HONOLULU — Ka‘imi Kahalekai heard it from the Les Murakami Stadium sellout crowd as he warmed up and sailed a ball into the backstop. He heard it even more when he went to a 3-0 count on the first batter he faced.
But the lanky Maui native had the last word as he recorded the last two outs Saturday night, stranding the tying run on second base in Long Beach State’s 3-2 win over Hawaii to even the teams’ Big West series at 1-1.
It was the first career save for the freshman from Kahului.
After he battled back from that 3-0 count to strike out Draven Nushida and got the last out on a fielder’s choice for pinch hitter Aidan Kuni, Kahalekai told Spectrum News he relished the moment.
“I love it, man. It's fun. It's a fun environment,” the 6-foot-8 Kamehameha-Maui graduate said. “Get to prove to people who I really am, let myself do the work and just shout for my team and for my family, is what it's all really about.”
Kahalekai initially signed to play for Texas for the 2025 season but a coaching change in Austin caused him to change course and he wound up a Dirtbag, playing for first-year coach TJ Bruce.
LBSU reliever Albert Roblez (2-0) came on in the fourth inning and locked down the Rainbow Warriors all the way to the ninth, when Golden Spikes National Player of the Week Kamana Nahaku singled through the left side and Jared Quandt followed with a seven-pitch walk.
Bruce summoned Kahalekai out of the bullpen for the third time this season, but never in a more high-leverage situation.
“Love this team with all my heart and to see Roby out there battling his heart out, I wasn’t gonna let him down,” Kahalekai said.
Roblez retired the first 12 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the fifth and seventh.
Bruce told the Spectrum Sports crew Saturday morning that Kahalekai would likely appear in a close game. But he has usually appeared before Roblez, not after.
“He's been ready for that,” Bruce told Spectrum News of Kahalekai. “He's a hell of a competitor. And I thought he did a really good job once he settled down in the moment, I thought he did a really good job just committing to what he was throwing.
“I thought the first three pitches he goes 3-0, and I thought he was kind of babying the ball a little bit,” the coach added. “I thought maybe the emotions were getting to him a little bit. And no matter how much you try and prepare for it, you never really can prepare for this. This is an unbelievably proud, unbelievable environment, and then to be back in your home state, I'm sure it got to him a little bit. But I think if you saw there, he stepped off the mound 3-0, took a big breath, and then really just went pitch to pitch to pitch.”
Said Kahalekai, “In the first three pitches, I was trying little too hard, so I was just challenging (to) throw the fastball right down the middle, see if they can hit it.”
The last out touched off a wild celebration for the Dirtbags (11-17, 5-9 Big West), who are scrambling to get in range for the inaugural five-team Big West tournament.
Kahalekai (0-4) has appeared both as a starter and reliever for LBSU. Last week he threw a season-high 5 1/3 innings against UC Santa Barbara; he’s also faced the conference’s top two teams, UC Irvine and Cal Poly, and has the battle scars to prove it.
“Starting is always fun, but coming out, that big relief situation is always a whole different level, and the excitement is a lot higher,” he said.
PerfectGame.org rated him as the top-rated right-handed pitcher coming out of Hawaii in the 2024 graduating class.
“Maui, it's tough because we only play 12 games a season, not a lot of reps so and it was more of like (using) raw talent,” Kahalekai said. “We didn't have much coaches helping us out. So coming here, out of my senior of high school, working with Garz (pitching coach Rolando Garza) really helped me lot of development wise.”
LBSU manufactured all of its runs in the third via a fielder’s choice RBI, a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly.
In the loss, second baseman Shunsuke Sakaino made an outstanding retreating lunge to snare a blooped ball off the bat of Nathan Cadena and fired it to first for a double play.
Quandt got UH on the board first with a two-out solo shot to right in the second. Ben Zeigler-Namoa’s ball off the wall in the third scored Matthew Miura from first.
UH starter Liam O’Brien (2-1) lasted 2 1/3 innings in taking his first loss.
Relievers Zacary Tenn, Cory Ronan, Freddy Rodriguez and Ethan Thomas got through unscathed the rest of the way.
“I think there’s a lot of positives to be taken out of this thing,” UH coach Rich Hill told Spectrum Sports. “Our pitching was great … I don’t think they scored a run on a base hit. We made some good defensive plays. You have to give credit to Roblez and Ka‘imi coming in there late.”
UH (22-7, 9-5) has four Maui natives on its roster — Zeigler-Namoa, reliever Dylan Waite, catcher Konnor Palmeira and catcher David Vergel de Dios.
The familiarity added to the swirl of emotions for Kahalekai.
“I know a lot of the boys really well. It's fun being able to play again … kind of reminds me that I'm actually home. I like, kind of playing in high school, because everyone knows everyone. So really cool experience.”
The teams play the rubber match at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Correction: A previous version of the caption under the main photo of the story stated that Ka‘imi Kahalekai induced a game-winning double play. He induced the game-winning fielder's choice out.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
