Mid-Pacific's Breyndon Nakamura makes contact on a pitch against Maryknoll in an ILH Division I contest Thursday afternoon. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MANOA — Mid-Pacific busted out the bats in a big way Thursday.

Five different players paired hits to backup six innings of four-hit ball by starting pitcher Carter Rustad in a 12-6 win over Maryknoll on a humid afternoon in front at Damon Field.

The 10th-ranked Owls pounded out 14 hits and scored in every inning they batted in to improve to 4-7 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's Division I standings.

"I think that's as many as the whole season right there," Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru quipped.

The Owls were behind early on, after the Spartans plated a pair of runs in the top of the first on consecutive RBI singles by Tyler Quinn and Chayson Dulatre.

However, Rustad settled in nicely after that. He retired the next 10 batters he faced, including strikeouts to end the first, second and third innings.

Meanwhile, the Mid-Pacific offense did its part, battering Maryknoll pitching for eight runs in the first four innings.

The Owls answered quickly with Kyle Layugan's two-out RBI-single to plate Jacob Yoshino in the bottom of the first. They tied it in the second inning on a Zachary Gushiken sacrifice fly that brought home Breyndon Nakamura and took the lead just two pitches later on Yoshino's two-out RBI-single that scored Ryne Aniya.

Aniya drove in Corey Takahashi, who got on with a bunt single, with a shot down the third base line with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.

Mid-Pacific stretched its lead to 8-2 following a four-run fourth inning. Takahashi brought in a pair of runners with a double to left-center. Cale Yoshino then doubled in Takahashi two pitches later and came in to score on a Nakamura single past the second baseman.

"That was a fastball down the middle," Takahashi said. "It was actually a hit and run and it worked. I hit the ball solid and pulled it off."

The Spartans benefitted from three Mid-Pacific errors in the top of the fifth and scored two runs in the frame to pull within 8-4.

However, the Owls added to their lead with a single run in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth to make it a 12-4 advantage.

Jonah Chinen's double in the top of the seventh scored Kaylen Furuta and Shane Himeda to close out the scoring.

It was Rustad's first win of the season. The 6-foot-3 sophomore right-hander struck out five and allowed four hits in six innings of work. He did not allow an earned run, nor did he walk a batter.

"I'm glad that my team could start hitting a little bit and support me. It felt good," said Rustad, who is now 1-3 on the year with an ERA of 4.62.

Rustad allowed two runs on two hits in five innings in his previous outing — a 5-2 win over Maryknoll just five days earlier — but did not factor in the decision. He said having faced the Spartans' hitters recently helped him get comfortable Thursday.

"I was studying the batters a little bit today and I'm just glad that we came back and got a win today," Rustad said.

Takahashi, who batted 2 for 4 with a couple of runs scored, said it was nice to provide some backup for his pitcher.

"It always feels nice to give run support to your pitcher, especially Carter," Takahashi said. "Carter is one of the younger guys on the team, but before, in his games, we'd have trouble with run support and (Wednesday) we had a practice which also helped us prepare, so it feels really good to give some run support to my teammates."

Muramaru was just satisfied to see his team come out victorious despite a lackluster defensive effort.

"We didn't help Carter out any. We had four errors, which gave them four runs right there," Muramaru said. "It's nice to make errors and still win. I told the kids we played poorly defensively and we still won, so that's good."

The Owls have now won three of their last five games after a four-game losing streak and are tied with Iolani for fourth place.

"This really boosted our confidence because our fielding wasn't the best today, but we still got the win, so that definitely boosted our confidence," Rustad said.

Chinen batted 2 for 4 with a run scored and Dulatre was 2 for 3 to lead the Spartans offensively.

Maryknoll used four pitchers in the game. Starter Drayden Yamauchi gave up three runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings and took the loss to drop to 0-4 on the year with a 5.69 ERA.

The Spartans dropped their eighth straight game to fall to 1-10.

The teams previously played twice this season and split the meetings.