After hitting just three home runs in 76 games in two different levels this summer, James Rapoport needed just seven games to hit his first in Hawaii Winter Baseball.

The left-handed hitting right fielder of the St. Louis Cardinals organization accounted for more than half his team's runs to help the Honolulu Sharks douse the West Oahu CaneFires, 7-3, yesterday in a battle of division leaders at Les Murakami Stadium.

Rapoport batted 2 for 3 with four RBIs. The big blow was a three-run, line-drive homer to right that snapped a 1-all game in the bottom of the fourth inning for the Sharks (5-2-1), leaders of HWB East. The CaneFires (5-3) dropped the rubber game of the series, but still hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the North Shore Honu in the West.

Rapoport, who hit one home run in 131 at-bats at High-A Palm Beach and two in 183 at-bats at Double-A Springfield, crushed an 0-1 fastball with runners at first and second and one out off West Oahu starter Sean Gleason (1-1). It had a low trajectory, but enough juice on it to barely clear the wall.

"I thought it might hit the fence," Rapoport said. "I broke out of the box, thinking it might hit the fence. I knew I hit it hard, but I didn't know if I had enough height. Luckily it did."

At one juncture of the game, he had driven in four of the team's first five runs. The only run he didn't drive in to that point he scored on Ruben Tejada's ground-rule double in the third, tying the score 1-1.

Rapoport, a 35th-round pick in 2006 out of Stanford University, is off to a hot start in HWB. He entered the game tied for fourth in hitting at .400.

"I'm just trying to handle pitches that I can handle, not trying to swing out of the zone too much," he said. "I've been doing a pretty good job of putting balls into play that are hittable."

Players get assigned here by their clubs for various reasons. For some, it's to get more at-bats. For others, it's to work particular aspects of the game.

"I'm trying to keep a consistency over a period of time," Rapoport said. "Not swinging at balls and when I get a strike, making sure I hit it."

He wasn't the only hot-hitting former Stanford player yesterday. Left fielder Michael Taylor went 3 for 4 with a double, a steal of third and RBI. Taylor, of the Phillies organization, was drafted a year after Rapoport. They were teammates for two seasons at the Pac-10 school.

Four Sharks pitchers combined to allow three runs (two earned) and five hits. Starter Connor Graham gave up the unearned run in three innings. Andrew Graham (1-0) pitched a scoreless fourth. Scott Shaw had the longest stint, following with 3 2/3 innings, giving up a run on two hits with four strikeouts. Chris Kissock pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing a run.

Shaw, who pitched three innings in a start on Thursday when he allowed three unearned runs, said all of his pitches were working well yesterday. He made 14 starts for the Brooklyn Cyclones of the short-season Single-A New York-Pennsylvania League, going 6-3 with a 2.80 earned run average.

"Couldn't have gone any better, throwing everything for a strike," said Shaw, who was a last-minute roster addition to the league.

He said he wants to work on being efficient. He certainly was yesterday, using 42 pitches against the 14 batters he faced.

The CaneFires took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Lead-off batter Greg Burns, who was recruited to play at the University of Hawai'i, lined a single to right that Rapoport mishandled momentarily. But it was enough to allow the speedy Burns to take second on the error. Burns then stole third on Graham's first pitch to Logan Schafer, who later walked. With Schafer breaking for second on a 1-1 pitch, Burns scored on Tyler Henson's sacrifice fly to left, but Schafer was doubled off first.

After Tejada's double tied the score at 1 in the third, Rapoport hit a three-run homer in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth to make it 5-1.

Michael Mitchell's RBI double and Taylor's RBI single in the seventh made it 7-1.

The CaneFires got back on the board in the eighth. With two outs, Schafer singled off Shaw, who was pulled for Moises Robles. Henson drew a walk, but it appeared the Sharks would get out of the inning when Miles Durham hit a grounder to short. However, Henson beat shortstop Tejada's throw to second as the fielder's choice loaded the bases. Caleb Gindl then hit a comebacker off Robles' glove that caromed toward second. The deflection slowed the ball enough that Gindl beat second baseman Greg Veloz's throw to first, resulting in a two-run single to make it 7-3.

WAIKIKI 6, NORTH SHORE 4

Alfredo Silverio and Roger Kieschnick each drove in two runs to lead the BeachBoys (3-5) yesterday at Hans L'Orange Park.

Kieschnick hit a solo shot in the second, his second homer of the season.

Kyle Martin went 3 for 4 with two doubles for the Honu (2-5-1).

Waldis Joaquin (1-1) allowed a run in 3 1/3 innings for the BeachBoys, while Jun Hyeok Heo (0-1) was tagged for five runs in 3 2/3 innings for the Honu.

The league resumes play tomorrow at Hans L'Orange Park with a three-game series starting with the Sharks playing the BeachBoys at 3 p.m. and the CaneFires playing the Honu at 7.