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ALA WAI—After edging Iolani, 5-4 yesterday in their season-opener, Saint Louis pulled off another close win, this time over Punahou, 7-6, at Ala Wai Community Park Friday.

In a rematch of the 2021 Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship game, the Buffanblu (1-1) scored six-unanswered runs in the bottom of the fifth but the Crusaders (2-0) came back with a pair of runs in the seventh that made the difference.

"Saint Louis is a great baseball team, they battled well. Our guys never gave up and neither did they. That's the kind of baseball we see in the ILH and expect from everybody," Punahou coach Keenan Sue said.

"This is what the ILH is about, it's a tough league. Every game is going to be like this. We are not going to walk through anybody and every game will be tough. We have to take this energy onto the next game," Nuu Contrades said.

Contrades picked up the win on the mound and was 2 for 3 at the plate and led off the top of the seventh inning with his second double to left. He thought he could make it to third, but after a lengthy discussion with the umpires, he was held up at second.

"I ran into the first baseman and they saw it and said they didn't know I would've made it to third," Contrades said of the discussion.

Sean Yamaguchi moved Contrades on a sacrifice bunt and Cade Terada-Herzer struck out Xander Sielken. Faced with two outs and with a 0-2 count, Aiva Arquette tied up the game with a single to center and scored the go-ahead run on Makamae DuPont's double.

"Saint Louis just earned it. Aiva drove in the tying run and for them to come back and drive one more to take the lead, they're a tremendous baseball team," Sue said.

"I feel fired up, it was a great team win. We all came through at the end. Aiva with the clutch base hit to bring me in and Makamae to get the winning run. It was a great team win," Contrades said.

Cody Kashimoto led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, stole second and advance to third on an error. However, Contrades struck out the next three batters: Kaikea Harrison, Joey Wilson, and Jacob Ornelles to pull off the victory.

"Nuu is a competitor. He wants the ball and wants to be in that situation and he delivers. He doubled down the line, without him we don't get started. We have other guys clutch up," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said.

The Crusaders pounced early on the Buffanblu after Contrades led off with a double and Yamaguchi followed up with a double RBI and Sielken scored Yamaguchi for an early 2-0 lead.

Saint Louis padded the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Rustin Katsura walked Cody Antone and Ryder Okimoto's in-the-park home run made it 4-0.

Katsura threw 59 pitches, scattered four hits and had two strikes. Trent Nagamine pitched the fifth inning, Contrades plated his second run of the afternoon on DuPont's single to right field as Saint Louis took a commanding 5-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, it was the Buffanblu that chipped away and then took the lead. Nolan Souza and Kila Kaniho each had back-to-back hits and Kyler Saoit got Punahou on the scoreboard. Jacob Harris reached on a fielder's choice after Arquette could not convert the double play.

"We got lucky with a couple of hits and strung a few together. That's typically how most of these games go, they have a big inning, we have a big inning. We capitalized then, the important thing was the guys stayed in it and didn't coast," Sue said.

Tsukada brought in another run, Kashimoto doubled and plated Harris and Harrison was intentionally walked to load the bases. Wilson launched a deep shot to center right as Saint Louis outfielder could not come up with it to reclaim the lead, 6-5.

"We talk a lot about preparation. If you prepare well, hopefully the odds are in your favor to succeed in these situations. But you never know whether as a team or individually you can do that. It's nice to know we can compete behind and with a lot of adversity," Gusman said.

Spencer Rego up until that inning struck out two and only allowed a hit and was pulled for Sielken, who got Ornelles to fly out to right for the third out.

"I wanted one more batter just because who was up in the order for them. Also we didn't have anyone ready. If things turned right away, we have a couple guys, but when we get late into the game, we have to go with our best guys," Gusman said.

Punahou turned to its ace in Terada-Herzer and he made quick work striking out Ryson Waalani and Okimoto and got Jacob Villacorte to ground out to third.

Terada-Herzer scattered three hits, struck out three, and the two runs were earned in the loss.

The Crusaders have a show down with Kamehameha-Kapalama (2-0) on Mar. 15 at Hans L'Orange Park. The Buffanblu look to rebound and will go to Mid-Pacific (1-1) that same afternoon.

Both teams are expected to play each other again on Mar. 26 at Ala Wai Community Park.