ILH Baseball
Raiders take advantage of Spartans' miscues in 8-5 win


  



Thu, Apr 7, 2016 @ [ 3:45 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Iolani 2 105000852
Maryknoll 0 0 30200553

W: Kaimana Bartolome    L: Payton Grant    SV: Shaydon Kubo

MS: Jarin Kobashigawa 2-4 run 2 rbi dbl; Brenden Nugent 4.0 IP 0 ER 3 K
IOL: Kaimana Bartolome 2-3 3 rbi dbl; Ezra Heleski 3.0 IP 1 ER 2 K


WAIPIO — Kaimana Bartolome didn't have his best stuff on the mound Thursday, so he made up for it with his bat.

The senior pitcher batted 2 for 3 with three runs driven in and helped Iolani snap a three-game losing streak with an 8-5 win over Maryknoll on a cool, breezy afternoon at Patsy T. Mink/Central Oahu Regional Park.

With the win the Raiders improved to 4-10 and secured the fifth seed in the upcoming Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I tournament. They also swept the three-game season series against the Spartans, who fell to 2-13.

"This can be a huge confidence-builder for us because we've been struggling lately, so hopefully this can help us turn the corner and we can do better in the ILH tournament," said Bartolome, a 6-foot-1 right-hander.

Iolani used a handful of backups in the game. It played without senior infielders Matt Campos, Everett Lau and Landon Moran. Lau leads the ILH with a .472 batting average and Campos has scored a league-best 16 runs. The duo usually bat at the top of the lineup for the Raiders.

In their absence Thursday, freshman Shaydon Kubo played shortstop, sophomore Jordan Hara played second base, junior Chad Suga third and sophomore Zack Kon first. The outfield was made up of sophomore left fielder  Brandon Yamane, freshman center fielder Shane Sasaki and sophomore right fielder Preston Chong.

"They fought, they battled. Everyone has been working hard so they earned this playing time and this gave them an opportunity to get the field," Iolani first-year coach Kurt Miyahira said. "This gave some of our guys some rest, gave other some guys a different look and let them battle. I think it'll give them tons of confidence because it's the next man up and you never know. Everyone is one pitch away."

Hara, who batted in the leadoff spot, and Kubo, the No. 2 hitter, each walked twice and scored twice. Kubo also had an RBI-single in the second inning.

The Raiders did most of their damage in the fourth inning, when they sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five runs. They were aided by three walks and three Maryknoll errors in the frame.

Bartolome and Kon had back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth that plated Hara and Kubo, respectively. Bartolome also doubled down the left field line to drive in a pair of runs and give his team an early lead in the top of the first.

"It was a fastball inside," Bartolome said of his first at-bat. "The first (pitch) I took, outside high, and then the next one he busted me inside so I took a hack at it and it turned out good."

Bartolome has found a hot streak as of late. After starting the year just 2 of 33 at the plate, he has five hits in his last 11 at bats.

"It felt good to finally start hitting again because I've been kind of slumping, but the past couple of games I've been hitting so it feels pretty good," said Bartolome, who is signed with Saint Martin's University (Lacey, Wash.).

Maryknoll tied it at 3 when it sent eight batters to the plate in the third inning. Jarin Kobashigawa lined a two-run double to left field that plated Kyle Abe and Cade Ohata.

Bartolome walked two batters in the third and twice loaded the bases, but got out of the jam after turning an inning-ending double play when he snagged a lined shot off the bat of Kaliko Thomas and doubled off Shane Himeda at second.

"After the first batter I just don't know. Everything just kind of flew out of my arm," said Bartolome, who threw 25 of his 42 pitches in the third inning. "I just didn't know where it was going and then I was able to find it toward the end of the inning and get out of it with that double play."

Miyahira made it clear that the Raiders got lucky on that play.

"If that ball was two feet away from (Bartolome) and falls in for a base hit, if he doesn't catch the ball for a double play, we're one pitch away from it being a different score the other way," Miyahira said.

Kobashigawa finished 2 for 4 and also scored a run on Thomas' two-RBI single that cut Iolani's lead to 8-5 in the fifth inning.

Bartolome was the winning pitcher, while Kubo recorded the save. Ezra Heleski allowed two runs in three innings of relief for the Raiders.

Miyahira was pleased with the win, but still harped on his team's lack of execution here and there.

"We had a terrible inning when we had the bases loaded with one out and we struck out and hit a fly ball," Miyahira said. "We just didn't execute and if we want to make a run in this tournament, we've got to do better than that, but it's progress and it's not on them — it's definitely on me. I've got to prepare them better. They're doing the best they can."

Iolani closes out the regular season against fourth-ranked Saint Louis at Ala Wai field Friday.

The Spartans have lost their last three games and will be the sixth seed in the ILH D1 tournament.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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