Tuesday's Hawaii Winter Baseball recap
Waikiki BeachBoys 9, Honolulu Sharks 5
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Waikiki's Cole Garner nearly matched his season's offensive output by going 3-for-4 with two homers and six RBIs to lead the BeachBoys to a 9-5 come-from-behind win at Honolulu on Tuesday.
Batting just .123 with two homers and five RBIs in 23 HWB games, Garner opened the scoring with a two-run blast off Sharks starter Kanehisa Arime in the second inning, then extended the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the fourth. Honolulu battled back to take a 5-3 lead, but the second-year Colorado Rockies prospect capped a six-run eight-inning BeachBoys rally with a three-run shot to center field.
After an impressive regular season with Class A Asheville, where he hit .302 with 19 homers, 88 RBIs and a South Atlantic League-leading 100 runs, Garner had struggled mightily entering Tuesday's game. The 21-year-old outfielder hit a three-run homer in his second HWB game, but had driven in just two runs in 60 at-bats since and hadn't registered a multiple-hit game all winter.
The Sharks weren't able to figure out Waikiki starter Rick Vanden Hurk (Florida Marlins), who struck out five in four shutout innings. They narrowed the BeachBoys lead to 3-2 in the top of the fifth on RBIs by Nyjer Morgan (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Paco Figueroa (Baltimore Orioles), then took a short-lived lead in the seventh on a throwing error, Figueroa's second RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Ryan Patterson (Toronto Blue Jays).
Waikiki reliever Hirotaka Egusa (2-0) fanned four while allowing just one hit over two innings to earn the win.
Cleveland Indians farmhand Scott Roehl (0-2) struck out the side for Honolulu in the seventh, but couldn't get an out in the eighth and was saddled with the loss.
BeachBoys second baseman Mark Minicozzi accumulated his 21st and 22nd RBIs, adding to his league-leading total.
Waikiki (18-12) now leads Honolulu (13-18) by 5.5 games in the East Division with just six games remaining.
North Shore Honu 3, West Oahu CaneFires 2
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Mets prospect Dustin Martin doubled and scored in North Shore's two-run first inning, then singled home the winning run in the seventh, as the Honu edged visiting West Oahu, 3-2, on Tuesday night.
The CaneFires had tied the game, 2-2, on RBIs by Makoto Moriyama and Sean Kazmar (San Diego Padres) in the top of the sixth, but Milwaukee Brewers farmhand Darren Ford singled and stole second with one out in the seventh to set up Martin's game-winning hit.
A 26th-round pick in the 2006 draft, Martin has five hits in his last eight at-bats to raise his HWB average to .313. The 22-year-old from Sam Houston State hit .315 for the Brooklyn Cyclones in his first professional season.
Satoshi Yamazaki (3-1) bailed the Honu out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the top of the sixth, allowing the game-tying ground out to Kazmar before striking out John Otness (Boston Red Sox). The 25-year-old southpaw went on to work 2 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win.
Robert Hinton (Brewers) induced three straight ground outs in the ninth to record his second save for the Honu.
New York Yankees 2006 first-round pick Ian Kennedy started for West Oahu, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks over four innings while striking out six, while Kansas City Royals prospect Jarod Plummer (1-1) took the loss.
North Shore (15-14) leads West Oahu (14-16) by 1.5 games in the West Division with six games remaining.
Jason Ratliff is an editor for MLB.com.