BIIF Baseball: Wildcats keep Honokaa off-balance

A young but experienced Konawaena baseball team kept Honokaa off-balance Wednesday evening in a 6-0 victory at Ellison Onizuka Field in Kealakekua.

The game was not a cakewalk for the Wildcats despite the score as they stepped into the box against Honokaa pitcher Caden Perreira, who struck out 15 Hawaii Preparatory Academy batters in his previous start. Against the flame thrower, Konawaena worked deep into counts and put the ball into play, forcing the Dragons defense to back up their ace. However, Honokaa struggled defensively, committing three costly errors.

The Wildcats did not hit the ball hard often in the game, managing only five hits, which came from five different batters, but they constantly put the ball in play, striking out only once against the Honokaa starter.

The Konawaena offense also took advantage of what was given to them, scoring three runs on wild pitches as Perreira struggled with his control. He exited the game after four innings, having already thrown 88 pitches. Perreira allowed six runs, three of which were earned.

“We wanted to get their starter to throw a lot of pitches and perhaps frustrate him a little bit by letting him know we would not be easy outs,” said Konawaena head coach Adam Taberios. “We wanted to keep him out of tempo and off-balance, while staying in our rhythm.”

While the offense worked the game plan to perfection, on the other side of the ball, Wildcats pitcher Tristan DeAguiar peppered in his fastball with a solid curveball, which had the Honokaa batters leaning all game long. DeAguiar out-pitched his Honokaa counterpart to pick up the complete game victory. He allowed four hits, struck out four and walked three.

“Tristan has made a drastic improvement over last year,” Taberios said. He has better command this year and he has a little pep in his fastball. I don’t know what he did in the offseason, but his confidence is greater.”

It seems as if DeAguiar, himself, isn’t sure what he did specifically in the offseason to get better, but he did admit to training a lot on his own so that he could work deeper into games.

“I want to stay out there as long as I can,” DeAguiar said. “I just want to keep pitching and let my defense work every game.”

Anytime DeAguiar did start to lose his command, senior captain and catcher Tyler Kitaoka was quick to visit the mound and settle his young pitcher down.

Taberios said his catcher is the type of captain who leads by example, adding that younger teammates seem to gravitate to him and follow him.

DeAguiar only needed a couple of visits from his catcher against the Dragons, and when he was in his grove, he allowed the defense to work. DeAguiar kept the ball on the ground through the first five innings, allowing plenty of opportunity for senior third baseman and co-captain Logan Canda to shine.

Canda, making a last minute return to the field after suffering a knee injury in the preseason, was a wall at third base. He also made tough plays on four slow rolling grounders hit his way, scooping up the ball and throwing off-balance to first base.

“Originally we had a different lineup with Logan being the designed hitter, but some things happened and he was penciled in about 30 minutes before game time,” Taberios said. “We are glad to have him back and he plays a big role with this team. I am glad his glove and arm was still there. He looked phenomenal.”

As the game went on, and perhaps DeAguiar’s arm began to wear down, the Dragon hitters started to send more balls into the outfield. In the sixth inning, centerfielder Vohn Yamaguchi made two tough plays on deep fly balls near the warning track. Each time he back-peddled under the ball to make the grab and keep the game scoreless.

Konawaena pushed several runs across the plate in the bottom of the first inning to take a 4-0 lead, setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Leadoff hitter Phillip Grace started the inning by reaching on an error by the Dragons shortstop. Logan Canda walked, and with one out, Stevie Texeira singled to left, allowing Grace to score and moving Canda to third. Yamaguchi followed with a single to right, scoring Canda. Texeira then scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Kaiya Leleiwi reached on an error and Yamaguchi scored the fourth run.

The last two runs came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Leleiwi led off with a double to center and Andrew Udac reached on an error by the pitcher. Both runners moved around the bases and scored on a pair of wild pitches by Perreira.

Honokaa put runners in scoring position in each of the last two innings but DeAguiar was able to work out of the jam both times.

Hilo 16, Keaau 0

Hilo sophomore Donald Saltiban pitched only one inning but his short work stood out in a lopsided error-fest.

Saltiban was part of a combined no-hitter as the Vikings walloped Keaau 16-0 in a four-inning TKO BIIF Division I baseball game Wednesday night at Wong Stadium.

The Cougars apparently left their defense back home. They committed nine errors, which led to 11 unearned runs.

Noah Kalaloa-Richardson, a junior right-hander, went two innings and struck out four for the win. Saltiban followed with two strikeouts, and another sophomore Briden Silva pitched the final inning and walked one.

The perfect game was lost long before the fourth when Kalaloa-Richardson hit Keian Kanetani with a pitch in the first inning.

Last Thursday, Waiakea junior right-hander Makoa Andres pitched an 11-0 no-hitter against Hilo, the first in the longtime crosstown rivalry between the two schools.

Under the lights for the first time at Wong, the Vikings had trouble picking up Andres’ release point and swung late at all his pitches. He whiffed eight and lost his perfect game with a walk.

The Viks had no such trouble squaring up on starter Anson Kauwe (two innings) and Edward Oguma (two outs). Christian Sprinkel got one out and gave up no runs.

Austin Aina batted 2 for 2 with two RBIs and Josiah Factora was 2 for 3 with an RBI to lead Hilo (2-1).

No one came close to getting a hit for Keaau (2-2). Although cleanup hitter Riley Costa hit a ball deep in the shortstop’s hole.

However, Joey Jarneski was perfectly positioned and didn’t need to move. He dropped the ball but fired a fastball to get Costa in the fourth.

Hilo’s most impressive sophomore is center fielder Micah Bello, who landed on the All-BIIF first team last year. He went 0 for 2, reached on two errors and scored two runs.

The next one is a close tie between designated hitter/pitcher Ryan Ragual and Saltiban, a lanky right-hander.

Saltiban struck out Keaau’s No. 8 and 9 batters and got leadoff hitter Kauwe on a routine groundout.

He attacked the strike zone and flashed a quick whiplash arm action, showing the makings of a future ace.

“He’s got a bright future,” Hilo coach Tony De Sa said. “And Noah had a lot of spin on his ball and late pop.

“If we get to a slugfest in a three-game series (in the BIIF playoffs) where it’s back and forth, hopefully by that time the young guys will help out.”

Last season, Hilo won the BIIF title on the strength of co-aces Jarneski and Factora. Both picked up wins against Waiakea in the semifinals and Keaau in the championship series.

Jarneski is just a junior, so he’ll be around for a while, along with impressive sophomores Bello, Ragual (1 for 2, run scored), and Pu‘ukani De Sa (1 for 1, RBI), another pitcher/hitter.

And don’t forget Saltiban, who was part of a no-hitter.

Waiakea 14, Pahoa 1

Jacob Igawa batted 2 for 2 with two RBIs, and Aaron Kimura pitched three innings of one-run ball.

Khaden Victorino and Dillon-Jon Gabriel each pitched a scoreless inning, and Anthony Benevides had three RBIs while Trayden Tamiya, David Nakamura and Shaun Kurosawa had two RBIs each for the Warriors (4-0).

Julian Biemier batted 2 for 3 and Lava Benn took the loss for the Daggers (0-4).

Hawaii Tribune-Herald sports reporter Kevin Jakahi contributed Hilo-Keaau and Waiakea-Pahoa game articles