Matt Yokota and the undefeated Chargers will take on a Jarred Uyeda-led Na Alii squad that is looking to snap a three-game losing streak Friday afternoon. ScoringLive photo illustration

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In their own ways — and in the words of their respective coaches — both the Aiea and Pearl City baseball teams have shown resiliency to this point in the season.

For the second time this year the teams will cross paths in a regular-season game at the Chargers' home field Friday afternoon.

Aiea brings a 3-4 record into the showdown and sits in third place in the seven-team Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West, while Pearl City sports an unblemished 8-0 record and ascended to the top spot in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Baseball Power Rankings earlier this week.

While most coaches tend to downplay rankings and polls, the Chargers have come to embrace their spot on top.

"We've never shied away from it. In fact, we've addressed it and we continue to," second-year Pearl City coach Gavin Concepcion said. "The great thing about sports and competing and coming out here is you want to be the best. It's not about coming out here and saying, ‘I hope I do well.' Our mentality is that we're going to go out there and do what we need to do to be at our best, so if we're No. 1 then it's OK, because it's a result of the team buying into themselves and executing on the field."

Concepcion said he heard Chicago Cubs' manager Joe Maddon echo the same sentiment in a recent television interview about his squad being pegged as a preseason favorite to win the World Series.

"He has that same philosophy; that we want to be the best and I agree 100 percent on that, so you talk about, you embrace it and that way the kids know it's on the table and they know that they can be in that discussion," said Concepcion a former standout catcher for the Chargers under longtime coach Mel Seki.

After graduating from Pearl City in 2001, Concepcion went on to play collegiate baseball at both Lewis-Clark State and Hawaii Pacific University. He said he's learned a lot about baseball from many people in his life, but Seki instilled a solid base to build upon.

"The one big thing I took from coach Seki was the playing of the game," said Concepcion, who was an assistant at Kamehameha before taking over at his alma mater. "There were strategic moves that he made here and there. We weren't the kind of team that could get guys on and hit a three-run bomb; it was lay a bunt down here, get a line drove there and play solid defense and pitching. The base of solid defense, pitching and gap-to-gap, line drive hitting as a philosophy, that's something that I took from coach Seki."

Concepcion, who also coaches the JV team in the winter, said the players have gotten more accustomed to his expectations in his two years on the job.

"Last year's team had a good showing but I think we expected more and we expected better than what our record really showed," Concepcion said. "It was fairly tough in the beginning for them to adjust to our coaching styles and philosophies, but then they started to buy in and we were going in the right direction. This year we're all on the same page so it's been an easier transition for the guys with a year under their belts."

Among the standout returnees for the Chargers is second baseman Colby Hirano is batting .471 from his leadoff spot. The senior leads the team in both runs scored (14) and stolen bases (12).

One player who has made an immediate impact this season is Kamehameha transfer Matt Yokota. The senior center fielder and clean-up hitter is batting .429 with 13 runs batted in.
 
Two others — sophomore right fielder Sam Prentice and junior third baseman Davin Kapuras — are both batting at least .320.

"The great thing is that the younger kids have really taken it upon themselves to bring some leadership and that's great to see younger guys do that," Concepcion said. "Sometimes they think that that's the job of the seniors and they shy away from it, but that's not the case. If you're a leader, you're a leader, regardless of what grade you're in, so I'm very happy with the mentality coming from the younger guys as well as the seniors. I think we have a good mesh."

While Pearl City remains as one of just two unbeatens in the OIA — Eastern Division-leading Kalani being the other — Aiea has let a few slip away, including a heartbreaking 9-8 loss to the Chargers back on March 12.

"I've learned from the start of the season until now that we're a young team that needs to be able to be consistent," longtime Aiea coach Ryan Kato said. "We're always in search of that elusive consistency that is going to steady the ship and once we find that, I think the sky is the limit for this team. I like this group of guys. We've got a lot of resiliency and once we become more consistent I think we'll play a lot better baseball."

Despite having lost four of their last five games, morale remains high for Na Alii, who will look to end a three-game losing streak Friday.

"I think they're very upbeat," said Kato, whose team rallied to tie it with three runs in the top of the seventh against Pearl City, only to allow the winning-run in the bottom of the inning. "I think what keeps them coming back for more is when we lose leads we're able to come right back and tie the game like we did against Pearl City. Every time we've lost games we've always been able to fight and come back and when you lose like that but go down fighting, it makes them believes that there is hope. They have a lot of fight in them, so our morale hasn't been affected."

Concepcion said the down-to-the-wire finish against Aiea was a turning point for his team as well.

"Earlier in the season we jumped out ahead in a lot of the games we played and it wasn't until that first Aiea game that we really fell behind and had to battle back and do some things to stay in the game and get a win," Concepcion said. "Since that win we've had a couple times where we've been in tight ball games and we just had to take care of the ball and we were able to do that, so this team this year has a lot of resiliency and a tough mentality to stay in ball games and always find a way to win and be competitive from the first pitch to the last."

Youth has served Aiea well, too. Freshman pitcher Jake Saum, who started the first game against Pearl City and  threw 5 2/3 innings of two-hit ball, has been a nice surprise Kato said.

"I've been surprised and impressed with the way he's handled the pressures of varsity baseball," Kato said. "He and my younger son played Little League baseball together so I've known him for a while. He's always one of the stronger ones at that age group, but being as thin as we are at the varsity level, we brought him up and he's flourished."

Kato pointed to a trio of upperclassmen in junior Kobe Kato — the son of the coach — and seniors Jayvin Alcantra and Jarred Uyeda as being key personnel for his group.

"With as young as our team is, I think our captains' leadership and performance have been critical in our quest for consistency," Kato said. "Those three guys have been the standard or the blueprint for what we want the rest of the team to be like. They're the backbone of our team so their play is what's going to guide us the rest of the way."

Aside from a promotion from Division II this year, Aiea faces the daily struggle of not having a home field this season. As a result, it splits practices between nearby Halawa District Park, the school's football field and Radford High School.

"Radford has been gracious enough to let us use their field some days, but we're kind of like nomads going all over the place and that is a real grind for these players," Kato said. "They're always going to different places to play, never being comfortable and playing every game on the road, so I give the boys credit for putting up with all that and trying to get through the season."

First pitch between the Chargers and Na Alii is set for 3 p.m. Aiea will be the designated home team for the game.