Mid-Pacific's Cameron Igarashi makes contact with a pitch against St. Louis. Igarashi was 2-for-3 at the plate with a run and 2 RBIs. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Mid-Pacific baseman Tyler Yamaguchi tags out a St. Louis runner. Sylvia Lee | SL

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St. Louis' Brendan Uchima was 3-for-4 at the plate with 4 RBIs against Mid-Pacific. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Mid-Pacific runner Nicholas Bottom, left, heads for the next base as St. Louis baseman Tanner Atiburcio, right, looks to field a ball. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Mid-Pacific players greet each other after their 10-8 victory over St. Louis. Sylvia Lee | SL

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WAIPIO — Mid-Pacific grinded out an ugly 10-8 win over Saint Louis Thursday afternoon to claim the Interscholastic League of Honolulu double-elimination tournament title, but it might be even happier about the rest forthcoming.

The Owls rallied from a 5-4 deficit in the third inning and used three pitchers in the game to improve to 14-3-1 on the season. They went unbeaten in the postseason tournament and will play the regular-season champion Crusaders Monday for the overall league crown and a first-round bye in the state tournament, which both teams have already qualified for. A loss Thursday would have meant another tournament game Friday against Saint Louis.

"It'll be good to get the rest in between games," said Jacob Maekawa, who threw 4 2/3 innings of relief and was the winning pitcher.

Maekawa pitched in his second consecutive game. He threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief Tuesday in a 6-2 win over the Crusaders. Thursday's duty proved a tougher task for Maekawa, who allowed eight hits and three seventh-inning runs. Saint Louis got the winning run to first base, but Maekawa got the final hitter to leave the bases loaded with Crusaders.

"It was a little more stressful this time," Maekawa said. "They're still a good hitting team out there and today they were hitting a little bit, putting the ball in play more. They put a little extra work on me, but it's all right."

Both teams struggled on the mound and in the field. The teams combined for 23 hits, seven walked allowed and nine errors. Mid-Pacific alone committed five errors — three in one inning — and its three pitchers issued five free passes.

Owls' ace Chase Wago was initially listed as the starting pitcher during warm-ups, but was scratched for sophomore Connor Zalewski instead. MPI coach Dunn Muramaru said the late change was a result of Saint Louis resting its ace in Jordan Yamamoto in favor of seldom-used Noah Abreu.

"When I saw them throwing (Abreu), I thought, 'Heck, we can gamble,' and it wasn't actually a gamble because one of our pitchers is a little bit hurt and that was the guy I was going to throw on Monday and he's hurt so I want to give our kids the best chance to win," Muramaru said. "Another good thing now is we can pitch guys now that can help us in the state tournament."

Muramaru said he had hoped not to use Maekawa either, but had no choice after Zalewski last just 1 1/3 innings and Grant Doi, who relieved Zalewski, failed to get out of the third.

"(Saint Louis was) trying to do the same things we were trying to do: not use their pitcher, but we finally had to use him," Muramaru said of Maekawa. "I don't think they wanted to play another game Friday either, but just come back on Monday instead."

Crusaders' starting pitcher Noah Abreu went 3 1/3 and gave up seven runs — although all but one run was unearned. He surrendered 10 of Mid-Pacific's 13 hits and was the losing pitcher.

The Owls scored three first-inning runs to take the early lead, eventually trailed by a run after the Crusaders sent eight batters to the plate in a four-run third inning. However, Mid-Pacific came right back in the top of the fourth. Bryce Nagata led off with a single and, with the help of two Saint Louis errors, came around to score the tying run. Cal Muramaru and Nicholas Bottom also scored in the inning to give the Owls the 7-5 lead.

Nagata, Muramaru and Bottom also scored all three of MPI's first-innings runs.

"It was really important that everyone just did their job," said Nagata, who batted 3 for 4 with a triple and a stolen base. "That's what the coaches expect from us and what we expect from ourselves: to just get the leadoff guy on, score some runs and help our pitcher out."

Mid-Pacific scored two runs runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to stretch its lead to 10-5, which was the score until the bottom of the seventh. Saint Louis sent eight batters to the plate in the inning and scored three runs to make things interesting down the stretch. Jordan Mopas, whose two-out RBI single scored Brendan Uchima to make the score 10-8, represented the winning run. However, Maekawa got Gribbin to line out to the first baseman for the third out to end the game with the bases loaded.

"It shows a lot of heart on his part," Nagata said of Maekawa. "I'm really proud of him. Everyone has their own role and his role is pitching and when he comes in, I have full confidence in him that he'll shut the door."

Tyler Yamaguchi went 3 for 4 at the plate with a double and a stolen base and Cameron Igarashi batted 2 for 3, drove in a pair of runs and scored once for the Owls.

"We've been playing a lot, but in the offseason we train hard and that's how we prepare for our season," Nagata said. "Our coaches stress the mental game. If our mental game is strong, we should be fine, so I think that's what kept us in the game."

Uchima led Saint Louis, which fell to 14-5 on the year, by going 3 for 4 with four RBIs and a run scored. Taylor Meilluer went 2 for 2 with an RBI and two walks and Jordan Yamamoto scored three runs.

The teams will have the weekend to rest before Monday's ILH championship game, which will be played at 3:45 p.m. at Iolani. Both teams are expected to throw their aces.

"That should be a better game, hopefully," Muramaru said. "We'll have our best guy going and they'll have their best guy going. It's no secret."