LIHU‘E — Kobey Dias drove two runs home in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Lihu‘e Baseball League Bronco Blue Jays a 7-6 win, Wednesday. With the win, the Blue Jays take the lead in the best-of-three
LIHU‘E — Kobey Dias drove two runs home in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Lihu‘e Baseball League Bronco Blue Jays a 7-6 win, Wednesday.
With the win, the Blue Jays take the lead in the best-of-three Bronco playoffs, setting the stage for Saturday morning when the Blue Jays face the Cardinals in a rematch at 10 a.m. at the Lihu‘e County Park Main Diamond.
Dias, finishing the day with two singles, paced the Blue Jay bats that fueled the win with six hits. Kurt Rapozo finished with three singles, scored once and marked two RBIs, driving Cal Koga and Patrick Esteban home in the third inning to break a 1-1 deadlock.
Koga, who picked up the win on the mound, finished by scoring three times and added a single to the Jays’ hitting.
Luke Garcia had the big bat for the LBL Bronco Cardinals, marking a three-RBI single in the fifth inning that, coupled with Jay miscues, pushed three runs across the plate, Garcia settling at third base on the hit.
“Wow!” the Cardinal second baseman said after crossing the plate in the fifth inning off a Brayden Abreu RBI. “This is my first triple (single plus errors) in the season.”
The Cardinals pushed four runs on three hits in that frame, taking the lead 5-3 and hanging on until Dias’ game-winning RBI shot in the bottom of the seventh.
The Cardinals finished with six runs on 10 hits, including a Sam Nakata double in the second inning. Nakata added a single in the sixth inning and scored twice for the Cardinals.
Micah Layosa, the Cardinals’ starting pitcher, finished with two singles and scored once. Jace Ilae scored once and singled.
Jared Killeen scored once and singled, James-Ian Ilae singled, along with Michael Dressler to round out the Cardinals’ hitting.
Koga, walking in the first inning, scored to give the Jays the 1-0 lead that was answered in the second frame when Nakata, opening with a double, scored to knot the contest 1-1 until Rapozo’s two-RBI single in the third inning gave the Jays a 3-1 lead, Koga and Patrick Esteban crossing the plate after both batters walked.
With the bases loaded, Garcia cleared the bags in the fifth inning, scoring Killeen, Layosa and Jace Ilae.
From that point, the Jays played catch-up until the bottom of the seventh when Dias put away the game.
Saturday’s game at 10 a.m. is critical for the Jays who need one more game to lock up the title. In the Cardinals win the game, a second game will follow to determine a champion.
