Micah Yonamine and Aaron Ujimori belted home runs in the third inning as No. 2 ‘Iolani overpowered No. 4 Punahou 7-2 on a sunny Thursday afternoon at Father Bray Athletic Complex.
‘Iolani remained unbeaten in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball standings at 8-0 and has sole possession of first place. Punahou dropped to 6-1 despite eight strikeouts by ace Matt McConnell. ‘Iolani’s starting pitcher, Ujimori, was steady from the start. He scattered seven hits, allowed one earned run and struck out four without walking anyone.
“Aaron’s job is go out there and throw strikes, and hopefully our defense does their job,” ‘Iolani coach Kurt Miyahira said. “Matt did a good job. Punahou is a good team. They’ll be back. They have a lot of talented players.”
Punahou never got any rhythm at the plate against the crafty Ujimori, who mixed his array of change-ups, curves and fastballs with mastery. He threw 83 pitches.
“Ujimori did a great job,” Punahou coach Keenan Sue said. “He had a little trouble getting his curve over, but he got the change-up over and spotted his fastball.”
The Raiders had two errors, while Punahou had a dropped fly ball and a couple of passed balls on third strikes thrown by McConnell. The right-hander threw 104 pitches.
The home team took control in the bottom of the first with three runs. Micah Miyahira fouled off four pitches with a two-strike count before walking, and Yonamine was hit by a McConnell pitch. Shane Sasaki belted a line drive to deep center for a double, scoring Miyahira.
Jacob Hinderleider followed with a groundout to shortstop, scoring courtesy runner Rayden Kaneshiro for a 2-0 lead. With Ujimori in the batter’s box, McConnell’s pitch hit the dirt, allowing Sasaki to score from third base for a three-run margin.
In the second inning, Blake Hiraki socked a one-out double and Tate Shimao reached base on an infield single. On the same play, Hiraki was thrown out at third on a throw by Punahou first baseman Cody Hirano. Shaydon Kubo then lifted a high, twisting fly ball to deep right field, where Aaron Tom muffed the ball, allowing Shimao to score for a 4-0 ‘Iolani lead.
Punahou, which stranded runners at the corners in the second frame, got on the scoreboard in the third. With two outs, Jake Tsukada reached base on an fielding error at first by Miyahira. Tom then lined a double to right-center, scoring Tsukada from first.
McConnell then struck out the side in the bottom of the third, but he also surrendered the taters to Yonamine and Ujimori. Yonamine led off the inning and went after a 1-0 fastball that caught more of the middle than the inside of home plate.
“I knew he would throw inside,” said Yonamine, who sent the ball high and just deep enough to get over the left-field fence. “I had to go down and get it.
With two outs, Ujimori had an 0-2 count, fouled off a pitch, and then launched a rocket that soared over the electronic scoreboard beyond the right-field fence. Ujimori throws right-handed, but bats lefty, and he connected on an inside curve ball.
Leading 6-1, Ujimori took the mound and promptly gave up a solo homer by Kade Morihara. The left-handed-hitting Morihara sent the ball well over the massive “One Team” banner in right-center.
Ujimori was unfazed. After Makana Murashige followed with an infield single, Ujimori retired 10 of the final 12 Punahou batters. He induced two Buffanblu into double plays along the way.
“I’m just trying to throw the ball over and let our defense play. Shaydon (Kubo, shortstop) did a great job. I trusted our defense,” Ujimori said.
‘Iolani added a single run in the fifth. Hinderleider scorched a line drive to right-center for a triple, and then scored on a third-strike passed ball with Ujimori at the plate.
