Thomas Morris is officially back, and he has helped bring Punahou with him.

Morris threw six shutout innings and the Buffanblu dealt Mid-Pacific its first loss of the season, 3-1 at Ala Wai Field on Friday.

Morris was an ace for the team two years ago but didn’t pitch last year after having Tommy John surgery. He started a game for the first time since getting hurt, and was nothing short of stellar.

"It felt amazing," Morris said. "It’s been a long time to get where I am right now, and all of the hard work finally paid off. It was really tough, but I never doubted I would be back because I love being out on the field and I was motivated."

Morris was certainly motivated against the No. 1 Owls. He allowed only two hits and two walks, and needed only 64 pitches to get through Mid-Pac’s lineup twice. He has given up only two runs in 91/3 innings this year, with the Owls scoring both of them.

Mid-Pac had the potential tying run at the plate against Morris in the seventh, but Dylan Combs came in and put out the fire. Combs, who beat Kamehameha in Punahou’s previous game, allowed a run to score on a ground out by Bryce Asao but overmatched Brent Sakurai and Cameron Igarashi with two strikeouts on six pitches to end it.

Punahou scored all the runs it needed in the fifth. The inning started with fireworks exploding over Waikiki, but K.J. Harrison and Cole Kanazawa kept the show going long after the smoke cleared from the horizon.

Niko Takeyesu led off the inning with a four-pitch walk, and that was enough for Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru to lift starter Trey Saito. Ryan Murata came in and threw two pitches, a successful sacrifice bunt by Jason Rosen, before Mid-Pacific put in Deric Valoroso. The submariner got Harrison to take a strike, but his second offering caught a little bit too much of the inside corner and the coach’s son drilled it down the third-base line for a double to put Punahou on the board.

"I had so much thoughts running through my head," Harrison said. "I was just like ‘I have to relax and be confident in what I do’ and I got a good pitch I could hit pretty good down the line."

Kanazawa added the insurance after Valoroso induced a pop fly but walked Nate Higa intentionally to pitch to Bo Coolen. He walked Coolen on four pitches and fell behind Kanazawa 2-0 before the righty laced a double down the right-field line to plate another pair of runs. Nicholas Bottom came in and got the Owls out of the jam with the next pitch.

"That’s just the ILH," Punahou coach Kenny Harrison said. "It’s tough to close games. All season we believed in each other. These kids work, and I think we are in it now. We’ve got a good team."

Mid-Pac (7-1) could have clinched at least a tie for the ILH title with the win, but instead Punahou (4-5) has its first winning streak of the season. The Owls will almost certainly claim the regular season, since they are 31/2 games up on Saint Louis with four games left, but the Buffanblu reminded them that anything can happen when the tournament comes around. Mid-Pacific hosts ‘Iolani today, and Punahou is off until it meets the Raiders at Hans L’Orange next Friday.

"Unbeaten has just been beaten," Morris said. "It’s just one game, but we are going to take the momentum and build on it because we believe in ourselves and our teammates."