The Rough Riders, seeded No. 3 in the OIA Red Conference Eastern Division, improved to 8-5 in league play and will travel to West runner-up Pearl City (8-4) for a 3:30 p.m. quarterfinal.'Aiea's season ends at 4-9.

Na Ali'i jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Kaulana Wong's run-scoring infield grounder and Brett Tanonaka's RBI single to left, then made it 5-0 in the third after Austin Carrancho's two-run pinch single to center and Taylor Kim's RBI double to right-center.

But Roosevelt tied it at 5-5 in the bottom of the third, after scoring its first run on an unusual collision play near home plate. With Donnevon Ito at second base and Drayson Ito at first, Edison Sakata hit a grounder that got past the shortstop. Donnevon Ito raced around third and headed home, but the throw drew catcher Taylor Taliulu up the third base line.

Ito crashed into Taliulu and the ball skirted away, allowing Ito to score. But 'Aiea coach Ryan Kato argued that Ito should have been called out.

"It happened to us twice before, and both times our runner was called out," Kato said. "The way it was explained to me before was that if the runner's shoulder is down and he runs into the fielder, he's out. That's the exact same way this happened, but now it's explained in a totally different way. The rule is too vague."

Rough Riders coach Matt Apana said with Ito running at full speed, there was no way he could have avoided the collision.

"If the catcher was at the plate, maybe he could have slid around him and touched the plate, but with (Taliulu) up the line, he can't slide and he can't run around him -- not at full speed like he was," Apana said.

The next batter, Brandon Hamasaki, then blasted a three-run homer over the right field fence to make it 5-4, and Roosevelt tied it after Randon Mamuad doubled, took third on Mike Matusoka's sacrifice bunt and scored when the first baseman dropped a throw from third on Tyris Tominaga's grounder.

Na Ali'i answered with five runs on five hits in the top of the fourth, highlighted by Wong's RBI double and run-scoring singles by Keanu Arke and John Woodin.

But the Rough Riders responded with an even bigger explosion in the bottom half, scoring 13 runs on seven hits and five walks, including two-run singles by Matsuoka and Leland Kaho'oilihala.

"This day showed what our team is made of," Apana said. "We're young, but we're growing up fast. They didn't give up, they knew they could come back. We capitalized on ('Aiea's) mistakes and we were patient with a good approach at the plate. We had some clutch two-out hitting, which we haven't had all year."

Na Ali'i got single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to close it to 18-12, but Roosevelt pushed the lead to 19-12 in the bottom of the sixth on Mamuad's RBI single and freshman Mika Caris set down 'Aiea in order in the seventh to complete 3 and 2/3 innings of effective relief.

Mamuad finished 4 for 4 with two RBIs, Caris went 2 for 2, Hamasaki went 2 for 3 and Matsuoka went 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

Taliulu and Arke each finished 2 for 3, Wong and Daylin Pajimola each went 2 for 4 and Brock Asher went 2 for 5 to lead Na Ali'i's 15-hit attack.