No. 3 Punahou erupted for four runs in the fifth inning to sprint past No. 6 Saint Louis 5-3 in an ILH baseball game Tuesday at Goeas Field.

With the victory, the Buffanblu remained spotless in the league at 3-0.

Prior to the pivotal fifth, Crusaders left-hander Austin Teixeira was humming along with a one-hitter and a 3-1 edge, but trouble hit hard into the gut of the boys from Kalaepokahu.

Matt Nishimura ripped an RBI double to bring Punahou within a run at 3-2 and then came around to score to tie it on a fielder’s choice and an error before Aaron Tom blooped a single to center to score two more for the 5-3 edge.

“Typically, a lot of ILH games boil down to that one big inning,” Buffanblu coach Keenan Sue said. “All the games we’ve played in and seen, it happens. The importance of playing clean baseball cannot be stressed enough. And that goes for both sides.”

The timing was just right for Punahou reliever Michael Robichaux to get the win. He entered as the Buffanblu’s third pitcher with no outs and the bases loaded in the fifth and trailing 3-1. After he put out the fire, his offensive mates immediately took the game away from Saint Louis (2-2) in the bottom half of the frame with the four-run surge.

“Robichaux, a senior and a clubhouse favorite of the guys, really matured over the summer,” Sue said. “He had good command of his curve and fastball today and did a good job. And Tom (Punahou’s cleanup hitter) did a good job on that winning hit with two strikes. It’s always good when you can put it in play with two strikes.”

In the bottom of the first, Punahou grabbed a 1-0 lead thanks to two Saint Louis errors. The Crusaders went ahead 2-1 in the second on JT Navyac’s double, Stanley McKenzie’s RBI groundout and Mathew Saelua’s run-scoring single.

In the top of the fifth, Saint Louis’ Doug Cabinatan, who was courtesy running for catcher Jonah Zembik, crossed the plate for a 3-1 lead. On third with the bases loaded and no outs, Cabinatan broke for home after Caleb Lomavita’s flyout to center and looked like he was going to be pegged out. But he scored when Nishimura, the Buffanblu catcher, did not cleanly stab the throw.

After that, Robichaux and Matt McConnell, who earned the save with one inning of scoreless relief, shut down the Crusaders.

Tom was awarded only one RBI on that winning, fifth-inning hit, even though two runs scored. The second run came home on a bobble by Saint Louis center fielder Makana Ontai.

“We can’t make simple plays and it’s hurting us,” Crusaders coach George Gusman said. “In the first inning, we had a double-play ball and couldn’t get that. Ninety-nine out of 100 times we make that. We kind of stunk it up a little bit. On a comebacker, we threw the ball into center field. Those are fundamental things that 7- and 8-year-olds should be able to do and our guys should be able to do as well. They’re trying hard, but this (loss) puts us behind and the road doesn’t get any easier.”