Campbell's Jordan Macias had a 3-for-4 day at the plate, including a double, a run scored and 2 RBIs in a win over Aiea. CJ Caraang | SL

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EWA BEACH – Chad Samante's clutch fielding and pitching helped Campbell fend off Aiea, 6-2, Friday at the Sabers' field.

The win pulled the Sabers (2-3) to within one game of third-place Na Alii (3-2) in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division.

The Sabers took a 3-1 lead after five innings behind sophomore right-hander Nicholas Sampson, who allowed an unearned run, three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Junior right-hander Markus Ramos took over in the bottom of the sixth – Aiea was the designated home team, as its home at Aiea Recreation Center is undergoing renovation – and his first pitch hit Ty Matsunami, who took second on a wild pitch and scored when Jarred Uyeda reached on a grounder to first that first baseman Roy Clemons threw wide to Ramos covering the bag. The error allowed Uyeda to take second.

Samante replaced Ramos, but his first pitch was wild, allowing Uyeda to take third. But Samante recovered by striking out Logan Ho for the first out. Bronson Nekomoto tried to squeeze home Uyeda, but his bunt went slightly to the right of the right-handed Samante, who bare-handed the ball and under-handed it to catcher Bronson Burr, who tagged out the hard-sliding Uyeda.

"I knew we had a play because the ball was hit hard back to the pitcher, so I yelled ‘four'," Burr said. "He gave me a firm toss and I tagged him out…I just stayed low to the ground and stopped (the runner)."

Nekomoto stole second with Jayvin Alcantra at the plate. But after a 3-0 count, Alcantra was intentionally walked. Kyle Machida then lined out to third to end the inning.

"That was probably the biggest play of the game," Campbell coach Rory Pico said of stopping the squeeze. "It's something that we work on because we know teams in this division squeeze a lot. He made a great play, bared handed, good flip. Burr hung in there, caught the ball. Bang, bang play. I thought we executed all around."

Aiea coach Ryan Kato credited the Sabers for their execution.

"Campbell just played a great ball game," Kato said. "They hit when they needed to, they executed offensively They did what they needed to to get the runners in scoring position. We didn't."

Samante pitched two scoreless innings to earn the save for Sampson (2-1), who has both of Campbell's wins.

"I was feeling pumped that the coaches had faith in me to put me out there," Samante said of coming into tight situation. "

Sampson was effective because he threw his fastball and breaking pitches for strikes consistently. Kyle Machida had one of the harder hit balls when he hit a one-hop liner to right, but right fielder Todd Takahama gunned him out at first that ended the fourth inning.

The only run Sampson allowed was unearned. With Campbell leading 2-0, Kobe Kato singled with one out and an out later, took third on Uyeda's single to left. But on the throw back to the infield, shortstop Jordan Macias tried to get the runner rounding first, but it got away and allowed Kato to score and Uyeda to take second. But Logan Ho lined out to first to end the inning.

"Nick pitched a hell of a game," Burr said. "He was throwing strikes. He was around the zone."

Burr added that all of Samante's pitches were working. Samante pitched a perfect seventh, striking out one and retiring the other two on grounders to third.

The Sabers insured their 3-2 lead with a three-run seventh against Aiea relief pitcher Jake Saum, a freshman left-hander. Kainoa Ganancial led off with a walk and stole second before Shane Shimizu walked. The runners advanced on Justin Fernandez's sacrifice. Macias delivered a ground single to left – his third hit of the game – to scored Ganancial, as Shimizu took third. Burr then golfed a grounder to first baseman Ho, who fired home to catcher Jake Nakamoto. But Shimizu, seeing most of the plate blocked, shifted his body outside, but dragged his foot to the plate to beat the tag.

"I started out toward the outside then I stuck my leg out," Shimizu said.

Burr, who had reached on the fielder's choice as Macias took second, was replaced by courtesy runner Darien Robinson After a double steal, Macias scored on Clemons' sacrifice foul fly to left to make it 6-2 before Samante struck out.

The three-time defending OIA champion Sabers are pretty much new in all phases. Though Sampson was effective in his stint, Pico said he wanted to give other pitchers opportunities.

"It's more about us having confidence in our guys," Pico said. "Nick did a good job getting us to where he got us. We decided we wanted to give other guys the opportunity to get some work in and show us what they can do."

Pico is pleased at the progress, despite the slow start.

"I don't really look at our record," he said. "We've been struggling; I'll be the first to admit it. We're not playing well in all aspects of the game, so my message to the boys is we have to build on the positives and work on the negatives. We have to keep doing it day in and day out. That's the approach we're going to take. Hopefully, we can get fortunate enough to get in the playoffs and by then, I hope we can start playing consistently."