Timely hitting and another dominant outing from Jacob Villacorte has Saint Louis a win away from a state berth.
Chyler De Silva and Villacorte roped two-out, two-run singles in consecutive innings and Villacorte struck out 10 over six innings to help No. 3 Saint Louis beat No. 1 Kamehameha 7-2 on Thursday night at Central Oahu Regional Park.
The Crusaders (9-3-1) leapfrogged the Warriors (9-4) for first place in the league with a game to go. All four Tuesday games were postponed to Saturday or Monday, leaving the Crusaders needing a win over Damien on Saturday to secure the first of three state berths up for grabs in the ILH.
A Crusaders loss and a Kamehameha win over Punahou would give the Warriors the regular-season crown.
“It’s tough. It is absolutely, incredibly tough,” Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. “Look at the results today — Punahou beats ‘Iolani, Maryknoll beats Mid-Pacific. It truly is a crazy league.”
Villacorte, who struck out nine in five innings in a 1-0 win over Kamehameha earlier this season, retired the first 10 batters he faced, with five punchouts.
He gave up his first run on a wild pitch in the sixth inning and had runners on first and third with one out before earning his 10th strikeout on his 108th pitch to end the inning.
He has allowed one run on eight hits in 11 innings against Kamehameha this season with 19 strikeouts.
“It all starts on the mound. Jacob was outstanding,” Gusman said. “We felt the key to the game was to score before they did. Score more than one run and force them into doing things they weren’t accustomed to, so check and check.”
Saint Louis steadily increased its lead after scoring first in the top of the third inning. Matt Pavao’s leadoff double to left came on a 1-2 pitch that fell behind the left fielder’s glove. He scored on Kolby Gushiken’s two-strike fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly.
“It’s unfortunate. The lights here are tough. What can you say?” Gusman said. “It’s just not fair. It’s too bad we’ve got to play out here.”
Saint Louis had runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the fourth inning when De Silva pushed a ball back up the middle for a basehit to make it 3-0.
Villacorte helped himself out in the fifth inning when he lined the first pitch he saw to center to score two more runs to make it 5-0.
Gushiken added an RBI single in the sixth inning and scored on an error to make it 7-0.
Elijah Ickes singled with one out in the fourth inning for Kamehameha’s first hit and Bruce Boucher singled to lead off the fifth.
Aydan Lobetos gave Kamehameha its first run in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff double and scored on a wild pitch.
Six Crusaders had one hit apiece, while Ickes finished 2-for-3 to lead Kamehameha.
