Kamehameha didn’t need seven innings to down Mid-Pacific. The Warriors rode the bat of Aukai Kea and the arm of Blade Paragas to a five-inning, 11-1 dismantling of the Owls on Saturday at Hans L’Orange Park.

No. 4-ranked Kamehameha and No. 3 Mid-Pacific met up with one win apiece in the ILH’s double-elimination baseball tournament. The Warriors gave themselves a cushion with their second win, while the Owls find themselves one loss away from elimination.

Kea, the Warriors’ leader in runs batted in, added to his tally with five RBIs on three hits. He also crossed the plate himself to score two more runs.

Despite a sparkling performance, Kea wasn’t satisfied. “I did all right,” he said when asked about his performance. ” I could have been better. I had an error, and a flyout. I can always improve what I’m doing, so that’s what I’m going to go back and do. But I’m really proud of my boys. They showed up. Everybody showed up. I hopes this continues and carries into the next game.”

Kea was joined by four other Warriors batters to pick up RBIs, with Aydan Lobetos and Beau Sylvester each picking up a pair. Cody Branco and Kama Yamashiro were responsible for the other two RBIs.

Kamehameha didn’t need to dip into their bullpen, as Paragas pitched all five innings. Paragas threw 70 pitches, giving up just a single run and a single hit. He struck out four Owls batters, while walking a pair.

“When Coach told me I was going to get the ball a few days ago, I was really excited,” Paragas said. “I knew how much this game meant to us. I’m glad he let me stay in throughout the game.”

“He was good, and that’s what we expect of him,” Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa said of the steadying presence of Paragas. “I talked with him before the game and told him ‘You’re our guy, so go give them all you got’. He competed out there.”

Paragas credited his defense with helping him in his outing, “We did good as a unit. The defense was very solid today. The other games we were making a lot of errors, but today we really cleaned it up. That really helped me out on the mound.”

Things looked promising for Mid-Pacific to start the game, as Kodey Shojinaga picked up the first hit of the ballgame to score teammate Jake Comeaux and give the Owls the early 1-0 lead, but Paragas and the Warriors defense stemmed the flow at just one run.

“It wasn’t a rough first inning, but they scored a run off of him,” Kitagawa said of Paragas. “He really bounced back and shut them down the rest of the way.”

MPI’s advantage didn’t last long. With a chance to answer the early run in the bottom of the first, Kea stepped up for the Warriors. With teammates Elijah Ickes and Lobetos on base, Kea blasted a three-run home run off Owls starting pitcher Karter Wong, giving the Warriors a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“He was great,” Kitagawa said of Kea.”He picked us up when we needed it. We gave up a run early in the game, he gave us back the lead right away with that three-run shot.”

Neither team conceded a run in the second inning, and Kamehameha put in another shutout inning in the top of the third. Mid-Pacific couldn’t do the same, watching as the Warriors blew the game wide open in the bottom half of the inning. The Owls called upon relief pitcher Kennedy Hara to handle the inning. But Hara struggled to find the strike zone, eventually loading up the bases. With three runners on, he walked in a run on four straight balls to score Kea, then gave up another score when he hit Kamehameha’s Kama Yamashiro to score Miecah Andres.

The bleeding continued when Lobetos smacked a two-run single off of Hara. Beau Sylvester’s RBI single scored Pono Nakano to cap a five-run inning for the Warriors and give them an 8-1 lead.

Paragas again shut the Owls down in the top of the fourth to give Kamehameha a chance to add to its lead. With two runners on base, Reyn Kapua was brought in to salvage the situation, and stranded both runners to escape the inning.

Kapua loaded the bases to start the bottom half of the fifth. Sylvester picked up his second RBI on a single off of Kapua, bringing Kea back up to the plate with a chance to finish the game. He did just that, smacking a two-run double down the left field line to give the Warriors a 10-run advantage. Kea’s hit would have comfortably scored a third run if not for the mercy rule.

Next up for Kamehameha is a Thursday matchup with No. 6-ranked Punahou, which took down No. 1-ranked Saint Louis on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Central Oahu Regional Park.

“We’ll take any kind of win we can,” Kitagawa said about the shortened victory. “We have a tough opponent come Thursday in Punahou, so we’ll just prepare the best we can and be ready for it. I know our kids are excited to compete, so we’ll see what happens on Thursday.”

Mid-Pacific will face Saint Louis on Tuesday at Ala Wai Field.

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ILH Double-Elimination Tournament

Kamehameha 11, Mid-Pacific 1

W—Blade Paragas. L—Karter Wong.

Leading hitters—KS: Elijah Ickes 2 runs; Aydan Lobetos 2 runs, 2 RBI; Beau Sylvester 2-4, 2 runs; Aukai Kea 3-4, 2 runs, 5 RBI, HR.

‘Iolani 15, Pac-Five 11

W—Izack Takazawa. L—Jarren Chiang.

Leading hitters—P5: Ace Perry 2 runs, Jarren Chiang 2-4, 2 runs, RBI; Anthony Ahu-Fisher 3-4, run, 3 RBI; Caleb Kim run, 2 RBI; Ryden Toyama 3-4, 2 runs, RBI. Iol: Travis Ujimori 3-4, 3 runs, RBI; Kaimana Lau Kong run, 2 RBI; Makani Tanaka 2-4, 2 runs, RBI; Cole Yonamine 2-3, run, 2 RBI; Jonah Velasco 2 runs; Rylen Miyasaki 2-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI.

Punahou 5, Saint Louis 2

W—Cade Terada-Herzer. L—Ray Seabury.

Leading hitters—Pun: Cody Kashimoto 2-2, run. StL: Makamae DuPont 2-2, run, RBI.

OIA EAST

Kalani 12, Kaiser 6

W—Kupono Akaka. L—Bryson Toner.

Leading hitters—Kais: Ty Komoda 2-3, run; Rylan Kawakami run, 3 RBI; Zach Ho 2-3, run. Kaln: Christian Chinen 3-5, 3 RBI; Noa Dane Fujitani 3 runs, 2 RBI; Koy Yamaguchi 2 runs, 3 RBI.

Kailua 11, Castle 7

W—Jayden Hunt. L—Jesse Reppuhn.

Leading hitters—Cast: Wyatt Lizama 2-4, RBI; Kaimana Arruda 2-4, run, Zayden Uyemura 2-4, 2 RBI; Kekai Adams 2-3, run, 2 RBI. Kail: Shayde Kuhns 2-5, run, 2 RBI; Makai Miyamoto 4-4, 2 runs; Orion Medeiros 3 runs.

Moanalua 9, Farrington 1

W—Taven Hathaway. L—Raphael Bergantinos.

Leading hitters—Moa: Kaiden Sonoda-Fukumoto 2 runs, RBI; Shayde Koga 2 runs; Taven Hathaway 2-4, run, 3 RBI; Connor Dempsey 2-4, 2 runs; Z Miyashiro 2-3, run, 2 RBI.

OIA WEST

Pearl City 11, Leilehua 1

Aiea 12, Kapolei 7

OIA DIVISION II

Nanakuli 7, Waianae 2