Chase Wago’s performance on Wednesday came down to a matter of trust.

The Mid-Pacific sophomore placed his faith in his defense and the top-ranked Owls backed him up in a 1-0 ILHbaseball victory over No. 3 Saint Louis at Central Oahu Regional Park.

With Saint Louis ace Jordan Yamamoto on the mound for the Crusaders, Wago had little room for error and relied on a flawless MPI defense while scattering nine singles. He consistently worked ahead in the count, struck out two and, more importantly, walked none as Saint Louis left seven runners on base, four in scoring position.

"It was nerve-racking the whole game because they got runners on every inning," Wago said. "I just had to keep doing what I’m doing and throw strikes and let my defense work."

Yamamoto finished with six strikeouts and allowed five hits, none of which factored in MPI scoring the game’s lone run in the top of the first inning. The duel took just 1 hour, 45 minutes to complete as the Owls (6-0-1) maintained their hold on first place in the ILH standings.

"That’s how the ILH is going to be all year," MPI coach Dunn Muramaru said. "It’s tough.

"We have to face (Yamamoto) two more times — at least we got one."

One unearned run was all MPI needed in Wednesday’s makeup of a game that was rained out early in the ILH schedule. 

Cal Muramaru opened the game with a grounder to first, but the throw to Yamamoto running over to cover the bag was wild, allowing Muramaru to race to second on the error. He advanced on a wild pitch, and Noah Shackles’ routine grounder to third ended up being the game’s decisive swing.

"I wasn’t trying to smack it, because I knew he’s a good pitcher, so I just had to be smart and battle and get something on the ground to score the run," Shackles said.

Wago stranded the tying run at third in the bottom of the first and the Crusaders threatened again in the second with runners on first and third with two out. Brandon Uchima’s line drive appeared headed to left field before MPI third baseman Nicholas Bottom made a leaping snag to end the inning.

After the Owls turned a double play to end the third, Yamamoto led off the bottom of the fourth with a shot to the left-center field gap. But Cameron Igarashi got to the ball quickly and made a strong throw to second ahead of Yamamoto.

"For him it was confidence," said Shackles, who was behind the plate for Wago’s performance. "I think today he just had to trust that his defense would back him up and he could get the job done. He didn’t have to rely all on himself."

Saint Louis put the tying run on second in the sixth and seventh innings, but Wago got groundouts to end both threats.

"We had enough opportunities to score, just can’t drive them in. We gotta give credit to Chase," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said.

Gusman said Yamamoto, a University of Arizona signee, "wasn’t at his best, but he gutted it out and still gave us a shot to win it."

Chase Wago and Noah Shackles. Jordan Yamamoto and Taylor Meilleur.

W–Wago. L–Yamamoto.

Leading hitters–MPI: Nicholas Bottom, 2b; Shackles, RBI; Tyler Yamaguchi, 2B. St. Louis: Rayson Romero, 2-4; Ryder Kuhns, 2-3.