Karter Wong was ready and willing.
The Mid-Pacific left fielder and clean-up hitter was able, too. He pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out two as the Owls rallied for a 4-2 win over upstart Maryknoll in eight innings on a hot, breezy Saturday morning at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.
“It’s a good feeling. I have all the trust in my teammates. They do a great job out here. I just try and pick everyone up. It was a great team win today,” Wong said. “I was trying to relax out there. I knew my teammates had my back on defense. Just try to throw strikes and let them make plays, and that’s what happened. I just trust in our pitching coach, coach Craig (Hayashi). A lot of credit goes to him.”
Wong also had a leadoff single in the top of the eighth to set up the Owls’ go-ahead surge.
“He goes out there and he probably has no pressure. He just does the job, Whatever you ask he’ll do it, in whatever way he can,” MPI coach Dunn Muramaru said of the 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior.
Trailing 2-1 entering the seventh inning, Mid-Pacific tied the contest with the help of two hit batters. Coen Goeas led off and was hit by Maryknoll’s second hurler, Allin Yap. After Matthew Lawton’s sacrifice bunt moved Goeas to second base, Kash Choy grounded out to second for the second out. Yap then hit Draven Nushida, and Nathaniel Wagner clutched up with a single to left, scoring Goeas from third base to tie the game.
Matthew Miura then moved from center field to the mound and retired Kodey Shojinaga on a fielder’s choice ground ball.
Wong had a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the eighth, Wong led off with a single to left and Chance Otsuka followed with another, advancing courtesy runner Kysen Silva. Miura then plunked Chandler Murray during a bunt attempt on a 1-2 pitch to load the bases with no outs.
Goeas then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, scoring Silva from third base for a 3-2 MPI lead. On the next pitch, Otsuka scored on a passed ball to give the Owls a two-run cushion.
In the bottom of the eighth, Maryknoll got a leadoff single by Noah Hata, but Miura flied out to center, and Wong fanned Noah Nakaoka and Jacob Remily — the Spartans’ No. 4 and 5 hitters — to end the game.
The gauntlet of ILH baseball is also a roller coaster, at least for MPI. The fourth-ranked Owls opened the week with a 7-5 loss to No. 3 Punahou on Tuesday, then edged No. 5 ‘Iolani 5-4 on Thursday. With a key win over Maryknoll, Mid-Pacific is now 3-2 in league play (9-3 overall).
Maryknoll’s stunning, unbeaten run to begin league play lost some momentum. The unranked Spartans opened league play last week with one-run wins over Damien and Pac-Five. Then ace Parker Grant shut out ‘Iolani on Tuesday, and the Spartans played No. 1-ranked Saint Louis to a 2-all tie on Thursday.
“They lost and tied, now they face the top part of the league,” Muramaru said of Maryknoll, which will play Kamehameha and Punahou in its next two games. “Maryknoll is good, man. They’re just solid. They have good at-bats all the time. They keep bringing in arms. Those guys are tough, man. They’ll be good.”
Like the Owls, the Spartans were relatively flawless on defense with only one error. However, three base-running miscues contributed to their downfall.
“Everything that happened today is fixable. Learning from what happened,” Maryknoll coach Alaka‘i Aglipay said. “Learning to have a short-term memory. I’d rather have these types of lessons now than later. There’s lots more baseball left.”
The home team, Maryknoll, opened the game with a single run in the bottom of the first, but could’ve had more. Miura doubled to left off MPI starting pitcher Reyn Kapua with two outs. After Nakaoka walked, Remily’s opposite-field single scored Miura from second. However, Nakaoka got risky and was thrown out at third base on the 9-2-5 putout.
Aglipay had a polite, extended conversation with his player near third base.
The Owls replaced Kapua with Kai Tokumaru in the next inning, but the Spartans added another run. Grant led off with a single to center and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Luke Swartman. After Tokumaru whiffed Noah Bernal for the second out, Tanner Fujino singled off the glove of the shortstop Goeas on a hard shot in the hole, scoring Grant from second base.
Leading 2-0 with Fujino at first base, Tokumaru retired Nico Low on a fly ball to left.
Low was in control for most of his five innings on the mound. MPI reached the southpaw for a run in the top of the third when Nushida tripled to deep center, where Miura nearly made the catch on a dead run near the fence.
Low then threw a wild pitch and Nushida scored easily to cut Maryknoll’s lead to 2-1.
In the bottom of the third, Miura walked with one out, but got caught leaning toward second base on a pickoff throw by Tokumaru. He was tagged out in the rundown by Goeas near second base.
Tokumaru lasted three innings in all, allowing one run and two hits, keeping the Owls close.
Maryknoll threatened in the fourth when Remily’s line drive went through the legs of Goeas at short to start the inning. With one out, Swartman’s sinking liner was speared at the last second by the right fielder, Wagner, and Tokumaru retired Bernal on a ground out to end the threat.
Each team had runners in scoring position in the fifth frame and came up empty. Lawton led off the top of the fifth with a single to center and pinch runner Coehn Nakasone advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Choy. However, Low retired Nushida on a fly out and Wagner on a grounder to short, preserving Maryknoll’s 2-1 lead.
Justin Yap took over for Low in the sixth. The left-hander allowed a leadoff single to Shojinaga, but he retired Wong, Otsuka and Murray.
With new pitcher Brayden Heatherly on the mound for MPI, Fujino was hit by a pitch and, with two outs and Fuijno on second base, Miura drew an intentional walk. Heatherly then retired Nakaoka on a groundout to end the fifth.
After MPI squandered another opportunity in the top of the sixth with a runner in scoring position, Maryknoll missed its chance to add an insurance run. Remily led off with a single to left off the Owls’ fourth hurler, Wong. After a sacrifice bunt by Grant, Swartman ripped a hard ground ball in the hole, where Goeas made a diving stop and tossed to third base, where Lawton applied the tag to pinch runner Boyd Dela Vega for the second out.
With a 1-0 count on Bernal, Wong picked Swartman off first base, with Swartman tagged out after a 2-3-6-3-6 chase.
Mid-Pacific will host Damien on Tuesday and Saint Louis on Thursday before meeting Pac-Five at CORP on Saturday.
At CORP
Mid-Pacific (9-3, 3-2 ILH) 001 000 12 — 4 9 1
Maryknoll (5-2, 3-1-1 ILH) 110 000 00 — 2 6 1
Reyn Kapua, Kai Tokumaru (2), Brayden Heatherly (5), Carter Wong (6) and Kodey Shojinaga. Nico Low, Allin Yap (6), Matthew Miura (7) and Luke Swartman. W—Wong. L—Miura.
Leading hitters—MPI: Draven Nushida 2-3, triple, run, HBP; Nathaniel Wagner 1-4, RBI; Chandler Murray 1-3, double, HBP; Matthew Lawton 2-3, double, sac. Maryknoll: Miura 1-2, double, run, two walks; Jacob Remily 2-4, RBI; Tanner Fujino 1-2, RBI; HBP.
Saturday’s scores
Saint Louis 5, Damien 1
W—La’akea Correa. L—Brandon Deth.
Leading hitters—Stl: Sean Yamaguchi 3-4, run; Makamae DuPont 2-4, RBI.
‘Iolani 7, Pac-Five 2
W—Kaleb Tenn. L—Zach Holmes.
Leading hitters—P5: Duke Lee run, RBI, HR; Jerren Chiang 3-4, run. Iol: Cadence Ueyama 2 runs, RBI; Kaimana Lau Kong 2 RBI; Rylen Miyasaki 2-3, 2 runs, RBI
Kamehameha 8, Punahou 4
W—Blade Paragas. L—Trent Nagamine.
Leading hitters—KS: Elijah Ickes 3-3, 2 runs; Aukai Kea 2-4, 2 runs; Micaeh Andres 2-2, 2 runs, RBI; Kiai Kawai run, 2 RBI; Kama Yamashiro 3 RBI. Pun: Justin Tsukada 2 runs, Cody Kashimoto 2-4, run, RBI, Kaikea Harrison 2-4, RBI; Joey Wilson 2-3, run.
