Honolulu Halts West Oahu

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Honolulu Halts West Oahu

Kyle Galdeira
10/20/07

The Honolulu Sharks brought home five insurance runs in the eighth inning en route to an 8-1 victory over the visiting West Oahu CaneFires in a Hawaii Winter Baseball game before a crowd of 1,360 at Hans L’Orange Park tonight.

Tyler Flowers got the Sharks (10-7-1) on the board in the home half of the fourth with a two-run double that plated Matt Wieters and Fuminori Yokogawa who reached on consecutive singles. Flowers would later trot home on a passed ball by catcher Kenley Jansen, and Honolulu took the 3-0 lead.

Todd Martin grounded into a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning to plate Joshua Bell who doubled to lead off the inning, and West Oahu (5-12-1) pulled to within two runs of the lead, 3-1.

But Austin Jackson gave Honolulu some breathing room in the eighth frame as the New York Yankees prospect banged a three-run home run to center field to score Argenis Diaz and Miguel Abreu, and extend the advantage to five runs. The Sharks added two more runs on a Brad Suttle single up the middle.

Honolulu starter Ryohei Tanaka (1.83 ERA) improved to 2-0 on the season by limiting the CaneFires to one run on three hits through five innings in which the Chiba Lotte Marines prospect struck out four. West Oahu hurler Erik Stiller (1-2, 3.38 ERA) took the loss, surrendering three runs on three hits in four innings while striking out a game-high six batters.

Both squads return to Hans L’Orange Park tomorrow at 3 p.m. for the finale of the three-game series.