Hawaiians strike again in last at-bat Pearl City downs Canada, clinches semifinal berth

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BANGOR – Another bolt of Hawaiian lightning struck Mansfield Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

The U.S. West team scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning, erasing a one-run deficit on its way to a 6-5 victory over Canada in the Senior League World Series.

For the third consecutive game in Pool A play, the squad from Pearl City, Hawaii, won in its final at-bat.

With the victory, manager Gary Nakamoto’s team improved to 3-0 and became the first team to clinch a berth in Friday’s semifinal round.

“We’ve done it before, so we feel that we can always do it,” said Kellen Ushijima, who had an RBI single in Hawaii’s game-winning rally.

“We really needed this third win, so that way we can relax a little bit more,” he added.

Hawaii is idle today, while the squad from Thunder Bay, Ontario, (0-2) plays Asia-Pacific at 11:30 a.m.

Again, the U.S. West team remained unflappable. Hawaii struggled to get its bats going and committed four errors, but still bounced back in the late innings.

Trailing 4-3, Hawaii again saved its best offense for last.

Ryno Acosta ignited the rally by lining a one-out double to left field. Shannon Liu followed with a pop-fly single down the right field line, chasing Thunder Bay starter Travis Oleksuk (0-1).

After Liu stole second, Ushijima grounded an RBI single past drawn-in third baseman Ryan Winters to make it 4-4. Pinch runner Peter Lee stole second, but Evan Matson got Jason Rasa to fly out to center for the second out.

Nainoa Tampos then came through with his second hit of the tournament, an opposite-field, two-run single to right.

“I was looking for a curveball because I had two strikes on me,” Tampos said. “I saw him throw a fastball on the outside corner and I decided to take it to right field.

“I think I have the most strikeouts on the team right now, so it was pretty good to finally get a hit.”

Canada countered with a rally in the bottom of the inning against reliever Rasa.

Chris Kovac singled to right with one out, then Oleksuk reached on an error and Winters walked, loading the bases. Michael Labelle ripped an RBI single to center field, but Oleksuk rounded too far at third base and was nabbed when Ushijima cut off the throw to the plate and fired to third.

Andrew Agombar lined out to first for the final out as Rasa earned a save despite having thrown 132 pitches in a 10-inning, complete-game performance Sunday afternoon.

“Certainly the mistakes that we made, at the time that we made them, just didn’t help and came back to haunt us a little bit there,” said Thunder Bay manager Bill Oleksuk.

Canada also committed four errors while managing only five hits.

Liu doubled and singled to pace Hawaii, while Agombar posted two singles and two RBIs to lead the way for Canada.

Canada took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Agombar’s RBI single and Christopher Bewski’s run-scoring fielder’s choice. Hawaii tied it in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk and a Jeffrey Domingo fielder’s choice.

The West made it 3-2 in the fifth without a hit, but Thunder Bay countered with two in the sixth on another RBI single by Agombar and Bewski’s run-producing fielder’s choice.

U.S. WEST 6, CANADA 5

(Pool A)

U.S. West (3-0) Canada (0-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Nakayama, cf-pr 3 1 0 0 Burtuzzo, 1b 3 0

Tanaid, rf 1 0 1 0 Kovac, 2b 3 1 0

Acosta, ss-p 4 1 1 0 Oleksuk, p-ss 3 1 0

Liu, lf-ss 2 2 2 0 Winters, 3b-ph 1 2 0

Lee, ph-lf 1 0 0 0 Willis, 3b-ph 1 0 0

Ushijima, 1b 2 2 1 1 Labelle, lf-c 3 1 1

Rasa, 3b-p 3 0 1 0 Agombar, cf 4 0 2

Tampos, rf-ph 2 0 1 2 Bewski, rf 1 1

DeKneef, cf-rf 1 0 0 1 Hanlan, lf 1 1

Muraoka, p-rf 4 0 0 0 Matson, ss-p 3 0

Kiyota, c-pr 1 0 0 0 Smith, c 1 0 0

Domingo, ph-c 2 0 1 1 Carson, rf 2 0

Quillopo, 2b 2 0 0 0

Sugitaya, ph-2b 1 0 0 0

Totals 29 6 8 5 Totals 26 5 5 5

U.S. West 000 210 3 – 6

Canada 020 002 1 – 5

E-DeKneef, Muraoka, Quillopo 2; Winters, Smith, Carson, Labelle; LOB-U.S. West 7, Canada 7; 2B-Acosta; DP-U.S. West 1; S-Kovac, Labelle; SB-Nakayama 2, Liu 2

U.S. West IP H R ER BB SO

Muraoka 5 1/3 3 4 2 2 1

Acosta (W, 1-0) 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

Rasa (S, 1) 1 2 1 1 1 1

Canada IP H R ER BB SO

Oleksuk (L, 0-1) 6 1/3 6 5 4 5 4

Matson 2/3 2 1 1 0 1

HBP-Hanlan (by Muraoka), Oleksuk (by Muraoka); T-2:20; ATT-175