Chris Hatcher, CaneFires Halt Honu

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Chris Hatcher, CaneFires Halt Honu

Kyle Galdeira
10/17/08

Chris Hatcher hit a two-run, go-ahead home run in the eighth inning to give West Oahu the 6-5 victory tonight at Waipahu’s Hans L’Orange Park.

Trailing 5-3 entering the eighth frame, the CaneFires received a leadoff hit from Wally Crancer, followed by a Cyle Hankerd walk. After both runners advanced on a Mark Hallberg sacrifice bunt, pinch runner Logan Schafer came home on a Brian Friday ground out. With two out, Hatcher hammered the Shawn Nottingham (0-1) offering over the fence in left field to put West Oahu up for good.

North Shore (6-10) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a two-run single off the bat of Yamaico Navarro. The base knock to right field plated Corey Brown and Ryan Kalish, both of whom walked earlier in the inning.

The Honu added another run in the fourth when Navarro, who led off the inning with a single to left field, scored from third when Jordan Parraz was caught stealing at second.

West Oahu (8-8) answered with two runs in the home half of the fifth inning on a two-run single from leadoff man Greg Burns with two outs. Burns, a Florida Marlins prospect, finished the game 3-5 with two RBIs and two stolen bases.

But North Shore expanded its lead at the time to 5-2 thanks to a Fumikazu Kimura wild pitch that allowed Matt McBride to score from third in the sixth inning, and a solo home run from Brown in the seventh frame.

Navarro paced the Honu offense with three hits, and accounted for half of North Shore’s six base knocks on the evening.

Reliever Daiki Kiyohara (1-1) notched the victory after tossing a scoreless eighth frame, and Cliff Flagello picked up his second save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.

Honu starting pitcher Heath Taylor allowed a run on six hits and struck out four through 4 2/3 innings. The Cleveland Indians prospect left the game in the fifth inning due to a blister on the middle finger of his left (throwing) hand, and did not factor in the decision.

The squads return to Hans L’Orange Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. for the second of a three-game set.