit … and sometimes you'd rather be lucky than good."

Ogasawara, a senior, has just two official at-bats on the season and just four total plate appearances. Tuesday's game winner was his first hit of the year.

"He's been battling with that rotator cuff (injury), so I think it was really big for him to get that hit," Kaohu said.

Seven different players registered a hit for Mililani. Kaohu, Thomas Nakatsukasa (2 for 3) and Zach Lafata (2 for 3) each paired hits. Nakatsukasa drove in two runs and scored twice and Lafata doubled with an RBI. Siracusa scored three runs and Arakaki two in the win.

"We haven't scored a lot of runs, so any time we get any kind of hits it's huge for us," Hirayama said. "We'll take ‘em, but again, we're looking for guys to step up and want to be in that situation to make a difference. You know, it's easy to hit with nobody on or we're up ten-nothing, but who wants to be the guy up there when we're down one and it's crucial?"

The Trojans used three pitchers in the win. Starter Shane Griffin went 3 2/3 innings and allowed seven runs, five earned, on nine hits. He threw 75 pitches with five strikeouts and no walks. Cole Mayeshiro allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings of work before giving way to Seth Thomas, who tossed a scoreless seventh inning and was the winning pitcher.

Aribal took the loss for Pearl City. He was charged with four runs, one earned, on four hits in 1 1/3 innings of work. Aribal walked three and walked one in relief of  Hasegawa, who surrendered five runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Pearl City scored single runs in the second and third innings before plating five runs on five hits and were aided by two Mililani errors in the fourth.

Sam Prentice batted 2 for 3 with a walk, two RBI and three runs scored and Aribal went 2 for 4 with two RBI and a run scored in the loss.

The teams combined for 21 hits. They split their season series. Pearl City notched a 9-3 win in their first meeting on March 10.

The Chargers, who have lost four of their last five games, conclude the regular season at 3 p.m. Friday at Aiea.

The Trojans are hoping to lock up a first-round bye in next week's league tournament. The top two teams from both the Eastern and Western divisions secure a bye in the 12-team tournament.

Mililani holds a one-game lead on third-place Kapolei and can clinch a bye with a win over undefeated Campbell Friday or a loss by either Leilehua or Aiea in their final two games.

The Trojans hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Hurricanes by virtue of sweeping the season series.

Mililani will meet No. 4 Campbell at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Hans L'Orange Park.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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