Saint Louis baseball coach George Gusman called Thursday’s 11-11 tie with ‘Iolani a game with “a lot of emotions.”

‘Iolani coach Kurt Miyahira was just happy with the way his kids battled back.

Neither team felt particularly good walking off the field at Central Oahu Regional Park after the game was called after eight innings due to darkness.

The first game of the second round of regular-season play had a little bit of everything.

The No. 1-ranked Crusaders (6-1-1) sent 13 batters to the plate in an eight-run second inning and led by as many as seven runs.

No. 4 ’Iolani (4-3-1) fought all the way back to take an 11-10 lead, only to see Saint Louis tie it in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-out balk call.

Saint Louis reliever Tanner Chung and ‘Iolani’s Rylen Miyasaki each put up zeros over the final two innings to close out a more than three-hour affair that left little decided.

“Just a lot of emotions. We were in control of things and it got away really quick, and then it was game on,” Gusman said. “It was just crazy. This is ILH baseball. They’ve got lots of returnees with good players and good coaching and that’s what you get.”

Sean Yamaguchi went 3-for-5 with two triples and four RBIs to lead a Saint Louis offense that has scored 29 runs over its past three games.

Kaimana Lau Kong finished 4-for-5 with three doubles, three runs and two RBIs to lead an ‘Iolani offense that has scored at least 10 runs in five of eight games.

‘Iolani took its first lead in the top of the sixth inning on a two-out passed ball. The Crusaders tied it on the balk call that Miyahira clearly didn’t agree with.

“The score is the score, the calls are the calls, but our kids just kept battling,” Miyahira said. “These (games) are fun though. This is what we signed up for. I think every game is a tough game — first round, playoffs, it doesn’t matter.”

A game Saint Louis was comfortably ahead in began to turn in the bottom of the fourth inning when Yamaguchi failed to score from third after leading off with a triple.

‘Iolani followed with a five-spot in the top of the fifth, with Lau Kong delivering a two-run double to right-center to get the Raiders going.

Yamaguchi, who recorded all three of his hits with two strikes, pushed Saint Louis’ lead to 10-7 with a two-run triple to deep center in the bottom of the fifth.

‘Iolani tied the game in the top of the sixth on Brock Makishima’s RBI single and took the lead on a passed ball.

“Well, I never want to be down four or five runs, but irregardless of the score we’ve got to keep playing,” Miyahira said. “Whatever is going to happen is going to happen, we have to keep playing hard and keep playing for each other.”

Chun retired eight of the final nine ‘Iolani batters after giving up Makishima’s hit to tie.

Miyasaki retired 10 of the final 11 Saint Louis hitters with four strikeouts.

“You turn to the second round and it’s going to be like this,” Gusman said. “Everybody is better by playing that first round. You find out a lot about the guys that you have. We knew a lot about them and in turn they know a lot about us.”