Sophomores step up for ‘Iolani

In the gauntlet of ILH baseball, there’s not much wiggle room and there’s not much time to develop talent.

For the ‘Iolani Raiders, the time was right for two sophomores to step up. Left-hander Ezra Heleski struck out four in two innings of relief, and Matt Campos drilled two key doubles, bringing home three teammates as ‘Iolani rallied past Punahou 7-4 on Thursday at the Raiders’ field.

‘Iolani improved to 1-1 in league play, bouncing back for a win just 24 hours after a 4-0 loss to defending league and state champion Mid-Pacific.

"It’s big. The loss to Mid-Pacific was disappointing for the whole team," senior designated hitter Caleb Duhay said.

Facing Punahou reliever Dylan Combs, Duhay delivered a key single in the bottom of the fifth with the score tied at 3. His grounder up the middle brought in Austin Jim On and Christian Donahue, but what made the play a bit spooky for ‘Iolani fans was that Jim On sprinted down the line on the 3-1 pitch as if it were a squeeze play.

"It was just a little miscommunication. Coach (Brent Shimokawa) put it on, then he took it off. I had to think quick. If I let (the pitch) go, Austin would’ve been tagged out," Duhay said.

Instead, he got his bat on the ball and the Raiders took the lead for good. Later in the same inning, Campos smacked a two-run double to left, scoring Corey Nakakura and Duhay for a 7-3 Raiders lead.

"He threw me a curve," Campos said of the 2-2 pitch. "I was expecting a fastball."

The glue through a back-and-forth battle was Heleski, who relieved starter Joshua Inouye in the top of the fifth.

"For a sophomore, he has very good demeanor and composure," Shimokawa said.

"Our pitchers are doing well and we were more opportunistic on offense today. Punahou has good pitching. We just have to keep things simple."

Inouye had a solid outing with six strikeouts and just two walks in 42⁄3 innings. But a two-run double by Aaron Fong off Inouye tied the score at 3-all in the fifth. Heleski put out the fire, striking out Bo Coolen to end the inning.

Heleski fanned four and walked one in two innings but needed help in the top of the seventh when K.J. Harrison’s single scored Beau Branton. After Coolen followed with a single, Shimokawa called on Nakakura.

Cole Kanazawa lined a single to center, loading the bases, but Nakakura struck out Noah Goss to end the game.

Punahou, which opened ILH play with a 5-5 tie against Kamehameha on Tuesday, dropped to 0-1-1.

Heleski kept the Buffanblu a bit off-balance with a fastball, curve and off-speed pitch. He faced them once in preseason but had better results on Thursday.

"I kind of found my groove with my mechanics. Our pitching coach (Brant Tanaka) reminds me to keep my weight back and follow through," Heleski said. "Punahou is hard to get out, so I just tried to put the ball in play and don’t try to strike them out."

At ‘Iolani

Noah Goss, Dylan Combs (5), Jacob Kam (6) and K.J. Harrison. Joshua Inouye, Ezra Heleski (5), Corey Nakakura (7) and Easton Tsubata. W—Heleski. L—Combs. Sv—Nakakura.

Leading hitters—Punahou: Harrison 2-3, RBI, run; Aaron Fong 1-3, double, 2 RBIs. ‘Iolani: Bronson Ichimura 2-3, 2 runs; Caleb Duhay 1-3, 2 RBIs; Matt Campos 2-2, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs, run.

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the coach for ‘Iolani. His name is Brent Shimokawa, not Dean Yonamine.