The first run through the ILH baseball regular season has served No. 4 Saint Louis pretty well.
Chase Meilleur threw his second complete game in three starts and Matt Wong’s sacrifice fly brought in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Crusaders a 3-2 victory over No. 3 Punahou on Friday afternoon at Ala Wai Field.
Meilleur allowed just three hits in a 96-pitch effort and got help from his defense, especially shortstop Keith Torres, to keep Saint Louis (4-1) in a first-place tie with Kamehameha through five games in the six-team league.
“Our defense played well and Torres is amazing,” Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. “If there’s anybody better than him I haven’t seen him.”
Torres had one leaping catch to snare a line drive and made five assists with no errors and two spectacular inning-ending plays on tricky hops.
He also went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored at the plate, including a bunt single in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the winning run on second base with nobody out.
After Punahou tied the game with a run in the top of the seventh, right fielder Hunter Peneueta led off the bottom of the inning with his second hit of the game.
Torres got ahead 2-0 in the count and after fouling the first bunt off, pushed a second attempt through the right side past the first baseman coming in and the pitcher for Saint Louis’ seventh hit of the game.
Andrew Matsueda, the third pitcher in the game used by Punahou (3-2), got ahead 0-2 on the next batter after Charles Lopez missed two consecutive bunts.
After a short meeting with Gusman, Lopez saw seven more pitches that induced a key wild pitch to put the winning run at third base before striking out.
“It’s all about fighting pitches off and that’s what (Lopez) did which is why I was proud of him because that wild pitch was big,” Gusman said. “It got runners to second and third and put all the pressure on (Punahou).”
An intentional walk to Dylan Pagente loaded the bases for Wong who lifted a fly ball to fairly deep left-center.
Punahou center fielder Cole Cabrera, who threw out a runner trying to score from second earlier in the game, made the running catch and tried to throw home but it wasn’t in time as Peneueta slid home safely to end it.
“It was a tough game. (I) had a lot of adrenaline rushing,” Peneueta said. “Had to get on any way I could.”
Meilleur, who now owns complete game wins over both Punahou and Kamehameha, was perfect through two innings before giving up back-to-back hits to Brent Shimoda and Matt Nakamoto to start the top of the third.
Cabrera’s sacrifice fly to center scored one run but Meilleur was able to limit the damage.
Punahou put the leadoff runner on three more times in the next four innings and finally took advantage of a hit batter to start the seventh.
Punahou pushed pinch runner Kamaulioia Aina into scoring position with a bunt and Shimoda’s second hit of the game put runners on the corners.
Pinch hitter Ryan Nishi laid down a bunt to third base to score Aina with the tying run and Torres made a tough grab on a bouncing grounder to short to throw out the runner at first to keep the game tied.
Meilleur walked three and had only one strikeout but got the job done.
“Chase is just a bulldog,” Gusman said. “He doesn’t give in, doesn’t get rattled and it was very unfortunate he hit the leadoff guy in the top of the seventh. He knew it too and he was upset with himself but stayed in there.”
ILH DIVISION I BASEBALL
No. 4 Saint Louis 3, No. 3 Punahou 2
At Ala Wai Field
| Punahou (3-2) |
001 |
000 |
1 |
— |
2 |
3 |
1 |
| Saint Louis (4-1) |
002 |
000 |
1 |
— |
3 |
7 |
0 |
|
Kahi Bisho, Riley Guieb (6), Andrew Matsueda (7) and Kai Terada-Herzer. Chase Meilleur and Kai Perreira-Alquiza. W—Meilleur. L—Matsueda.
Leading hitters—Punahou: Brent Shimoda 2-2. Saint Louis: Keith Torres 2-3; Aaron Renaud 2-2; Hunter Peneueta 2-3, 2b, 2 runs.
No. 8 ‘Iolani 1, No. 9 Mid-Pacific 0
At Ala Wai Field
| ‘Iolani (2-3) |
000 |
010 |
0 |
— |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| Mid-Pacific (1-4) |
000 |
000 |
0 |
— |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
Trevor Ichimura and Blake Hiraki. Shane Adams, Shion Matsushita (5) and Kyle Layugan. W—Ichimura. L—Matsushita.
Leading hitter—‘Iolani: Shane Sasaki 2b.
ILH DIVISION II BASEBALL
St. Francis 5, Damien 4
At Central Oahu Regional Park
| Damien (4-2) |
001 |
201 |
0 |
— |
4 |
6 |
1 |
| St. Francis (6-0) |
000 |
005 |
x |
— |
5 |
10 |
1 |
|
Javin Cortez and Shilo Kaeo. James Yamasaki, Zach Alcos (6) and Jared Yara. W—Alcos. L—Cortez.
Leading hitters—Damien: Jordan Donahue 3b, 2 RBIs; Jayden Cabbab 2-3, 2b. St. Francis: Makana Poole 2-2; Kiyo Perry 2-2; Reece Kadota 2b, 3 RBIs; Bubba Akana 2b; J.P. Tilley 2b.
Pac-Five 22, Hanalani 4
At Central Oahu Regional Park
| Hanalani (0-6) |
100 |
03 |
— |
4 |
4 |
5 |
| Pac-Five (2-4) |
269 |
5x |
— |
22 |
14 |
2 |
|
Robbie Jacobs-Kea, Louis Holt (4) and Seth Williams. Canaan Fernandez, Scott Wong (5) and Ethan Suga, Drew Yoshida (5). W—Fernandez. L—Jacobs-Kea.
Leading hitters—Hanalani: Max Ares 2-3, 3 RBIs. Pac-Five: Zane Oshiro 2-4, 3 runs, 3 RBIs; Kama Goss 2-3, 2 runs; Brandon Miyasato 2-3, 3 runs, 5 RBIs; Lii Cravalho HR, 3 RBIs.
OIA EAST BASEBALL
Roosevelt 8, Castle 2
At Castle
| Roosevelt (3-2) |
000 |
300 |
5 |
— |
8 |
12 |
1 |
| Castle (2-4) |
010 |
100 |
0 |
— |
2 |
10 |
1 |
|
Hiram Kaikaina, Hostas Pang (7) and Kekoa Lima. Baron Arquero, Brylan Kaneshiro (7) and Hunter Paredes. W—Kaikaina. L—Arquero.
Leading hitters—Roosevelt: Lima 3-3, 2 RBIs; Noah Nakamura 2-4, 3 RBIs; Kaikaina 2-3. Castle: Austyn Acosta 2-4; Jabe Kahawaii 4-4.
OIA WEST BASEBALL
No. 2 Campbell 7, Leilehua 5
At Leilehua
| Campbell (4-0) |
212 |
000 |
2 |
— |
7 |
4 |
1 |
| Leilehua (1-3) |
001 |
010 |
3 |
— |
5 |
9 |
3 |
|
Jamin Kalaola, Dylan Florentin (4), Ayzek Silva (6) and Todd Takahama. Jansen Dangaran, Raven Demmert (4), Kawai Phifer (7), Jason Wright (7), Kaika Cordero (7 and Jaxon Hotta, Fox Hook (7). W—Florentin. L—Dangaran.
Leading hitters—Campbell: Justin Fernandez 2-2, 2 RBIs. Leilehua: Christian Ontai 3-3, 2 runs; Jerin Po‘opa‘a 2-5.
Pearl City 9, Mililani 3
At Pearl City
| Mililani (1-3) |
100 |
020 |
0 |
— |
3 |
5 |
2 |
| Pearl City (2-3) |
140 |
202 |
x |
— |
9 |
5 |
2 |
|
Ethan Muller, Preston Morales (4), Seth Thomas (6), Lii Wofford (6) and Thomas Nakatsukasa. Carson Okada and Kaleb Nishijo. W—Okada. L—Muller.
Leading hitters—Mililani: Noah Domogsac 2 runs; Korrey Siracusa 2-3, 3b, 3 RBIs. Pearl City: Jensen Kaya 3 runs; Matt Aribal 3 runs; Christian Onamura 2b, 3 RBIs.
MIL BASEBALL
Kamehameha-Hawaii 3, Maui High 2
