BIIF baseball: Honokaa hurler fans 15 against HPA on opening day

HONOKAA – In retrospect, Honokaa’s error to begin the top of the seventh inning, its first of the game, was a positive development for the Dragons.

It allowed Caden Perreira to finish his one-hit masterpiece the way he truly wanted.

Perreira struck out the side for the third time Wednesday, finishing off Hawaii Prep 4-1 on BIIF baseball’s opening day, and it was clear he was keeping track of his strikeout total when he nonchalantly walked off the mound and said, “Yes, 15.”

“I had everything working and I believed in my defense,” the overpowering junior right-hander said. “I had a bunch of adrenaline going all game long.”

Perreira’s father said afterward that one of his son’s objectives was to surpass the 14 strikeouts that future first-round major league draft pick Kodi Medeiros recorded for Waiakea against Hilo in 2014.

Caden Perreira cited a team goal, saying, “I want to take my team to states.”

Perreira’s gem overshadowed a fine outing by Ka Makani sophomore Finn Richmond, who allowed only three hits in his HPA debut.

Lane Yanagisawa, Honokaa’s fourth coach in as many seasons, sat back and enjoyed a relatively easy first assignment, leaving Perreira and catcher Kieren Lo to call the the pitches.

“Awesome,” Yanagisawa said. “The kid has good work ethic. He’s here working seven days a week and he works out at night.”

“Kieren impressed me, too. He’s the only one that stepped up and wanted to catch Caden.”

Perreira estimated his fastball topped out in the upper 80s, and he worked in a cutter to keep HPA’s right-hander hitters chasing pitches.

Ka Makani coach Jordan Hayslip time and again exhorted the players in his lineup, which featured just one senior, to shorten their swing with two strikes, but he could only tip his cap to Perreira.

“A great outing,” Hayslip said. “He was dominant.”

The teams combined for only four hits, the biggest coming off the bat of Antonio Molina, who belted a two-run double in the first to put the Dragons ahead 2-1.

BIIF baseball held its earliest starting date in recent memory, and both Division II teams turned in crisp performances in a game that lasted just 91 minutes.

“That was a very tight, sound game for this time of year,” Hayslip said.

Perreira and Richmond each paid for their wildness in the first inning before setting in.

HPA’s Jonah Hurney led off the game with a single to center and scored with the help of a walk and a wild pitch. Ka Makani didn’t put another runner on base against Perreira until the sixth, when Tristan Sienkiewicz coaxed a walk with two outs to end a streak of 14 consecutive batters retired by Perreira.

In the bottom of the first, Richmond hit two batters ahead of Molina’s double to deep center, but he didn’t allow another hit until Benjamin Akau doubled in the fifth. The right-hander retired nine of 11 hitters in the middle innings, striking out six in 5 1/3 innings.

“We’re excited about this young team,” Hayslip said. “They work hard and play defense.”

Molina walked to open the sixth and Jonathan Charbonneau’s hit chased Richmond as Honokaa tacked on two more runs on a throwing error and a wild pitch.

The insurance runs were more than enough for Perreira, who improved himself last summer in California by playing baseball nonstop, getting in between 50 and 60 games against premium competition.

“I learned that over here it isn’t as tough,” he said. “I went over there thinking I could do it, but the first game I played I couldn’t do it, so I had to work hard.

“Two weeks later, I stepped it up.”

Perreira is going on a family trip and will miss Honokaa’s home game Saturday against Waiakea as well as the rematch at HPA on Tuesday in Waimea. The BIIF reinstated an unbalanced schedule, with teams playing every school in their division twice, and everyone else once.

“This was an especially good game for this side,” said Yanagisawa a Honokaa High teacher. “For us country people who don’t have as much action.”

“Our defense is actually pretty good. We won’t have to rely on Caden all season.”