THE GARDEN ISLAND WAIMEA — Kaua‘i High School’s Jordan Buster came out on top, pitching 7 innings, with 1 run, 1 earned, 5 hits, 4 strike-outs and 1 walk as the Raiders took game one of yesterday’s double-header against Waimea
THE GARDEN ISLAND
WAIMEA — Kaua‘i High School’s Jordan Buster came out on top, pitching 7 innings, with 1 run, 1 earned, 5 hits, 4 strike-outs and 1 walk as the Raiders took game one of yesterday’s double-header against Waimea High School, 6-1. The Raiders held off the Menehune again in game two, winning 12-0.
The win in game one put the Raiders at 4-0, giving them the first round title even though Round 1 isn’t over.
“We clinch with 4 wins,” said head coach Hank Ibia. “This carries us into the second round.”
Kaua‘i still has to play Kapa‘a High School this Wednesday.
“We have to finish it out,” Ibia said. “We got to be pretty serious about the rest of things so we can be rolling for the next round.”
Kaua‘i did most of the damage early on in game one, with 4 runs. They then scored at the top of the fifth and then again at the top of the sixth.
Waimea got a late jump start with action happening at the bottom of the sixth.
With Waimea’s pitcher Kelly Batis at bat, Jayrold Watanabe, who was running for Loren Duarte, sat at first. Watanabe then quickly stole second. When a pitch got away from Kaua‘i’s catcher Jahga Calves, Watanabe sprinted toward third base and was in scoring position. That set up Batis who singled center for 1 RBI, running in Watanabe.
But that was it for the Menehune. Batis was handed the loss, with 6 runs, 5 earned, 6 hits, 6 walks and 4 hit batters.
Kaua‘i’s Calves was the best hitter for the Raiders, who went 3 for 4 with 3 singles and 2 RBI. Jon Gebauer went 2 for 3, with 2 hits, and 1 RBI.
Duarte was Waimea’s best hitter going 2 for 4, posting 2 of Waimea’s total 5 hits.
In game two, Waimea’s pitcher Reggie Vigilia had nothing left in the seventh inning. Kaua‘i jumped on the exhausted pitcher to pile up 10 runs on 7 hits, to a 12-0 shutout.
Bradley Frasco came in, finally, for the tired Vigilia, and the Raiders tapped him for 2 runs on a 2 RBI single from Andrew Renaud.
Heading into the sixth inning, both Vigilia and Kaua‘i pitcher Reyn Balocan were throwing no-hitters, Balocan taking over from an ailing Trent Allianic.
Allianic, to that point, had also thrown a no-hitter.
In the win, Balocan finished with no runs allowed on just a single hit while striking out five Waimea batters and walking three. That single hit came in the bottom of the seventh when Max Agor singled, but was left stranded along with Broc Santiago who drew a walk.
Vigilia, in the loss, finished with 8 runs allowed on 7 hits while walking five and striking out four.
Jonathan Gebauer, getting a walk in the second, ended up opening the books on a Waimea error before going on to score again in the seventh inning.
Defensively, Gebauer engineered a bases-loaded double play to quash a Menehune threat in the fifth inning.
Aaron Soong scored twice, opening up the floodgates in the sixth inning and scoring again in the seventh. Also crossing the plate, Rysan Sakamoto, Renaud, Jordan Leanio, Blake Gingerich, Calves and Kylan Wakumoto scoring twice in the seventh.
The 12-0 win completes a two-game sweep giving Kaua‘i outright possession of the first round title.
Kaua‘i will close the first round Wednesday at Vidinha Stadium by hosting Kapa‘a starting at 2:45 p.m.
