Mid-Pacific baseball team still has that Manoa magic

It happens often enough, this Manoa magic that the top-ranked Mid-Pacific Owls seem to have mastered.

Down two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, MPI got a clutch home run from Alex Oley and a well-timed run-scoring single from reserve Bronson Hakkei, and Wyatt Young walked with the bases loaded in the ninth as the Owls pulled out a 3-2 win over No. 4 Punahou.

The win opened Interscholastic League of Honolulu regular-season baseball action for both teams.

Chase Wago, who started on the mound and went five innings, scored the winning run in the ninth. Wago led off with a walk off Punahou’s third hurler, Kahi Bisho. After Trevin Tengan’s infield single, a chopper over first base, Wago and Tengan advanced to third and second on a sacrifice bunt by Hunter Hill.

After Bisho issued an intentional walk to Jared Fujihara, Young worked the count full before taking a pitch below the knees for ball four, concluding another epic comeback win in Coach Dunn Muramaru’s long history of magical rallies. Muramaru was grateful for big performances by freshman pitcher Carter Rustad (in relief) and Hakkei, a junior making his varsity debut.

“I just got lucky,” Muramaru said.

“We had a lot of starters out with the flu,” Wago added. “Our young guys stepped up. Bronson and Carter, they stepped up big.”

Ethan Fujikami, MPI’s fourth hurler, got the win.

“He was supposed to (start) on Friday,” Muramaru said.

A packed house at MPI’s Damon Field saw Punahou ace Noah Goss toss a superb 61⁄3 innings. The senior southpaw had a two-hit shutout entering the seventh. Goss, one of Punahou’s veterans, blamed himself.

“I just wish I could’ve finished stronger. Oley clutched up. It was a mistake pitch,” he said. “We’ve just got to handle the pressure better, just got to keep fighting, finish stronger and follow through.”

It was a quick-moving battle for seven innings that featured a third-inning, three-run home run by Punahou’s Easton Takamoto that was mostly wiped off the scoreboard. Because the second baserunner to come home didn’t step on the plate, only the first run scored, a play that proved huge for first-year coach Keenan Sue and his boisterous Buffanblu.

Punahou loaded the bases in the top of the first on a bad-hop single, a walk and another single, but Wago struck out Takamoto to end the threat.

The Owls got a leadoff double off the center-field fence — just five feet higher and it would’ve been a home run — from Jarrod Infante. The senior was left stranded at third base, however, when a delayed steal by courtesy runner Breyndon Nakamura resulted in an assist by catcher Codey Kitagawa on a one-hop throw to shortstop Allan Dong at second base for the third out.

Punahou got a one-out single from Kai Terada-Herzer in the top of the second. After he reached third on a stolen base and error, Cole Cabrera popped out to second for the third out.

Punahou appeared to have a huge edge on a three-run homer to dead center by Easton Takamoto in the top of the third. However, after Goss crossed home plate, the second baserunner, Codey Kitagawa, was ruled out after not touching home plate. Takamoto’s run also did not count, so Punahou led 1-0.

Goss was in a groove all game long, setting 13 Owls down in a row at one point. Then Punahou added an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Cabrera reached on an infield single, advanced to second on an infield error, then came home on a two wild pitches by relief pitcher Daniel Nishihara for a 2-0 lead.

Then came a clutch, first-pitch solo home run to left by Oley in the bottom of the seventh. Wago stepped in and was plunked on the next pitch, and later came home with the tying run on a single by Hakkei. The hard grounder up the middle caromed off Punahou second baseman Austin Horio on a diving attempt, and the ball ended up in short center field as Wago hustled home.