No. 7 Kamehameha pitching silences No. 9 Mid-Pacific

The seventh-ranked Kamehameha baseball team looks to have enough pitching depth to overcome a brutal five-day stretch.

Junior Li’i Pontes and reliever Jace Borja combined to hold No. 9 Mid-Pacific to just four hits over seven innings and Chase Miyasato’s pinch-hit, two-run double capped a four-run fourth inning for the Warriors in a 6-1 win over the host Owls on Monday in an ILH baseball game.

Pontes struck out three in five innings to earn the victory and Borja sat down all six batters he faced for Kamehameha (1-1), which plays four games in five days due to the bad weather last week that forced the postponement of multiple games.

“This was a good win for us — a big win for us — to start off four games this week,” Kamehameha coach Thomas Perkins said. “It’s going to be a busy week for us — no rest — but hopefully the kids are up for it.”

Kamehameha had nine days off since opening the regular season with a 2-1 loss to Saint Louis.

Ace Hunter Breault, who signed with Oregon and will start today’s game against Punahou, gave up just one earned run against the Crusaders and struck out five in 51⁄3 innings.

Pontes doesn’t have the same overpowering stuff as Breault, who touched 94 mph against the Buffanblu, but was equally effective against the Owls (1-3).

He walked just one batter and gave up the only run on a two-out RBI single by Jacob Yoshino in the bottom of the first inning.

A bunt single and an error were the only other ways a batter reached base against Pontes until the bottom of the fifth inning.

Ryne Aniya hit a two-out double and Pontes walked leadoff hitter Wyatt Young, who finished with two singles and a run scored, to bring the tying run to the plate.

After a brief meeting on the mound with pitching coach Jayson Kramer, Pontes stayed in the game and was helped out when Aniya was caught trying to steal third base with two outs.

Pontes calmly stepped off the rubber and made the easy throw to third to get Aniya as Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru, who was coaching at third base, put his hands on his knees and stared at the ground in disbelief.

“My defense had me throughout the whole game,” Pontes said. “They played solid defense.”

Mid-Pacific, which has won five consecutive ILH championships, lost for the third time in four games to start the regular season.

The Owls led 1-0 with two outs in the top of the fourth inning when four straight Kamehameha batters reached base.

Hunter Fujitani tied the game with a base hit through the left side of the infield and Wilhelm Cordes gave Kamehameha a 2-1 lead with his second hit of the game.

Mid-Pacific pulled starter Carter Rustad for reliever Shion Matsushita and Perkins countered with the left-handed Miyasato hitting for center fielder Francis Gora.

Miyasato worked a full count, fouling off two tough two-strike pitches, before roping a double to center to plate two more runs for a 4-1 advantage.

“He was a lefty against a righty and some of the scouting we’ve been doing showed that the lefties were (doing better) off of (Matsushita),” Perkins said. “Chase has been working hard and putting in a lot of extra time in the cage this past week, so we thought we’d give him a try.”

Kamehameha added a run in the sixth inning when designated hitter Kalamaku Kuewa led off with a base hit and scored on a wild pitch with two outs.

Gora was hit by a pitch to start the top of the seventh inning and scored on Kawai Takemura’s one-out single for the final margin.