‘Iolani stayed in the winner’s bracket of the ILH baseball tournament by taking it slow.

The Raiders jumped on the Crusaders early and never let them up in a 10-1 win at Ala Wai Field on Friday. ‘Iolani visits regular-season champion Mid-Pacific today at noon, with the winner getting the right to sit back and await the team that emerges from the loser’s bracket. Saint Louis hosts Punahou today at noon at Ala Wai. Mid-Pac beat Punahou 2-0 on Friday.

The Raiders used three pitchers who will never break a catcher’s mitt, but they make up for it with guile. Sophomore starter Bronson Ichimura gave up one run in his four innings, then Kelle Miyama got two outs in the fifth before giving the ball to Austin Jim On to close it out with a scoreless 21/3 innings.

"Saint Louis is a tremendous fastball-hitting team," ‘Iolani coach Brent Shimokawa said. "We were just throwing thumbers up there, because if you give them a fastball they are going to hit it."

Powerful Saint Louis left the bases loaded in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, getting only one run in those frames.

Saint Louis loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and a walk. Ichimura got Devan Stubblefield to ground into a fielder’s choice at third, then struck out Jacob Gribbin and Kaimi Umebayashi looking.

"It was nothing special," Ichimura said. "I was just trying to throw strikes and let my defense work."

The called strikes had Saint Louis’ bench and fans grumbling throughout, as both of them started on the plate but appeared to dart out of the strike zone at the last minute. Ichimura said he didn’t know whether his ball was moving that much; he was just trying to throw strikes. ‘Iolani (6-7) is suddenly in the midst of a three-game winning streak after losing five in a row in the middle of the regular season.

Miyama got Stubblefield to fly out to center to leave the bases loaded in the sixth, and Jim On got D.J. Durej to pop to first and Rayson Romero to ground to third to leave the sacks full in the sixth.

"That’s the name of the game," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. "We just couldn’t come up with the big hit when we had the opportunities. We just need to get better. I need to do a better job. We’ll be ready tomorrow."

Saint Louis (6-7) starter Jordan Yamamoto had already beaten ‘Iolani twice this year, but the Raiders made sure the third time wouldn’t be a charm.

Max Look led off with a single and Austin Darmawan walked. After Tanner Nishioka sacrificed the runners over, Christian Donohue lasered a shot that rolled out of the glove of leaping Saint Louis first baseman Kaimi Umebayashi for a run-scoring single. Corey Nakakura then hit a long fly ball to the fence in deep right for an easy triple. Saint Louis’ late relay throw skipped past third baseman Jordan Mopas, and Nakakura scored ‘Iolani’s fourth run.

‘Iolani added another run in the third and Donohue, an Oregon State commit as a junior, made it a blowout in the fifth when he launched a two-run home run into the Ala Wai Canal to up the lead to seven.