ILH Baseball
No. 6 Punahou jumps on No. 1 Kamehameha early in 7-3 win


  



Fri, Mar 31, 2017 @ [ 6:30 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Punahou 4 030000780
Kamehameha 1 0 10100373

W: Kahi Bisho    L: Hunter Breault

KSK: Kawaiola Takemura 3-4 run rbi trp; Christian DeJesus 2.6 IP 0 ER 5 K
PUN: Noah Loughlin 2-4 run rbi; Kahi Bisho 4.3 IP 3 ER 5 K


ALA WAI — Kahi Bisho finally got his shot at Kamehameha and the Punahou ace turned in arguably his best performance of the season Friday night.

Bisho scattered six hits over 4 1/3 innings and the Buffanblu took advantage of the Warriors' miscues en route to a 7-3 win before a crowd of about 150 fans at Ala Wai Field.

Punahou, the No. 6 team in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Baseball Power Rankings, picked up its third win in its last four games to improve to 8-5.

Top-ranked Kamehameha saw its four-game win streak snapped to fall to 11-3.

Bisho, a junior right-hander, stole the spotlight from Warriors' ace and hard-throwing righty Hunter Breault, who lasted just 2 1/3 innings. Bisho struck out five batters, walked three and allowed three runs to go to 3-0 on the year.

"I think he did great," Punahou coach Keenan Sue said of Bisho. "He threw a lot of first-pitch strikes and any time you do that it changes the complexion of the at-bat, which changes the complexion of the game, so he got ahead early and that was probably one of the best outings he's had all year."

Bisho threw 42 of his 78 pitches for strikes and had just four three-ball counts against him.

"I just wanted to establish my fastball early on and just throw my off-speeds because it was on today so I just kept going with it," Bisho said. "I just felt good, so mainly my fastball, I think, was the one that really helped me out."

Bisho allowed a leadoff triple to Kawai Takemura in the bottom of the first. Takemura scored on a ground ball double-play off the bat of Nakea Hanohano, but Bisho went on to retire the next four batters. He ran into some trouble in the third, when he gave up another run on Logan Salcedo's one-out single that plated Chaeston Chon, but struck out Hanohano for the second out before getting a force out on Salcedo at second on a Kuewa fielder's choice to get out of the jam.

"I just took it as another game, because we can't go anywhere without winning each game so I just had to stick to my process and I just went out there and did the best that I could," said Bisho, who had not pitched against the Warriors this season.

Kamehameha got the leadoff man aboard in the fourth inning on Wilhelm Cordes IV's single, but Bisho got Dylan Salcedo to strike out before getting Lii Pontes to ground into an inning-ending double play to end the threat.

"He did a great job," Warriors coach Tom Perkins said of Bisho. "Once he got ahead on us and then he played his curve, which we didn't get a good barrel on any of those off-speed pitches."

Bisho took the mound with the benefit of a 4-0 lead. The first four Buffanblu batters reached base to start the game. After back-to-back walks issued by Breault to Cole Cabrera and Jake Tsukada, Colin Freeman singled to right field to load the bases for Andrew Matsueda, who drilled a ball to centerfield that was misplayed by Hanohano. The error allowed both Cabrera to score from third and Tsukada from second. Freeman crossed home on a ground ball out by Kyson Donahue and Matsueda scored on a Noah Loughlin two-out single to left.

"I think they were just more aggressive than they had been, and you kind of have to be on Hunter, because if he gets ahead in the count and he's on, he's tough," Sue said.

Punahou batted around in the top of the third inning, when it plated three more runs on four hits and was aided by two Kamehameha errors in the frame.

Matsueda, Matt Nakamoto and Loughlin each singled and came around to stretch the Buffanblu lead to 7-1.

"It's disappointing. It's something we didn't expect," Perkins said of the errors. "We had a bunch of errors and our pitching struggled. Breault struggled more than normal. He didn't have his stuff tonight, but it happens. Our relief pitchers came in and did their job."

Breault was charged with the loss. The University of Oregon-signee was tagged for seven runs — three of them earned — on six hits. He walked two and struck out three and is now 3-2 on the season.

Jesse Awa allowed two hits in two innings of relief and Christian DeJesus posted five strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings of work for the Warriors.

Punahou also used three pitchers in the game. Riley Guieb took over for Bisho in the bottom of the fifth and went on to strike out three in 1 2/3 innings of one-hit ball before giving way to Matsueda, who pitched a perfect seventh inning.

The Buffanblu, who avenged two previous losses to Kamehameha this season, are locked into the third seed in next week's ILH single-elimination tournament, while the Warriors are tied atop the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I standings with Saint Louis at 11-3.

Kamehameha will play No. 8 Mid-Pacific while Saint Louis will take on Punahou in the final day of the ILH first round Saturday at Ala Wai Field.

The Crusaders and Buffanblu will play at Noon, with the Warriors facing the Owls at 3 p.m.

If Kamehameha and Saint Louis are tied after Saturday, the teams will meet in a one-game playoff at Hans L'Orange Park in Waipahu on Tuesday for the first-round title and an automatic state tournament berth.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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