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MILILANI — Before taking part in a postgame interview, Mililani's Brayden Suehisa made sure to finish his groundskeeping duties of raking the dirt around the batter's box.

When the sophomore third baseman was done, the area was left in pristine condition, mirroring his flawless performance at the plate in the Trojans' 3-2 win over Aiea Saturday afternoon.

Suehisa recorded hits in all of his three plate appearances to lead Mililani over visiting Na Alii in both teams' OIA opener, which was also the first official league contest for both squads in 728 days. The last time either team saw the field before the COVID-19 pandemic was on March 14, 2020.

"It feels good to be back, just to be out here grinding with everybody," Suehisa said.

Suehisa's second hit of the day drove in the first run of the game in the bottom of the third, where the Trojans did all their scoring. With two outs and runners at the corners, the left-handed Suehisa hit a low curving shot through the infield that froze the Aiea shortstop in his tracks and allowed Kaleb Pongasi to score.

Zech Takahashi was hit by a pitch on the next at bat, setting up the table for designated hitter Ethan Murakoshi's two RBI hit to left field to bring BJ Tokushima and Suehisa home.

"We were lucky to string a few hits together," said Mililani coach Mark Hirayama, whose team won back-to-back OIA Division I championships in the past two full seasons (2018 and 2019).

Randyn Rios earned the win on the mound for the Trojans, throwing three strikeouts and scattering four hits across five and one-third innings. He was in command in the first three innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth and sixth innings when he beaned Ryson Ujimori to start each frame.

Jaden Miranda came over from center field in relief of Rios to pick up the final five outs and was credited with the save. He threw three strikeouts and allowed just one hit after taking over with one out in the top of the sixth.

"That's something new for Jaden, he's never really pitched until probably last summer as far as with us," Hirayama said of Miranda stepping in as a closer.

"We're slowly throwing him into situations to try to get that under his belt. That's going to be big for us to have a guy that can come in and close things out for us."

The Trojans were far from perfect however.

The biggest area that could improve? Bunt defense.

After Ujimori reached after taking one on the back to lead off the fourth inning, Stazz Asing put down a bunt that landed towards Rios' area. The Mililani pitcher was able to scoop up the ball, but rushed the throw to first for an error.

Isaac Rodrigues laid down another bunt on the following at bat that Rios had to chase towards the third base foul line. Rios tried to get Ujimori out at third base, but could not make the throw in time to load the bases.

Brennen Panis grounded into a double play on the next at bat, but because there were no outs, Ujimori was able to come home to get Aiea on the board. Rios walked the next batter before getting out of the inning with a strikeout.

Na Alii's second run came in the top of the sixth when Asing stole home with Panis attempting a squeeze play.

"We got plenty of work to do. We're lucky together out of this with the victory, but sometimes we're our own worst enemy," said Hirayama.

"We didn't take care of the bunt. I keep telling our guys in order for us to win the big games, it's going to come down to the little things like that. Hopefully they take that with a little bit more importance now when we go through those kind of drills and get ready for that."

The Trojans' offense could also get better. Despite getting eight hits in the contest, Mililani could not score on any runs outside of the third inning.

The Trojans left two runners on base in the bottom of the first and had a courtesy runner called out at third base on Murakoshi's two RBI single that ended the third inning. Suehisa also had a two-out double with a slap shot to right field that amounted to nothing in the fifth inning when the runner at first was gunned out at home trying to stretch the play.

Aiden Yoshida was tagged with the pitching loss for Aiea. He allowed seven hits and gave up three earned runs while strikeout one and walking two batters in five innings of work. Boston Ujimori relieved him after 88 pitches.