LIHUE – Buddy Taniguchi scattered 11 hits over seven innings to pick up his fourth victory as the Waimea Menehunes clinched the KIF prep baseball second round title with a decisive 12-3 win over the Kaua’i Red Raiders Wednesday afternoon
LIHUE – Buddy Taniguchi scattered 11 hits over seven innings to pick up his fourth victory as the Waimea Menehunes clinched the KIF prep baseball second round title with a decisive 12-3 win over the Kaua’i Red Raiders Wednesday afternoon at the Vidinha Stadium ball field.
Waimea improved to 9-4 overall and 5-0 in second round play to set up an upcoming play-off game with first round champ Kapa’a for the overall KIF championship and right to represent the Garden Island in the upcoming state baseball tournament at Les Murakami Stadium on the campus of the University of Hawaii.
The Raiders (3-8 overall, 0-4 in second round play) close out their season with a trip to Ron Martin Field to take on the Warriors (5-5, 1-2) on Saturday, May 4, in a 1 p.m. double-header.
Waimea picked up a bunch of early runs in the second inning as the Menehunes sent 12 men to the plate.
Mark Ruiz (aboard with a lead off double) and Shawn Yadao (base on balls) moved into scoring position on a wild pitch by Kaua’i starter Rodney Baptiste. Ruiz hustled home with the first run on a Raider fielding error and a second infield miscue loaded the bags. A subsequent walk to Michael Ishibashi allowed Yadao to stroll in and hot-hitting Brandon Ishibashi followed with a ringing single up the box to score Rayson Cacal and Clarence Aki for a 4-0 Menehune advantage.
An RBI-double by Robin Correa and 2-RBI single by Leonard Zalopany (off reliever Alec Reichle) closed out the Waimea offense with the visitors up 7-0.
The Menehunes increased their advantage with four runs in the top of the third. Brandon Ishibashi’s second single through the middle knocked in Aki (who beat out an infied base hit to the hole) and Correa’s follow-up double to shallow right field brought home courtesy runner Zenon Schonberg to put the Menehunes ahead by nine.
A Jay Parinas infield single and the third Raider fielding error of the day found the west-siders up 11-0.
The Raiders got on the scoreboard in the bottom half as Casey Oketani responded with the third single of the frame off Taniguchi to knock in Kyle Higashi.
Waimea would get the run back as Cacal led off the fourth with a single, stole second and scored on B. Ishibashi’s third hit of the ball game.
Reichle pumped up the home crowd as he picked up his league-leading 30th “K” by striking out the side in the fifth.
That motivation carried over as Kauai scratched across two runs in the bottom half to stave off an early ending. Scott Serizawa drew a one-out walk, moved up a bag on a passed ball, and raced in on Casey Oketanis base hit to center. Oketani tallied the final run of the ball game on Baptistes ringing RBI-double over the third base bag as Taniguchi proceeded to shut out the Raiders for the remainder of the contest.
Big Sticks
Waimea: Brandon Ishibashi (4-5, double, three singles, 4 RBIs), Correa (2 doubles, 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored) and Zalopany (single, 2 RBIs) led the Menehune offensive attack while Aki, M. Ishibashi, and courtesy runner Schonberg also scored twice.
Raiders:
Baptiste – dbl., 2 singles, RBI; C. Oketani (pair of singles, 2 RBIs, run scored); Higashi (2 singles, run scored) stood out for Kauai High.
Score by Innings
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 – R H E
Waimea (9-4 ) (5-0) 0 7 4 1 0 0 0 – 12 13 0
Kaua’i (3-8) (0-4) 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 – 3 11 3
Hitting
Waimea- 12
Player ab r h rbi
Aki SS 4 2 1 0
Emayo SS 1 0 0 0
M.Ishibashi 2B 2 2 1 1
Moniz 2B 1 0 1 0
B.Ishibashi C 5 0 4 4
Schonberg CR 0 2 0 0
Emayo CR 0 0 0 0
Correa DH 4 2 2 2
L.Zalopany 3B 4 0 1 2
Ruiz 1B 4 1 1 0
Naka ahiki PH 1 0 0 0
Parinas RF 3 0 1 1
Schonberg RF 1 0 0 0
Yadao LF 2 1 0 0
Matsushima LF 1 0 0 0
Cacal CF 3 2 1 0
Maeda CF 1 0 0 0
Totals 37 12 13 10
Kaua’i- 3
Player ab r h rbi
Serizawa SS 3 1 2 0
Villatora 2B/RF 4 0 1 0
C.Oketani C 4 1 2 2
Reichle CF/P 2 0 0 0
B.Correa CR 0 0 0 0
Bonilla PG 1 0 1 0
Baptiste P/3B 4 0 3 1
Yates DH 3 0 0 0
Fontanilla PH 1 0 0 0
J.Oketani 1B 1 0 0 0
Itamura 1B 2 0 0 0
B.Correa 1B 1 0 0 0
Rebb LF 3 0 0 0
K.Higashi RF/CF 3 1 2 0
Furuike 3B/2B 0 0 0 0
Totals 32 3 11 3
Pitching
Name IP H R ER BB SO
Kapa’a –
Taniguchi 7 11 3 3 3 3
Kaua’i –
Baptiste 2 1/3 9 11 3 2 1
Reichle 4 2/3 2 4 1 1 7
Win- Taniguchi (4-1). Loss- Baptiste (0-2). WP – Taniguchi, Baptiste. HBP- M. Ishibashi by Baptiste, L. Zalopany by Reichle. PB- B. Ishibashi. Umpires: HP:
Gordon Bonilla Fld: Gene Padilla. Start: 2:45 p.m. Game: 2:20.Menehunes on roll
