Streaking Maryknoll stuns Punahou in baseball
Advertiser Staff
Maryknoll has become the mouse that roared in Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball.
The Spartans (not mice), who don't even have a practice field to call their own, shocked Punahou, 3-2, yesterday at DeSa field for their third straight victory.
The loss dropped the Buffanblu (7-3) into a first-place tie with St. Louis.
Before March 31, Maryknoll was 0-6 this season and had lost 14 straight ILH games since last year.
The Trojans beat contenders St. Louis and Kamehameha in successive games before yesterday.
"Our pitching has come around real well," coach Duane Eldredge said, "but the biggest difference is putting contact to the ball, doing something when we get people on base."
With the score 2-2 in the top of the seventh inning, sophomore Greg Aquino doubled to center field, was bunted to third base, and senior Reid Okaneku doubled to right, driving in Aquino.
"Our players are starting to believe," Eldredge said. "I've never seen this type of confidence with this team in my four years here."
Brendan Higa allowed two hits in 5° innings and closer Reily Maeda got the win. Higa struck out the first four batters in the Punahou order five times and had a total of six.
On Friday freshman Kody Seminara shut out Kamehameha's feared bats for six innings, allowing two hits. And on March 31, Seminara and Maeda held St. Louis to three hits.
"They're all lefties and they're all different," Eldredge said.
In the Spartans' first six games, the pitching staff was indeed different. They surrendered an average of 10 hits and more than nine runs a game. The day before the win streak started, they lost to Kamehameha 10-0.
The hitting has come alive, too. In their first game, Eldredge says, "we never reached second base." Maryknoll was shut out three times in its first six games — the only shutouts in the ILH.
The Spartans went one calendar year between ILH wins, from April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001.
"It feels good to be turning it around," Eldredge said.
MARYKNOLL (3-6)
010
100
1
3
6
1
PUNAHOU (7-3)
010
010
0
2
2
3
Brendan Higa, Reily Maeda (6) and Brandon Goshima. Kea Kometani, Phillips Peters (7) and Todd LaFountaine. WP—Maeda. LP—Peters.
Leading hitters: Maryknoll — Higa 2-2, double.
• Rained out: The Pac-Five at Mid-Pacific game was postponed due to rain. It has been tentatively rescheduled for April 21.
