ILH Baseball
Mid-Pacific routs Kamehameha in ILH opener


  



Wed, Feb 28, 2018 @ [ 3:30 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Mid-Pacific 1 52102314161
Kamehameha 0 0 10220585

W: Shion Matsushita    L: Christian DeJesus

KSK: Vince Venenciano 2-3 run 2 rbi HR; Christian DeJesus 2.3 IP 1 ER 2 K
MPI: Wyatt Young 3-4 3 runs rbi 2 dbl trp; Shion Matsushita 5.3 IP 3 ER


HAWAII KAI — Mid-Pacific busted out the bats in a 14-5 rout of Kamehameha to open the Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball season Wednesday afternoon.

Kyle Layugan drove in four runs, including a three-run home run that was part of a five-run second inning, to lead the Owls (1-0) past the Warriors (0-1) before a crowd of about 100 fans at Mike Goeas Field.

Eight different players registered a hit for Mid-Pacific and six different players drove in at least one run.

"I don't think we had 16 hits all of last year," quipped Dunn Muramaru, the 32nd-year coach of the Owls.

Layugan's one-out single to score leadoff hitter Wyatt Young in the top of the first inning gave MPI an early lead, which it added to with frequency throughout the game.

The Owls sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning. Micah Pi singled and came around to score when Young reached on an error and Jacob Yoshino drove in Hunter Hirayama with a two-out single before Layugan swatted a 1-1 offering from Kamehameha starting pitcher Christian DeJesus over the fence in left field to quickly make it a 6-0 lead.

"I was looking away, but I saw that pitch come up and in, so I just turned on it really hard," Layugan said.

The hit parade took Muramaru by surprise.

"I didn't expect hitting the ball like this so, I mean, I guess they took it upon themselves to hit," he said. "It's good when you get a lead and then we kept hitting, so that was good."

Kyle Layugan connects on a homer in the second inning to give the Owls at 6-0 lead. Greg Yamamoto | SL    Purchase image

The Warriors committed two of their three errors in the top of the third inning. DeJesus issued back-to-back walks to Cameron Ching and Pi before he was pulled for reliever Kamahao Arita. Both runners eventually scored to stretch the MPI lead to 8-0.

Kalei Kim's one-out single in the bottom of the third was the first hit allowed by Owls' starter Shion Matsushita, who allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings pitched. He struck out one and walked one to earn the win.

"Shion was good. I mean, he struggled a little bit in the beginning but then with a lead like that, basically he was just trying to throw it over and let them hit. So that's why he got hit a little bit," Muramaru said. "I think if it was a little tighter (score) he'd be throwing more stuff, but we just told him ‘pound the zone, force them to hit the ball and they're not going to score that many runs if they just hit the ball.' "

Matsushita allowed consecutive singles by Vince Venenciano and Mattingly Ho to open the Kamehameha fifth. A wild pitch allowed both runners to move into scoring position before Kalei Kim's ground ball out brought courtesy runner Kala Burnett to score from third to cut the MPI lead to 9-2. Matsuhita then got leadoff batter Chaesten Chon to strike out looking for the second out of the inning.

"I felt like it was a confidence-booster," said Matsushita, a senior right-handed pitcher. "I kept getting hit so that was a big confidence booster to help me out."

Matsushita, who has an unorthodox side-arm delivery, registered 10 ground-ball outs, four fly-ball outs and just one strikeout.

"He did an amazing job. He just kept pounding the zone, throwing strikes and keeping the batters on their toes," said Layugan, Matsushita's battery-mate behind the plate.

Matsushita said he relied on his fastball as well as his defense.

"My fastball had a lot of movement, so I just kept throwing it, letting them hit and letting my defense work. That's basically what I did all game," said Matsushita, who went 2-3 with a 3.90 ERA in 32 1/3 innings pitched last season.

"Knowing that I had a lot of run support I felt more comfortable. Even if I got hit, I was able to just keep throwing. They really backed me up and I felt a lot more comfortable on the mound," Matsushita continued.

Muramaru is hopeful that Matsushita will be able to parlay the outing into a solid ILH season.

"He did a good job of keeping us ahead and pitching how he's supposed to pitch with a big lead — that's important," Muramaru said. "They've got to understand the game. it's different pitching up six, seven runs and pitching when it's tight, so hopefully it'll give him a little confidence."



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.

ADVERTISEMENT


IMAGE GALLERY



MORE STORIES

Radford wins on walk-off wild pitch to turn back Kalaheo

Mataio Tauanuu batted 4-for-4 and scored the game-winning run in back-and-forth game for the Rams.

Punahou continues unbeaten streak, hands Kamehameha second straight loss

Third-ranked Warriors suffered consecutive losses in the regular season for the first time since 2017.

No. 4 Iolani rallies to hand No. 1 Kamehameha first ILH loss

Ethan Akagi and CJ Taira scored the winning runs for the Raiders off a wild pitch to hand the top-ranked...

Punahou pulls away from PAC-5 to notch first ILH win

The Buffanblu ended a five-game skid and broke into the win column to keep the Wolfpack winless in the...

Kalani's Nishigaya headlines All-OIA East selections

Forward/midfielder Kaiulani Nishigaya helped lift Falcons to first-ever league title; Kaiser's Noelani...

Trojans' Fuamatu-Maafala leads All-OIA West picks

Mililani's Iai Fuamatu-Maafala named Player of the Year; Campbell's James Curran named coach of the year.