LIHUE – Kyle Neuberger picked up his league-leading fourth victory to help lead the Kapa’a Warriors to a 5-2 victory over the Kaua’i Red Raiders Wednesday afternoon at Vidinha Stadium. The victory improved the Warriors regular season record to 5-3
LIHUE – Kyle Neuberger picked up his league-leading fourth victory to help lead the Kapa’a Warriors to a 5-2 victory over the Kaua’i Red Raiders Wednesday afternoon at Vidinha Stadium.
The victory improved the Warriors regular season record to 5-3 and more importantly started them off in the second round of play at 1-0. The Warriors will next host Waimea at Ron Martin in a Saturday double-header.
Defensive stalwart Keoni Nakano looks forward to the upcoming encounter. “Weve just got to practice hard these three days,” the Warrior second baseman stated, “the Menehunes give us competition…they hit the ball harder and they hit the ball a lot.”
Raider senior starter Rodney Baptiste put the first seven Warrior batters down in order before consecutive doubles to left by Rayton Bonilla and Brian Merkel produced the first score of the contest.
Kapa’a would create some breathing space in the fourth as Kaili Panui singled with one down and stole second. Neuberger reached safely on an infield throwing error as Panui crossed the plate and a wild pitch advanced courtesy runner Dustin Mundon (aboard for Neuberger) to third. Brad Wakuta’s expert sacrifice squeeze bunt allowed Mundon to scamper home for a 3-0 lead.
Neuberger, who gave up a pair of harmless singles through four innings of work, would get in a bit of trouble in the home half of the fifth. Lightning-quick Alaric Villatora drew a lead-off base on balls and hustled to third on a Scott Serizawa hit-and-run single to center field. Alec Reichle’s sac fly scored Villatora and a wild pitch advanced Serizawa to second. The second walk of the inning put two on but a Kirby Yates fielder’s choice eliminated courtesy runner Kyle Higashi at second. Serizawa raced home on a Warrior throwing error to cut the deficit to 3-2 as Yates sprinted to third. Merkel’s running catch of a Rodney Baptiste drive in deep left field ended the Raider threat without further damage.
Brad Wakuta doubled over the third base bag to open the seventh and the Raiders countered by bringing in Reichle from center field to throw in relief of Baptiste. Kyle Higashi (used earlier as a courtesy runner) entered to play defensively in right and Garen Itamura moved to Reichle’s former spot.
Designated hitter Jesse Noone rudely greeted the Raider reliever with an RBI-single up the middle to knock in Clesson Hiranaka (aboard for the Warrior catcher). Reichle settled down to get the next two Kapa’a batters but a Tyler Wakuta bloop single to center brought in Noone to put the visitors up 5-2.
Casey Oketani led off the Raider final frame with an infield single and Kekoa Crowell entered to run. T. Wakuta fielded a Yates grounder up the middle, stepped on second and casually flipped the ball to Jared Raquel at first for what would prove to be a critical Warrior double play.
Consecutive singles by Itamura, Higashi and Jake Oketani loaded the bases and prompted a visit from Warrior head coach Shannon Masada. After a brief conversation, the Kapaa skipper elected to stay with the big right-hander and that confidence paid immediate dividends as Neuberger induced a fly-out to Bonilla in right to end the white-knuckled affair.
Bonilla also excelled at the plate as his two hits (double, single) led the victors while Serizawa singled three times in a losing effort.
Kapa’a vs. Kaua’i
April 24 @ Vidinha Stadium
Hitting
Kapa’a- 5
Player ab r h rbi
T.Wakuta SS 4 0 1 1
Nakano 2B 4 0 0 0
Raquel 1B 3 0 0 0
Panui CF 3 1 1 0
Neuberger P 3 0 0 0
Mundon CR 0 1 0 0
B.Wakuta C 2 0 1 1
Hiranaka CR 0 1 0 0
Noone DH 3 1 1 1
Bonilla RF 3 1 2 0
Merkel LF 2 0 1 1
Kimura 3B 0 0 0 0
Totals 27 5 7 4
Kaua’i – 2
Player ab r h rbi
Serizawa SS 4 1 3 0
Reichle CF/P 3 0 0 1
C.Oketani C 2 0 1 0
K.Higashi CR 0 0 0 0
Yates 1B 4 0 1 0
Itamura RF/CF 4 0 1 0
Baptiste P 1 0 0 0
K.Higashi CR/RF 1 0 1 0
J.Oketani DH 3 0 1 0
Furuike 3B 3 0 0 0
Rebb PH 0 0 0 0
Villatora 2B 1 1 0 0
Hori LF 0 0 0 0
Totals 26 2 8 1
E- T. Wakuta, B. Wakuta, Serizawa, Itamura. DP- Kapa’a-1. LOB- Kapa’a- 3, Kaua’i- 12. 2B- Bonilla, Merkel, B. Wakuta. SH- Merkel, B. Wakuta, Baptiste. SF- Reichle. SB- Panui, Bonilla, T. Wakuta, Serizawa 2, K. Higashi.
Pitching
Name IP H R ER BB SO
Kapa’a –
Neuberger 7 8 2 1 5 1
Kaua’i –
Baptiste 6 5 4 3 0 2
Reichle 1 2 1 0 0 2
*Baptiste pitched to one batter in seventh
Win – Neuberger (4-1). Loss – Baptiste (0-1). WP- Neuberger, Baptiste. HBP- Villatora by Neuberger. PB- B. Wakuta. Umpires: HP- Mark Taylor Fld: Earl Tanaka. Start: 2:45 p.m. Time- 2:11.
Score by Innings
Team 123 456 7 – R H E
Kapa’a (5-3 ) (1-0) 001 200 2 – 5 7 2
Kaua’i (3-7) (0-3) 000 020 0 – 2 8 2
