Kaiser rallies past Roosevelt, 4-2, to stay atop OIA East

By Wes Nakama

Riding the poised arm of freshman pitcher Kalihau Hugo, Kaiser rallied past and then held off Roosevelt, 4-2, in OIA East Division baseball action Thursday afternoon at Stevenson Middle School field.

Hugo, a 5-foot-8 right-hander, tossed a five-hitter and the Cougars rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to improve to 7-1 in the East, while the Rough Riders fell to 4-3 and in a second-place tie with Kailua (4-3). 

Roosevelt took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Riki Uyeno's RBI single off the fence in right-center field, scoring Kyson Murata from second base. That is how it stood until the top of the fifth inning, when Tanner Kagimoto led off with a bunt single, advanced to second and then third on a pair of groundouts, and scored on Noah Sham's infield single to short to tie it at 1-1.

Caleb Hamasaki then blasted a run-scoring double off the right field fence to make it 2-1. The Cougars then extended the lead to 4-1 in the sixth after Kagimoto's single brought home Colby Taniguchi and Mana Shigehara-Pang, who had led off the inning with a walk and double down the right field line, respectively.

"I never doubt these boys for a second," said Hugo, who allowed only two base runners -- on a walk and infield error -- in the four innings following the 1-0 deficit. "They always provide for us, usually later in the game than I would like it, but I just have to keep (the opponent) down as long as possible."

The Rough Riders got a run back in the bottom of the sixth after Kyson Murata reached on a one-out single to left, advanced to second on Luke Tuasivi's single to left and scored on Larken Nakasone's two-out bloop single to right. But Hugo escaped the inning with a grounder to second, and then finished off the game in the seventh with a flyout to center after giving up a two-out single to right.

Kaiser coach Josh Halemanu visited the mound in that last inning, but said Hugo insisted he could close out the game himself.

"We had Colby Taniguchi ready, he's probably one of our most consistent guys this year, and against Moanalua we brought him in and relieved Kalihau," Halemanu said. "But Kalihau kind of fought for it this time, and he asked for the ball." 

Halemanu said despite Hugo being a freshman, he has the poise of a veteran due to extensive experience playing on youth travel teams in Mainland tournaments.

"Growing up, that guy played in a lot of big games, so thanks to all his coaches before, they put him in situations where he's comfortable on the mound and I don't think he makes things bigger than they are," Halemanu said. "He's been in these moments a lot, so I think that's why he's able to handle it. He's able to spot it up, control his off-speeds ... We're also facing Roosevelt, who is very aggressive with the bat, we knew that coming in. We always play them, they're very aggressive, they swing a lot. That's the kind of team they are ... so a combination of both -- being a young boy who can fill up the strike zone, and just putting it in play kind of helped him out."   

Rough Riders coach Cory Hokama said he saw Hugo's qualities during the winter JV season.

"He was in the zone, he mixes speeds, he has a secondary pitch," said Hokama, a 1995 Roosevelt grad who is in his first year at the helm after six seasons as an assistant at Maryknoll. "We faced him in the JV, and it was the same thing. That was a good game, too, and we lost. He's a good pitcher ... today, hat's off to him. He did a hell of a job, and he's a freshman, so ... wow. Good things to come for that guy."