ILH Baseball
Owls deny Buffanblu in extra innings


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
March 29, 2018, 10:04pm

  

Thu, Mar 29, 2018 @ [ 6:30 pm ]

Punahou

4

Mid-Pacific

5

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 R H E
Punahou 0 112000004121
Mid-Pacific 3 0 00010015131

W: Shion Matsushita    L: Kyson Donahue

MPI: Wyatt Young 3-4 2 runs trp; Shion Matsushita 5.6 IP 0 ER 3 K
PUN: Ryan Nishi 2-5 run dbl; Kyson Donahue 3.6 IP 1 ER 3 K




MANOA — A triumvirate of seniors paved the way for Mid-Pacific in another instant classic in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Thursday night.

Jacob Yoshino hit a two-out RBI-single to score Wyatt Young in the bottom of the ninth inning and No. 2 Mid-Pacific walked off with a 5-4 win over No. 4 Punahou in the nightcap of an ILH doubleheader at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Owls, playing in their first game in nine days, improved to 7-1 with their fourth consecutive win to remain atop the league standings, while the Buffanblu —who were coming off a walk-off victory of their own just two nights prior — fell to 6-3 with their second loss in three games.

"It was a good game. There was strategy and a little bit of everything," Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru said.

The Owls squandered an early lead but eventually evened the score at 4-4 on Micah Pi's RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Pi's hit came off of Kyson Donahue — the third pitcher used by the Buffanblu — but the run was charged to Kyle Uemura, who walked two and gave up two hits in one inning of relief of starter Matt McConnell.

Donahue settled in and at one point, retiring nine of 10 batters, including a string of six straight.

The score held until the bottom of the ninth.

After Donahue got the first two outs of the inning, Young, the Owls' leadoff batter, belted a 3-2 pitch to the gap in right-center for a two-out triple.

"It was just a fast ball, right down the middle," said Young, a senior shortstop. "I was looking for that pitch because he wasn't throwing much of anything else, so I was just looking for that pitch."

Two pitches later, Yoshino looped a 1-0 offering from Donahue into short right field to easily score Young from third for the winning run.

Yoshino said he took the same approach to the at-bat that Young did.

"Donahue throws a lot of fast balls, so I was just looking to hit one, whether it's pull it or go opposite field, and so I just needed to get one pitch and hit it, and good thing I did," said Yoshino, a senior third baseman.

While Young and Yoshino provided the late-inning heroics, another senior, Shion Matsushita, provided the set-up for their opportunity with a brilliant relief appearance — his first of the season.

Matsushita, a right-handed side-arm pitcher, scattered five hits and three strikeouts over 5 2/3 scoreless innings to pick-up the win. He did not issue a walk.

"Every game this season he's come out and he's just pounded the zone and that's what he did tonight, so it's nothing new for us," Young said.

Yoshino said Matsushita was a big reason for the come back.

"Good pitching and just staying in it. We got hits early and then kind of got lost a little bit, so I think we found our way back through Shion coming in, shutting it down and then we just had to clutch up and get those key hits to drive ‘em in," Yoshino said.

It was Matsushita's second longest outing of the season. He is now 4-0 on the year with a 1.00 ERA.

"Punahou hit him pretty good last year, so I was kind of worried about him, but he had a good approach in what they were trying to do and we just got enough outs," Muramaru said.


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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