CaneFires Clinch HWB West

November 12, 2008 - Hawaii Winter Baseball 2 (HWB 2)
West Oahu CaneFires News Release


Waipahu, HI - West Oahu received a first-inning grand slam from Cyle Hankerd, and held on for the 6-3 victory over Waikiki tonight at Hans L'Orange Park.

With the win, the CaneFires locked up the Hawaii Winter Baseball West Division title, and earned a berth in the HWB Championship Game on Nov. 16 at Les Murakami Stadium. West Oahu will face the HWB East champion for which the race is still tight as Waikiki holds a half-game advantage over Honolulu with three games remaining in the regular season.

CaneFires starter Cody Scarpetta (2-2) was nearly flawless through five scoreless innings as the Milwaukee Brewers hurler allowed a hit and struck out eight.

West Oahu (17-14) wasted no time posting a 4-0 lead in the first inning as Hankerd laced a Mitsuo Yoshikawa fastball over the fence in left-center field for a two-out grand slam. The blast was Hankerd's fifth big fly of the season, and the Arizona Diamondbacks prospect boosted his RBI total to 30 on the campaign.

Tyler Henson drove in two more runs for the CaneFires in the second inning on a single to second base that allowed Kyle Peter and Mark Hallberg to score.

The BeachBoys (17-16) brought a run across in the home half of the seventh as Todd Frazier led off with a walk, and scored from first on Damon Sublett's double down the left field line. After Sublett moved over to third on James McOwen's groundout, the New York Yankees prospect scored the club's second run as CaneFires first baseman Adam Loewen botched an Alfredo Silverio pop up.

Waikiki narrowed the deficit to 6-3 in the eighth when Yonder Alonso doubled for his third hit on the evening, and scored on Todd Frazier's RBI single to left field.

Alonso provided three of Waikiki's six base hits on the evening, and Hallberg paced West Oahu with three base knocks of his own.

Yoshikawa (3-2) took the loss after surrendering six runs on seven hits through three innings.

The CaneFires return to Hans L'Orange Park tomorrow at 3 p.m. for a meeting with Honolulu. Waikiki will take on North Shore tomorrow at 7 p.m., also at Hans L'Orange Park.



Hawaii Winter Baseball 2 Stories from November 12, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central