Kamehameha players celebrate after a 1-0 win over Saint Louis to move the Warriors into sole possession of first place in ILH Division I play. Brien Ing | SL

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HAWAII KAI - On a day ace Hunter Breault labored on the mound, his defense and bullpen saved him.

Breault survived six walks and got help from his bullpen and defense to help No. 3 Kamehameha squeak past No. 1 Saint Louis, 1-0, in a thriller at Goeas Field.

The Warriors (9-2) pulled into sole possession of first place in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I race, while the Crusaders (8-3) fell into second place with four games left in the regular season.

The game is being played under protest by Saint Louis coach George Gusman over an interpretation of the new pitch-count rule. Breault threw 20 pitches in relief against Punahou on Tuesday. With a day off Wednesday, Breault started Thursday's game and left after throwing 101 pitches. Gusman said he interprets the rule as the number of pitches over a three-day period, but the rule only mentions consecutive days. State baseball coordinator Glenn Nitta also confirmed that the rules is based on consecutive days. (See HHSAA table.)

Consecutive day(s) running total shall not exceed the daily max (110).

» Example 1 - pitcher throws 30 pitches on day 1.  On day 2, pitcher can come back and pitch 80 pitches.  Pitcher will then need to rest 3 days.

» Example 2 - pitcher throws 30 pitches on day 1.  On day 2, pitcher throws 30 pitches.  Pitcher needs to rest 1 day since the consecutive day total is 60.

"It's a three-day cycle," Gusman said of his interpretation. "In three days, you cannot throw more than a 110 pitches. On Tuesday, (Breault) threw 20, so that limited him to 90 today and he exceeded that. We'll just let it run its course."

Nitta said once the day off (Wednesday) was in place, the cycle begins all over again for the pitcher. Had Breault pitched on Wednesday, he would have been limited to 90 pitches, Nitta said.

"As far as my understanding, it's starts all over," Kamehameha coach Tommy Perkins said because of the day rest on Wednesday.

Violating the pitch-count rule is a game suspension to the head coach.

Breault (3-1) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and striking out two. Jace Borja walked two in 2/3 of an inning and Francis Gora came in from right field to get the final two outs to earn the save.

"We have the best staff in the state, hands down, with (pitching) coach (Jayson) Kramer," Breault said. "The whole team has a hundred percent confidence in every guy. There's no fall off from the next pitcher. Everyone can go out there, pound the zone and get outs."

Breault admittedly did not have his best sfuff.

"It was a tough day for me, I was struggling," the senior right-hander who has signed with Oregon. "My stuff wasn't on today, but the defense was helping me out a lot today everytime I got guys to put the ball in play. The defense just made plays."

Perkins concurred.

"Our defense played well today," Perkins said. "They got the job done, they didn't make any errors. We made the plays when we needed to."

But the Warriors had their issues with Saint Louis starting pitcher Dylan Lum.

"We could've swung the bat a little better," Perkins said. "We had a lot of fly balls out there. We're working on that so much. We can only get better, I'm hoping."

Lum (2-1) was the snake-bit losing pitcher for the Crusaders. On most days his performance would have been good enough to win. He pitched seven innings, allowing an unearned run, five hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

"Dylan pitched really well," Gusman said. "I'm really proud of Dylan."

The Crusaders had their chances, stranding runners in every inning. They left 10 altogether, two on in each of the last three innings. They had first and third with one out in the second, but Breault escaped with a double-play grounder to shortstop Kawai Takemura.

"They made some nice plays," Gusman said. "I thought we hit the ball hard, but we just had nothing to show for it.

The only run of the game scored in the top of the fifth when Lii Pontes beat out a single to third. He took third on a passed ball that catcher Kai Perreira-Alquiza thought was a fouled bunt off the bat of Gora. The ball hit the umpire and rolled to the backstop. Thinking it was a foul, Perreira-Alquiza did not give chase as Pontes made it all the way to third. Gora then singled to right to score Pontes.

"I think it was unfortunate," Gusman said. "There's no way my catcher misses the ball (if it is not fouled). The ball tipped the bat and that's why the ball took that funny bounce down. It is what it is. I told the umpire, ‘I think you missed that one.'"

The right-handed hitting Gora was behind in the count 1-2 and was looking for something away and took the fastball away to the opposite field.

"Coming up to the plate, runner on third, this could be our only opportunity," Gora said. "I just had to execute and somehow did that."

Gusman said the home plate umpire was firm with his call and was not going to ask the base umpire for another opinion.

The Crusaders threatened with one out in the bottom of the seventh when Borja walked Keith Torres and Dylan Pagente. Gora, who started in right field, came in for Borja. He got DJ Stephens to ground into a force at third and retired Matt Wong on a comebacker to end the game.

Gora, who had the only RBI, was pleased his team was able to finally beat the Crusaders, who had won the previous two meetings.

"Coming off all these games, we played them two times before, it was rough losing to them," Gora said. "Getting that big hit feels really good."

The issue of Breault's pitch count came in the sixth inning, when he reached 93 pitches. Gusman, figuring Breault had thrown 20 on Tuesday, was past the limit. But play resumed after discussion between both coaches and the umpires. Breault, who had just walked, Charlie Lopez, then walked Perreira-Alquiza and was lifted for Borja, who retired

Hunter Peneueta on a scorched liner to left fielder Mattingly Ho, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement just two batters earlier.

"We knew it was going to be an emotional game," Gusman said. "We had our chances. Bottom of the sixth, we lineout. You couldn't ask for anything more, but we're OK."