WAIPAHU—The Honolulu Sharks got help from homegrown talent in a 6-3 win to complete a three-game series sweep of the North Shore Honu in Hawaii Winter Baseball yesterday at Hans L'Orange Park.

Kala Ka'aihue hit two home runs, including a three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth that snapped a 3-3 tie.

Kaimi Mead pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out one, to record his first save for the Sharks (10-3).

They make up two-thirds of Hawai'i-raised players in HWB. Ka'aihue is an 'Iolani School graduate and Mead is a Roosevelt alumnus who played at both the University of Hawai'i and Hawai'i Pacific University.

Ka'aihue's two-out homer to right came after the Honu tied the score in the top of the eighth, courtesy of first baseman Ka'aihue's two-out, throwing error on a grounder by Corey Brown. But atonement came quick.

With the left-handed Matt Meyer starting the bottom of the eighth for the Honu (4-9), Shintaro Masuda led off with a line single to right and took second on Michael Mitchell's sacrifice to the pitcher. After Meyer struck out the left-handed hitting Dominic Brown, the Honu intentionally walked the hot-hitting Tony Cruz, who entered the game hitting .500 (11 for 22) and tied for the team lead with seven RBIs. That brought up Ka'aihue, who had hit a solo shot to center in the second inning, but struck out his next two times up.

"It just happened to be off the middle away," Ka'aihue said of Meyer's fastball that he hit on a 2-0 count. "I just tried to let it travel and drive it that way."

Ka'aihue wasn't surprised he was put aboard with first base open.

"He's been killing the ball," Ka'aihue said of Cruz. "He's probably the hottest hitter in the league right now."

Mead entered in the top of the ninth to close it out for Honolulu, facing the heart of the Honu order.

The left-hander quickly got ahead of No. 3 hitter Jason Castro, the Houston Astros' top pick in June (10th overall), who entered the game hitting .333. With the count 1-2, Castro fouled off three consecutive pitches before Mead rung him up with a fastball on the outside corner for a called third strike.

"I started off going away with breaking balls," Mead said. "I tried to go in again. He's a tough hitter to get out. I was lucky to get him out today."

Mead then got Chris Carter on a grounder to short and held his breath when Matt McBride drove a 3-1 pitch to deep left. But McBride got a bit under the pitch and left fielder Ryo Hijirisawa caught the ball near the fence to end the game.

Mead lowered his earned run average to 2.99 in nine innings. He and Honu infielder Jon Hee, a Mid-Pacific and UH graduate, were added to HWB as "taxi squad" players in case of a shortage because of injuries or other circumstances.

Sharks pitching coach Robert Ellis, of the New York Mets' rookie Gulf Coast League affiliate, said he used Mead in that situation because he has been attacking hitters.

"He's showing that he'll go right after guys with the three pitches," Ellis said. "He challenges guys. You can't defend a walk."

After Ka'aihue's second-inning homer, the Sharks made it 2-0 in the third when Mitchell doubled with two outs and came around to score on Dominic Brown's squibber to the right side. The first baseman, second baseman and pitcher converged on the ball, but were unable to make any play because no one was covering first or home since the catcher was running up the line anticipating backing up a play at first.

The Honu pulled to 2-1 in the fifth on an RBI single by Yamaico Navarro, only to watch the Sharks get that run back in the bottom of the inning on Masuda's RBI double.

The Honu made it 3-2 in the sixth on Kurt Mertin's sacrifice fly to right and tied it in the eighth on back-to-back walks with two outs and the error by Ka'aihue.

CANEFIRES, BEACHBOYS PLAY TO 1-1 DEADLOCK

Mark Hallberg's eighth-inning double scored Chris Hatcher from second with the tying run for West Oahu in a game called after 10 innings at Les Murakami Stadium.

Waikiki took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Yonder Alonso walked against Kyle Cody with two outs, stole second and scored on Todd Frazier's double to left-center. Those were the only two base runners Cody allowed in five innings for the CaneFires (6-7).

Mitsuo Yoshikawa allowed two hits and a walk in five scoreless innings for the BeachBoys (6-7).

There are no games today. A pair of three-game series run tomorrow through Thursday at Hans L'Orange. The Sharks and CaneFires play at 3 p.m. with the Honu and BeachBoys following at 7 each day.