Campbell's Kila Kapihe throws a pitch to the plate against Pearl City. Stanley Chun | Special to SL

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Campbell's Rayven Kahana stretches out to record an out of Pearl City's Sean Milan. Stanley Chun | Special to SL

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PEARL CITY - For the Campbell baseball team, the future is now.

Sophomores Dorrien Hermosura and Kila Kapihe combined on a four-hitter and the Sabers remained unbeaten in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West after a 5-0 win against Pearl City Wednesday at the Chargers' diamond.

The Sabers (11-0), who had already clinched the division's top seed for the 12-team OIA Red tournament in a couple of weeks, used the opportunity to look for a third starter to go along with senior Jasten Smeigh and Ian Kahaloa, yet another sophomore. Since teams play twice a week in the OIA, Smeigh and Kahaloa alternated each start until Wednesday. In the OIA playoffs and state tournament, should the Sabers survive, they will play three or four games in as many days.

"That's what we were searching for," Campbell coach Rory Pico said. "We've only started two guys thus far this year. If we go deep into the playoffs, we're going to need that third starter."

Pico was not hesitant to use throw his sophomores against one of the better hitting teams in the OIA in Pearl City. And his choices aren't limited to the pitchers; there are sophomore position players who start, too. All played for the Sabers' OIA JV championship team.

"We have a bunch of sophomores and they've been playing well all year," Pico said. "It carried over straight from the JV season. They're ready to go and they've been making plays for us. i have no reservations about putting those guys out there."

Other sophomore starters in Wednesday game were catcher Kahaloa, DH Tryzen Patricio, second baseman Jobe Ibana and left fielder Dwayne Sprinkel (1 for 2, RBI, stolen base).

Hermosura said he set up the hitters with his breaking pitches and finished them off with fastballs to keep the Chargers' off-balanced. He induced four infield pop or foul outs and seven ground outs, while striking out one. He allowed an infield single to Colby Hirano in the first, a double to Tanner Tokunaga in the third and a lead-off single to Jason Komoda in the sixth. .

"I really couldn't spot my fastball much," Hermosura said. "My changeup was working, so we threw that. We worked backwards and we spot that changeup for fast. When we got two strikes, we threw that fastball in."

Hermosura said he was a bit nervous because the last time he started was on preseason on the Big Island. He said Kamehameha-Hawai'i hit him good.

The Sabers led 2-0 when Komoda singled to start the sixth, Pico pulled Hermosura, who had thrown 60 pitches, for Kapihe, who was greeted with a single by Tokunaga to put the tying run at first. But Hirano, who bunted foul on a 2-0 count, eventually flied out to left. Matt Tsutomi then lined out to second baseman Ibana, who fired to shortstop Dylan Ramie for the inning-ending double play.

"The coaches, they trust me going in, pitching strikes," Kapihe said. "You just have to come in, do the job, finish right."

Kapihe added a perfect seventh for the save.

The Sabers used their legs to score in the third. With one out, the speedy Alii Pedrina doubled to left and stole third on the first pitch to Brannon Okinaka. Pedrina scored when Okinaka chopped a ground out to third to make it 1-0 before Rayven Kahana flied out to right to end the inning.

Campbell added another run in the fifth when Hermosura reached on a two-base error on a dropped fly to right field. Courtesy runner Zachary Recolan took third on Ramie's sacrifice and scored on Sprinkel's sacrifice fly to left. It looked like Campbell wasn't through scoring when Pedrina walked, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch before Okinaka grounded out to short to end the threat.

The Sabers cushioned their lead for the sophomores with a three-run seventh. Smeigh tripled to right-center and Austin Mariano went to pinch run for him. Hermosura, who went to first base when Kapihe replaced him, singled home Mariano to make it 3-0. Ramie's hit-and-run single to right moved courtesy runner Recolan to third; but when the right fielder had trouble fielding the ball cleanly, Recolan scored and Ramie went to second.

Sprinkel's single to left moved Ramie to third. After Sprinkel stole second, the Chargers brought the infield in and the runners held their bases when Pedrina grounded out to second. But Okinaka was hit by Tokunaga pitch to load the bases with one out. Kahana's sacrifice fly to deep left scored Ramie and moved Sprinkel to third. But Okinaka was picked off first to end the inning.

With the loss, the Chargers (7-4) and Waipahu (7-4), 3-1 winners against Mililani Wednesday, enter Saturday's regular-season finales tied for second. Pearl City visits 'Aiea and Waipahu plays Leilehua at Hans L'Orange Park. The second-place team from each division also draws first-round byes.

"Coming into this game, we knew from our JV coaches that they had some arms," Pearl City coach Mitch Yamato said. "Hats off to them. We couldn't make our adjustments when we needed to. They did their job; we just didn't do ours."