Saint Louis players celebrate their second-consecutive ILH title after defeating Iolani in eight innings. Brandon Ching | SL

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WAIPIO—No. 2 Saint Louis withstood a seventh inning rally from No. 7 Iolani and came out on top with a 4-3 victory in eight innings to repeat as Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park Friday.

The Crusaders (14-3-1) avenged a earlier loss in the double elimination tournament to the Raiders (10-12) eight days ago and clinches the second seed and first round bye in the Wally Yonamine/HHSAA Division I Baseball State Championships at Iron Maehara Stadium on Maui. Saint Louis will play the winner of Pearl City/Moanalua on Thursday, May 5.

"It was a lot. We did good in the beginning, we came out a little slow, but at the end, we came together as a team and at the end of the day it's all glory to God," catcher Ezekiel Ribuca said.

"Championship game, extra innings, two outs, guys scoring runs. It doesn't get any better than that. Not for a head coach, I can tell you that," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said.

The postseason looked bleak for the Raiders on the onset of the double-elimination tournament, but one win turned into six in a row. Iolani defeated Kamehameha twice on Monday, 16-13 and Wednesday, 6-1 to reach the ILH final, but the magical run came to an end.

"I was proud of them. They battled until the end. I don't know how to say it, but they earned the right to feel this way almost. They earned the right and opportunity and it was fun," Iolani coach Kurt Miyahira said.

Iolani will face Kailua (8-4) in the opening round on Wednesday, May 4. Winner of that game faces fourth-seed Mililani.

"I'm proud of them and we're blessed with the opportunity to go to Maui and compete again and we'll lay it out there again and see what happens. I'm proud of how they battled and played for each other and unfortunately it didn't go the way we wanted to but I'm proud of our guys the way they compete," Miyahira said.

While the Raiders were racking up wins by playing every other day, the Crusaders were idle since losing 7-4 on Apr. 21.

"That's something we may address in our postseason meeting in terms of speeding up the tournament. Waiting is never ideal. Baseball is a game you have to play more often than not. We had a number of chances with runners on second, just couldn't drive them in. At the end of the day, these guys are trying really hard, those guys are trying really hard, that's all you can ask," Gusman said.

Facing a full count, Makani Tanaka led off the eighth with a single and moved on a bunt from Cole Yonamine. Jonah Velasco flew out to center for the second out. Kahiau Schenk, who came in for Spencer Rego, fanned Rylen Miysaki to strand the two base runners.

Schenk picked up the win on 1 1/3 innings of work with 23 pitches and threw two strike outs.

Sean Yamaguchi led off with a walk and Tanner Chun moved him over to second with a sacrifice bunt. Ryson Waalani singled to right and Yamaguchi was held up at third. Ezekiel Ribuca, the ninth batter of the lineup, grounded to Miyasaki, who tried throwing it to home, but it was too late as Yamaguchi broke from third and scored the winning run.

"We had a talk before coach Gus called a timeout. I knew that I was going to put the bunt down if he came, I was going to slash. I just knew that if he came, I was going to slash, if not, I was going to get the bunt down," Ribuca said of the game-winning run. "I just hit the ball and ran it out after. I didn't look back."

"He knew exactly. We have a play with a situation like that. Bottom line, he executed it. He saw, he read, he understood what he saw and did what he was supposed to do. Fortunately, it was in the 5-6 hole and we scored a run," Gusman said.

Saint Louis drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning after Xander Sielken grounded to left field and Nuu Contrades (2 for 2) cranked a home run to centerfield for a 2-0 lead.

Those were the only two runs Trent Ihle gave up for the next 6 1/3 innings. He scattered seven hits, walked one, and 65 of his 91 pitches went for strikes.

"Trent stepped up big time. He settled in and gave us a chance and he battled back," Miyahira said.

Rego was working a two-hitter through six complete innings with seven strikeouts. He hit Yonamine on the elbow to open the top seventh and Velasco singled and each runner moved over a base on Brock Makishima's sacrifice bunt. The Raiders came alive when pinch hitter Cole Ide singled to center to tie the game at 2.

"It was crazy. We're up two and we hit the batter, we nick him and put him on and all hell breaks loose. For us to come back, it's incredible. Heart of a champion," Gusman said.

Rego fanned Cadence Ueyama for the second out, but Travis Ujimori swung on the second pitch for a single. Bruin Agbayani followed up RBI line drive to center to plate Miyasaki to give Iolani their first lead of the afternoon. Despite retiring 14 batters up until that point, the hit would end Rego's day and he finished with 107 pitches and the three runs were earned.

"My pitcher was struggling a little bit but I had to tell him to remember that we all got him. We came together as brothers and I'm thankful for my team," Ribuca said.

"He threw 28 pitches in the first inning. He was not himself," Gusman said of Rego. "There was a lot of pressure, but you have to be in it to get better to handle that stuff. Once he settled down, his pitch count went down and obviously the last inning when they went ahead, I think he was out of gas. What can you say guys battled both sides."

Schenk struck out Kaimana Lau Kong to end the inning.

Ihle struck out Jacob Villacorte and Ryder Okimoto popped out to second for the first two outs. Sielken reached on a throwing error to first by Agbayani and Contrades was hit by a pitch. Aiva Arquette was quiet for most of the afternoon, but came alive to tie the game up with a RBI single to left to reignite the Crusader dug out. Izack Takazawa came in for relief for Ihle and got Malosi Mataafa-Alferos to fly out to left field to send the game into extra innings.

Takazawa pitched 2/3 innings, threw 14 pitches, the lone run was earned in the loss.

The Crusaders was 3-1 against the Raiders in the season.

Iolani was seeking its first ILH title since 2009.