BANGOR – The five-hour time difference between Maine and Hawaii didn’t bother Pearl City pitcher Sheldon Milan one bit Sunday.

He held the Asia-Pacific All-Stars from Makati City, Philippines, to two runs on one hit in 6 1/3 innings of work as the U.S. West team held on for a 5-3 victory in its Senior League World Series Pool A opener at Mansfield Stadium.

Milan worked his way around five walks and struck out four on the afternoon, but counterpart Yusuke Kuroda was just as effective for Asia-Pacific, as he held the Hawaiians in check through four innings.

Pearl City went to work in the top half of the fifth, pushing across three runs on five hits to snap a 1-1 tie.

Milan contributed to that uprising with a leadoff double to the left-field wall and scampered home on Jordan Oshiro’s one-out single.

“They just had to be a little more patient [at the plate], take a little more pitches because they were attacking the first pitch,” said Pearl City manager Kyle Nakata.

Kahana Neal and Kala Neal contributed RBI singles in the inning while Bronson Shim gave Pearl City some insurance with an RBI single in the top of the seventh.

After Milan left with one out in the bottom of the seventh – he had reached the Senior League limit of 95 pitches – Asia-Pacific strung together a rally in which it had the bases loaded with two outs and the winning run at the plate.

Gerald Mitra slapped an RBI single to right, which followed an RBI single by Adrian Bernardo (that run was charged to Milan), but Indigo Olivares was thrown out trying to score from second. Right fielder Micah Turell made a strong throw home to preserve the victory for Hawaii.

“He has one of the stronger arms in the outfield for us,” said Nakata.

Milan got into some trouble early – an error, walk, fielder’s choice and sacrifice bunt led to Asia-Pacific’s run in the bottom of the second – but he settled down after that, not allowing a base hit after Mark Ong’s first-inning single.

“I settled down a little more and just found my groove and threw more strikes. I knew that if I threw more strikes, I would be OK,” said Milan.

Milan’s control was much more effective after the first couple of innings.

“I had a little trouble finding my release point, so I just had to settle down and keep my shoulder closed,” he said.

Hawaii got on the board first as Reid Ramos walked in the first inning, advanced to third on Kahana Neal’s single and scored on a wild pitch, but the Philippines had a golden opportunity in its half.

Adrian Bernardo led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on Ong’s single, but both runners were cut down on a double-steal.

With Carlos Laurel batting with one down, Ong was erased trying to steal second, and Bernardo tried to sneak in the back door, but Hawaii second baseman Ramos gunned him down to end that threat.

Kahana Neal was the game’s lone repeat hitter with two singles.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

U.S. WEST 5, ASIA-PACIFIC 3

Pearl City, Hawaii (1-0) Makati, Philippines (0-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Oshiro, cf 4 1 1 1 Bernardo, c 3 0 1

Ramos, 2b 3 2 1 0 Ramos, 3b 2 0 0

Kah. Neal, ss 4 0 2 1 Mitra, 3b-p 2 1

Kal. Neal, 1b 4 0 1 1 Ong, ss 3 0 0

Perkins, lf 4 1 1 0 Laurel, cf-3b 3 1 0

Sato, 3b 4 0 1 0 Kuroda, p-cf 1 0 0

Shim, rf 3 0 1 1 Olivares, rf 2 0 0

Turell, rf 1 0 0 0 Disini, lf 1 1 0

Milan, p 4 1 2 0 Tan, 1b 1 0 0 1

Chmolack, pr 0 0 0 0 Esguerra, 1b 0 1 0

Nakata, p 0 0 0 0 Lamotan, lf 1 0 0

Murai, c 2 0 1 0 Ondrik, lf 0 0 0

Mrtnz-Miranda, 2b 1 0 0

Cabigon, 2b 2 0 0 0

Totals 33 5 11 4 Totals 22 3 4 3

U.S. West 100 030 1 – 5

Asia-Pacific 010 000 2 – 3

E-Ramos; Laurel; LOB-U.S. West 9, Asia-Pacific 5; 2B-Milan; S-Tan; SB-Perkins, Murai; Laurel, Bernardo, Kuroda, Ondrik

U.S. West IP H R ER BB SO

Milan (W, 1-0) 6 1/3 1 2 1 5 4

Nakata (S, 1) 2/3 3 1 1 0 0

Asia-Pacific IP H R ER BB SO

Kuroda (L, 0-1) 6 2/3 10 5 5 1 4

Mitra 1/3 1 0 0 0 0

HBP-Olivares (by Nakata); WP-Kuroda 2; T-2:01; ATT-600