If his Honokaa baseball team had fallen to Kealakehe Wednesday, Matt Charbonneau would have taken full responsibility for the loss.
If his Honokaa baseball team had fallen to Kealakehe Wednesday, Matt Charbonneau would have taken full responsibility for the loss.
But Lloyd Edwards and the rest of the Dragons bailed out their manager in Honokaa.
Edwards pitched an eight-inning, complete-game gem, and Haku Daniels’ suicide squeeze in the bottom of the eighth plated the game-winning run as the Dragons rallied for a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Waveriders in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation contest.
“We just keep battling and battling,” Charbonneau said. “It seems like every one of our games is within a couple of runs. Our kids have the ability to stay focused and come through in the clutch.”
Edwards, who also scored the game-tying run for the Dragons (5-3) in the sixth inning, led off the bottom of the eighth with a single off Kealakehe’s Teao Buehler, and junior Kazu Tolentino’s double down the left-field line put runners on second and third.
The Waveriders (3-5) then intentionally walked senior Dylan Shiraki to load the bases and set up a potential forceout at home plate. But Daniels laid down a perfect bunt down the first-base line as Edwards was charging toward home plate.
Edwards played a bigger role on the mound, striking out 14 and walking three while throwing 125 pitches. The senior didn’t give up a hit after the third inning, when Kealakehe junior Bricen Ferreira clubbed a two-out, two-run homer to center field with runners on second and third to give the Waveriders a 3-1 lead.
Before Ferreira’s round-tripper, Dragons assistant coach James Lukzen told Charbonneau he should consider intentionally walking Ferreira, Kealakehe’s cleanup hitter.
“Obviously, my pitcher missed his spot, but gosh darn it, maybe I shouldn’t have been pitching to (Ferreira),” Charbonneau said.
But Edwards buckled down the rest of the way. Even though his pitch count was rising, Edwards finished the game with two perfect innings.
In a meeting with his pitching staff before the game, Charbonneau unveiled plans for having the team’s ace, Shiraki, enter the game after the fifth inning. However, after the Dragons recorded the third out in each inning after the fifth, Edwards walked back to the dugout and expressed his desire to remain in the game.
Charbonneau said he normally pulls hurlers from the mound once they reach 100 pitches.
However, Edwards showed no signs of fatigue.
“Every time I looked at Lloyd, he said, ‘I got this, Coach,’” Charbonneau said. “With the intensity level he had on his face and the performance he put out, I believed him.”
Buehler, a junior who also went the distance on the mound, suffered the hard-luck loss. He gave up just one earned run on five hits, striking out nine batters, walking three and hitting two.
Edwards, the team’s No. 6 batter, raced home from third base with the tying run in the sixth inning when Kealakehe tried throwing out Shiraki at second base on a stolen-base attempt. Behind Edwards, Tolentino when 2-for-3 out of the No. 7 spot, and freshman Kamaehu Richards gave Honokaa a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI single.
“It was a total team effort, and the bottom half of the lineup produced,” Charbonneau said.
Also, Edwards’ performance allowed the Dragons to save Shiraki for a showdown at rival Hawaii Prep (4-4) on Friday. Honokaa can clinch West Hawaii’s No. 2 seed in the BIIF Division II tournament with a victory.
In the last meeting between the teams, Shiraki threw a two-hit shutout against Ka Makani on March 21.
“I was going to bring in Dylan to close, and Lloyd didn’t want to give up the ball,” Charbonneau said. “And now we have Dylan for HPA.”
Kealakehe 003 000 00 — 3 4 4
Honokaa 010 011 01 — 4 5 0
c Konawaena 20, Kohala 3: Junior Jarrett Kitaoka drove in five runs, and senior Makana Canda added three RBIs in Kealakekua as defending BIIF Division II champion Konawaena improved to 8-0.
Kitaoka, Canda and junior Kileona Manzano all went 3-for-4, while junior Ryan Torioka was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Junior Domonic Morris added a run-scoring triple in the contest.
On the mound, Kitaoka went pitched the first two innings, allowing two runs on two hits, striking out none and walking four.
Sophomore Royce Torres-Torioka earned the win by pitching a scoreless inning. He allowed two hits and two walks while striking out two.
Freshman Shelton Grace closed out the game on the mound, allowing one hit and three walks in two innings. He struck out two.
Sophomore Ricky Ching took the loss for Kohala (0-8). In two innings, he allowed seven hits, striking out two and walking none.
Kohala 110 10 — 3 5 2
Konawaena 406 (10) x — 20 16 0