Honolulu Holds Off Waikiki

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Honolulu Holds Off Waikiki

Kyle Galdeira
10/18/08

Jim Rapoport went 2-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs to lead Honolulu over Waikiki, 7-2, tonight at Honolulu’s Les Murakami Stadium.

After Waikiki got out to an early 1-0 lead in the home half of the first, Rapoport notched the game at 1-1 with a towering solo home run over the right field wall to lead off the third frame.

Rapoport, an outfield prospect with the St. Louis Cardinals, helped his squad with a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning to plate Bradley Emaus. Sharks catcher Lars Davis then doubled off the right field wall to score Greg Veloz, and put the purple-clad squad up 3-1.

Honolulu (12-5) added another insurance run in the fifth inning as Ruben Tejada singled, stole second base, and came in to score on Dominic Brown’s single to center field. Bradley Emaus increased the lead to 5-1 with a sacrifice fly to deep center in the eighth inning to score Tony Cruz who had tripled earlier in the frame.

The BeachBoys (7-10) brought their second run of the contest across in the eighth inning as Roger Kieschnick drove in James McOwen with a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

But, the Sharks increased their lead to 7-2 in the ninth inning on a Tejada double to left field that brought home Greg Veloz followed by a two-bagger off the bat of Mike Mitchell to score Tejada.

Tony Thomas Jr. of the Chicago Cubs paced Waikiki with two hits, including a double, in the losing effort.

Connor Graham of the Colorado Rockies earned the victory for Honolulu, and improved to 1-0 while lowering his earned run average to 3.86. The right hander surrendered a run on five hits and struck out four through 3 1/3 innings.

Waldis Joaquin (2-2) took the loss for Waikiki, allowing four runs on six hits through five innings.

The two teams return to Murakami Stadium tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the finale of a three-game series.