Ayzek Silva has known closing time quite well.

Now the junior is proving his worth as an opening act. The sharp-throwing southpaw struck out nine in six shutout innings as Campbell stymied Mililani 2-0 on Monday afternoon in a battle of two teams tied for the OIA West baseball lead.

This is a nice start to a busy week for Campbell, which now has sole possession of first place in the division at 6-1. The Sabers will host Leilehua (3-4) on Wednesday and travel to Pearl City (5-2) on Friday.

Mililani (5-2) will host Pearl City on Wednesday, then not play again until April 4. The visiting Trojans were unable to decipher Silva and his crafty arsenal of pitches. Silva was a closer as a freshman, and earlier this season had one start, as well as an impressive middle-relief stint against Pearl City. This was his first start against Mililani.

“Ayzek pitched well. Again, we didn’t adjust at the plate,” Mililani coach Mark Hirayama said. “When he has that command, we couldn’t take all those strikes. Early on, he didn’t have his off-speed pitch. Then he found it.”

Silva permitted just two hits, both infield singles by speedy Shea Yamaguchi, Mililani’s leadoff hitter. Silva issued three walks en route to the win.

“All my pitches were working (in warmups). Mililani’s a good hitting team, so I knew I had to hit my spots and change speeds,” said Silva, who relied mostly on his fastball, curve and off-speed.

Silva finished with 92 pitches over those six innings, picking off two baserunners.

“He attacks the strike zone and has a lot of movement on his pitches,” Campbell coach Rory Pico said. “He left the curve up for a long time, but he started to throw his off-speed well.”

His counterpart, Ryan Ancheta, went three innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk. He yielded to Jason Shiiji in the fourth.

The Sabers scored in the first on a double to right-center by Ikaika Ganancial and a two-out double to left by Roy Clemons Dias. The ball bounced into the netting that marks the left-field “fence,” otherwise Clemons Dias would’ve had a triple. Ancheta then struck out Ansley Isaacs-Costa to end the inning.

In the second and third innings, Mililani got runners in scoring position, but Silva closed the door each time with strikeouts.

Campbell then tacked on a key run in the bottom of the third. Dylan Ramon walked with two outs and Clemons Dias followed with a single. With both runners going on a full-count pitch, Isaacs-Costa lined a single to right, scoring Ramon easily from second base for a 2-0 Campbell lead.

Darien Robinson moved from right field to the mound in the top of the seventh, issuing one walk while earning a save.