Two young, fresh Kaiser pitchers were successful in their O'ahu Interscholastic Association varsity baseball debuts yesterday in helping the Cougars hold off visiting Roosevelt, 4-2.

Kaiser, which finished third in last year's state tournament, remained unbeaten at 2-0 in the OIA's Red Conference Eastern Division. The Rough Riders fell to 1-1.

Right-handers Kekoa Torres, a sophomore, and Shotaro Saito, a freshman, combined on a six-hitter in their first varsity appearances.

"I was nervous before the game because this was my first time starting as a varsity pitcher," Torres said. "Plus I wasn't feeling my best, I was kind of sick. But my game plan was to go all seven innings."

He didn't need to, as Saito — who is from Japan — came in with one out in the top of the sixth inning and shut out Roosevelt to earn the save.

"Our pitchers are going to have to grow up real fast," Cougars coach Peter Ho said.

The Rough Riders did not waste time applying pressure on Torres, as Zach Hamasaki led off the game with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on Sean Matsumoto's grounder to second and scored on TJ Bae's sacrifice fly to right field.

Kaiser answered with two runs in the bottom half, after Cal Tashiro and Jaymes Kawashima led off with a walk and bunt single, respectively. Joe Honma followed with a run-scoring single to left, and Dustin Dela Pena brought Kawashima home one out later with a long fly to right.

The Cougars made it 3-1 in the third after Bryce Marcouiller led off with a walk, Dela Pena and Pono Meyer followed with singles and Michael Ramia reached on an infield throwing error.

Roosevelt closed to 3-2 in the top of the fourth, when Bae slammed a one-out double to right and scored on Justin Otaguro's single to center.

The game stayed tight as the Rough Riders' defense ended three of Kaiser's first five innings with double plays. The Cougars stranded runners at third base in each of the second through fifth innings, including bases-loaded situations in the second and third.

"We didn't clutch up, we're not doing a good job with pressure hitting," Ho said. "We had runners on, but didn't hit the ball hard. We squeaked out the win today, but these are the kind of things that might cost us later if the other team can capitalize on it. If we can get those hits, we'll be all right, but we almost gave it to them today."

Kaiser added an insurance run in the sixth, when Shane Tsutahara slid in with a one-out double and scored on an infield throwing error to first one batter later.

It was Roosevelt's fourth error of the game, after an errorless performance against Castle on Wednesday.

"It's not too bad, because the errors were fluky-type ... some of them were do-or-die plays that they had to try," Rough Riders coach Craig Arakawa said. "The ball bounced kind of funny today, but no matter what, our guys were mentally in it. They never gave up, so that was good."

Roosevelt had runners at first and second with one out in the sixth, but the Cougars escaped with a 6-4-3 double play.

The Rough Riders then got their leadoff batter aboard on a walk in the seventh, but Saito got two strikeouts and a groundout to end the game.

ROOSEVELT (1-1) 100 100 0 — 2 6 4

KAISER (2-0) 201 001 X — 4 6 1

Tyler Nitahara, Kelson Okimoto (6) and Erik Ching, Nitahara (6); Kekoa Torres, Shotaro Saito (6) and Bryce Marcouiller. W — Torres. L — Nitahara. S — Saito.

Leading hitters — Roosevelt: Justin Otaguro 3-3, RBI; TJ Bae double, RBI. Kaiser: Shane Tsutahara double.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456. Read his blog on prep sports at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.

KAILUA 5, CASTLE 1

Scotty Talaesea hit a three-run homer and Rob DeMarsh followed with a solo shot as the Surfriders (2-0) scored four runs in the top of the seventh to beat the Knights (0-2).

Jared Tamanaha pitched a four-hitter for Kailua.

KAILUA (2-0) 000 010 4—5 7 0

CASTLE (0-2) 000 100 0—1 4 1

Jared Tamanaha and Keenan Tanaka. Bryan Raines, Kris Kahanu (7) and Coby Eagres. W — Tamanaha. L — Raines.

Leading hitters — Kailua: Scotty Talaesea 3-run homer; Rob DeMarsh 2-4, solo homer. Castle: Kainoa Tom triple; Raines triple.

Reported by Chad Uyehara

MOANALUA 11, MCKINLEY 1

Miles Higa drove in two runs as Na Menehune (1-1) topped the Tigers (0-1) in a game shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule.

MCKINLEY (0-1) 000 01— 1 5 5

MOANALUA (1-1) 135 2X—11 10 3

Kelson Ganeku, Masahiro Kato (3), Jonathan Ho (4) and Cody Reyes. Regan Lum, Dae Yang Kim (5) and Chris Liu-Saguid, Ross Matsumoto (4). W — Lum. L — Guneku.

Leading hitters — McKinley: Ho 2-3. Moanalua: Miles Higa triple, 2 RBIs; Reed Matsumoto double.

Reported by Scott Yamada

OIA RED WEST

KAPOLEI 8, MILILANI 0

Kalani Omoto pitched a two-hitter with four strikeouts as the Hurricanes (1-1) toppled the Trojans (1-1).

Curtis Donald had three hits for Kapolei.

MILILANI (1-1) 000 000 0—0 2 2

KAPOLEI (1-1) 120 122 X—8 7 2

Joey Aquino and Travis Inouye. Kalani Omoto and Brandon Damas. W — Omoto. L — Aquino.

Leading hitters — Kapolei: Curtis Donald 3-4, 2 runs; Kalani Brackenridge 2 runs; Trenton Nakata 2 RBIs; Lyle Santiago 2-3, triple, 2 RBIs.

Reported by Tom Ebanez

WAI'ANAE 3, 'AIEA 0

Sophomore Kalei Hensley pitched a one-hitter with two walks and four strikeouts as the host Seariders (1-1) beat Na Ali'i (1-1).

Hensley allowed only a third-inning single. Ben McQuown had two hits for Wai'anae.

'AIEA (1-1) 000 000 0—0 1 1

WAI'ANAE (1-1) 000 012 X—3 5 2

Tyler Abasial, Kevin Shibata (6) and Jacob Arakawa. Kalei Hensley and R.J. Tacgere-Bailey. W—Hensley. L—Abasial.

Leading hitters — Wai'anae: Ben McQuown 2-3, double; Hensley double.

Reported by Kekoa Kaluhiokalani

CAMPBELL 8, LEILEHUA 2

Kia Kapana and Cameron Howser each had a triple and three RBIs as the Sabers (1-0) beat the Mules (0-2).

CAMPBELL (1-0) 001 070 0—8 9 2

LEILEHUA (0-2) 100 100 0—2 2 2

Allyn Oliva-Respicio, Keanu Kapana (6) and Cameron Howser. Desmond Ontai, Jayson Cabalce (5), Edieson Dumlao (6) and Jeremy Suguitan W — Oliva-Resticio. L — Ontai.

Leading hitters — Campbell: Kia Kapana 2-4, triple, 3 RBIs; Howser triple, 3 RBIs; Everrett Pico 2-3. Leilehua: Dumlao triple.

Reported by Lane Watanuki

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.