Game of the Week
Crusaders can clinch state-tourney berth with win Saturday


Saint Louis' Rayson Romero is congratulated at home plate by teammate Jordan Yamamoto in a game against Punahou on March 18, 2014. Brien Ing | SL

The Interscholastic League of Honolulu first round comes to a close Saturday with a quadruple header at Les Murakami Stadium.

In the first game of the day, first-place Saint Louis (11-3) will play fourth-place Iolani (8-6) at 9 a.m.

The Crusaders, who are ranked third in the ScoringLive/OC16 Baseball Power Rankings, surpassed Mid-Pacific (10-3-1) in the standings with their 4-3 win over the Owls Tuesday. They have won three straight and six of their last seven games entering Saturday.

If Saint Louis beats Iolani, it will clinch the league's regular-season title and secure the accompanying state-tournament berth. A loss, however, leaves the door open for Mid-Pacific to finish first with a win over Kamehameha later that day.

The second round of the ILH schedule is a seeded tournament for the league's other state-tournament berth. The winner of that will play the regular-season winner for the overall league title and a first-round bye at states.

Saint Louis is seeking its first league title since 2011, when it won its second of back-to-back crowns.

Junior Ryder Kuhns is tied for the league lead in hits with 21 and is tied for fourth with 10 RBIs. Senior Rayson Romero is second in RBIs (12) and fourth in hits (18). The Crusaders have surrendered a league-low 42 runs by opponents this season. Senior pitcher Jordan Yamamoto, who tossed a complete-game against Mid-Pacific Tuesday, leads the league in strikeouts (44) and wins (5). Senior Peyton Oshiro has a league-high two saves.

The seventh-ranked Raiders are coming off a 4-3 win over Punahou Tuesday to snap a two-game losing streak.

Senior Max Look ranks second in the ILH in runs scored (12). Junior Pikai Winchester and senior Christian Donahue are tied for ninth in hits (15). Donahue, who is headed to Oregon State next year, and junior Corey Nakakura are among four players tied with nine RBIs apiece, good for seventh-best league-wide.

Iolani has scored the exact same amount of runs (72) as Saint Louis and has allowed just one more run (43) for the season. Senior Joshua Inouye ranks second in strikeouts (32) and tied for third in wins (3).

The teams split their previous two meetings this season. Iolani won 7-0 on March 15 and Saint Louis won 4-3 on Apr. 9.

In other games at Murakami Stadium Saturday, Mid-Pacific and Kamehameha (8-4-2) will meet in the 11:30 a.m. game, Pac-Five (1-13) takes on Punahou (2-11-1) at 2 p.m. and Damien (7-7) faces Maryknoll (11-3) at 4:30 p.m. in the lone Division II game of the day.