Will power is what the ‘Iolani Raiders have.

Despite many struggles through a lethal ILH baseball schedule, the 10th-ranked Raiders put together their best game of the season to pummel No. 4 Saint Louis 9-1 on Friday at ‘Iolani’s field.

Austin Jim On threw 42/3 scoreless innings, using breaking pitches and decent control to keep the Crusaders’ normally hot bats cool. ‘Iolani improved to 3-6 in league play. Jim On, a sophomore, permitted just three hits, fanned three and walked three.

"He was outstanding. He’s not a power pitcher, he really has to have his control and he had very good control," ‘Iolani coach Brent Shimokawa said.

The Raiders got a couple of doubles by catcher J.R. Matsuura and a solo homer by sophomore Corey Nakakura off Saint Louis starter Pono Anderson, who possesses a sweeping curve.

"We looked for the fastball early in the count. Saint Louis does a good job of doing that, trying to hit their pitches early, so we tried to jump on that," he said.

A six-run fifth inning by ‘Iolani put the game out of reach.

"(Five) walks, one hit batter and that error, that hurt," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said.

The error was technically a fielder’s choice made by relief pitcher Braeden Nelson. The sophomore snapped a one-hopper back to the mound and saw ‘Iolani’s Tanner Nishioka way off the bag at third. But instead of running at the baserunner, he fired to third and the runner sprinted home to score.

On the same play, catcher Iolana Akau threw to first and the Crusaders had a chance to nab Nishioka, who started the whole play with the grounder. But Nishioka beat a rundown when nobody was at first base to cover the return throw.

"We haven’t played that bad in a while. We practice this stuff all the time," Gusman said. "’Iolani pitched well and they got timely hitting, which they haven’t had too often."

The loss dropped Saint Louis to 4-4, but stayed three back of Mid-Pacific (7-1), which lost to Punahou on Friday. ‘Iolani plays at MPI today.

"It helps our morale tremendously, but we can’t enjoy it too long because we have Mid-Pac (today)," Shimokawa said. "The whole thing is to get better through the season and compete."

The dugout was abuzz and vocal throughout the game.

"It has to come from within. These kids have a never-say-die attitude. They get along well and feel for each other. They win together and lose together," Shimokawa said.

Saint Louis started off with a bang, then shot itself in the foot when Devon Stubblefield was thrown out at third base in the top of this second on a steal attempt. He appeared to be safe on the surprise move, and Gusman modestly protested.

Stubblefield was at the heart of one of the game’s highlights, firing a strike from left field to home plate to gun down Jonathan Ide, who tried to score from third base on a fly ball by Joshua Inouye.

Saint Louis averted the goose egg when Kawai Mook-Garcia singled to center, scoring courtesy runner Ricky Ahlo-Pinera in the sixth.