Mid-Pacific baseball puts end to ‘Iolani’s season

Amid the chatter emanating from the Mid-Pacific dugout came both words of encouragement toward the batter of the moment and a running theme for the Owls throughout the week.

“Find a way.”

After falling behind early in Wednesday’s ILH Division I tournament elimination game against ‘Iolani, Mid-Pacific indeed found a way to extend its season another day in rallying to a 7-3 win over the host Raiders.

The Owls, the fifth seed in the double-elimination tournament, survived to face second-seeded Saint Louis in another elimination game today at 3:30 p.m. at Central Oahu Regional Park. Today’s winner moves to take on Kamehameha, the lone unbeaten team in the bracket, on Friday.

“Get to tomorrow,” MPI coach Dunn Muramaru said after Wednesday’s win, “that’s the main thing.”

Mid-Pacific earned another opportunity by erasing a three-run deficit with a five-run rally in the fourth inning and adding single runs in the fifth and seventh in support of senior Jaydon Tomas, who earned the win throwing 41⁄3 innings of scoreless relief.

Tomas got the start in the Owls’ tournament opener against Kamehameha last Saturday and came away with a 1-0 loss that dropped MPI into the losers bracket. The Owls pulled away late in a 9-2 win over Maryknoll on Tuesday and Tomas figured he might get the ball at some point on Wednesday.

“Coach asked me when we got to the field after school if I was OK and I was ready if I needed,” Tomas said. “That’s my mentality all the time, be ready when called and get up there and throw.”

Muramaru summoned Tomas with two out in the top of the third with ‘Iolani leading 3-0 after Shane Sasaki’s two-run double earlier in the inning. He walked his first batter on four pitches, then held the power-laden Raiders to three hits the rest of the way to help the Owls defeat ’Iolani for the third time this season.

“I know they may have really good guys all around they all can hit, but you can’t be scared, you just have to go after them,” Tomas said.

‘Iolani starter Jacob Hinderleider retired the first nine batters he faced before MPI leadoff hitter MacKenzee Higuchi opened the fourth inning with a single. The Owls loaded the bases with one out and jumped ahead on back-to-back two-run singles by Kennedy Hara and Travis Ito, both on line drives into left center.

“When we all came in I just told them we have to pick up the energy,” said senior first baseman Cameron Ching, who capped the scoring with an RBI single in the seventh. “The other times we played them, we had high energy and we were doing better. I told them remember the last time we played them, pick the energy up.”

Cade Yoshimura extended the rally in the fourth with an infield single to drive in Ito. Kodey Shojinaga drove in a run with a single in the fifth inning and Ching closed the scoring with a two-out RBI single down the third-base line in the seventh.

While MPI plays on, Wednesday’s result left eighth-ranked ’Iolani, which placed third in the regular season and eliminated top-seeded Punahou 13-3 on Tuesday, out of contention for one of the ILH’s three berths in the Division I state tournament.

“We have a good group of seniors and honestly I failed them,” ‘Iolani coach Kurt Miyahira said. “They deserve better. … There’s no other way around it.”