By Wes Nakama
On a cold rainy night at Central O’ahu Regional Park, the Mililani High School baseball team appeared warm and cozy from start to finish and held off Campbell, 7-3.
The victory improved the Trojans to 6-2 in the OIA West, good for second place at a half-game behind first-place ‘Aiea (7-1). Campbell fell into third place at 5-3.
Playing at CORP for the first time this season under the lights for a 6:35 p.m. TV game, the Sabers had a rough start when third baseman Dayton Lorenzo re-injured his knee in the bottom of the first inning while chasing a foul pop fly near the fence down the third base line. He had to be helped off the field, and it forced some lineup/defensive shuffling before even one out had been recorded.
“He just was coming back, he hurt it (his knee) against Nanakuli, the first game of the season,” Sabers coach Wayne Nagamine said. “It was a big impact — he’s a senior, returnee, big-time player, bats in the middle of the lineup, people look up to him … I can’t for sure say it, but as you see there was a little letdown when he came out of the game. Things happened, we had to make some changes.”
Mililani pounced on the situation by scoring four runs in the first inning, after Malosi Mataafa-Alferos’ leadoff double followed by a walk, a hit-by-pitch, another walk and Kalei Alana’s triple. The Trojans made it 5-0 in the third and 7-0 in the fourth, with all three runs being unearned due to two errors, a passed ball and a wild pitch.
Meanwhile, Mililani starting pitcher Kayden Suma was in a steady groove, needing only 65 pitches through five shutout innings and allowing only three hits with two strikeouts and no walks. This was in spite of passing showers and a steady cool breeze sweeping through the field.
“It wasn’t that bad, I think it was more mental,” said Suma, a senior left-hander. “Once you throw the first pitch, it’s all go from there. I was just making sure everything was around the plate — fastball, changeup, slider. Little bit of curveball. Just trusting in my defense (only one error), that’s all I needed.”
Campbell finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth on Hunter Lindsey’s sacrifice fly, and made it 7-3 in the seventh after Jonah Yacap’s pinch RBI single and Kayne Carlos’ run-scoring groundout. But reliever Dalton Iwamoto was able to get the final groundout to end the rally and the game.
Trojans coach Mark Hirayama said CORP is not an easy place to win, especially with first pitch at dusk.
“Until the sun goes down, it gets darkest (in the sky),” Hirayama said. “Half the game, I thought, ‘It’s really dark here.’ It is what it is, you gotta fight the elements. These guys don’t play under the lights very often, so it’s always an adventure. Especially when you’re playing Campbell, they’re going to come out and compete and battle, so we were just fortunate to push across some runs early and take the pressure off.”
Mataafa-Alferos led the Mililani offense by going 2 for 3 with the double, and Alana went 1 for 3 with the RBI triple. Ismael Diaz went 1 for 2 with a double, Lindsey went 1 for 2 with the sac fly and Yacap went 1 for 1 with the run-scoring single to lead the Sabers.
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