Kolten Magno of the West Region catches a ball hit by Caleb Gomez of the Mountain Region and throws it out at first base to end the 3rd inning during Monday afternoon’s game at Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport. The Mountain Region won 3-2. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

WAILUKU — A glance at the scoreboard shows Hawaii losing 3-2 to Henderson, Nev., in a thrilling game Monday at Lamade Stadium. But for those watching the game, there was something that stood out more than the final score.

This would be Hawaii’s outstanding defensive performance throughout the game.

Yes, Hawaii lost, but if Hawaii’s infielders had not played so well from the start, the game would have been

quickly out of control.

After the game had started, Nevada’s Russell McKee hit a hard hit to Hawaii’s second baseman Kolten Magno.

Magno made a great catch to prevent the hit, which proved important because one batter later, Wyatt Erickson reached first base with a double that would have earned him an early run.

Gauge Pacheco made a brilliant throw from left field to start the second inning that took Dominic Laino out of the game on his way home for the second out, helping to limit the runs in the inning to just one.

In the third inning, Nevada’s Gunnar Gaudin reached first base on a walk. Gunner Beranek hit a hard line drive to second base a second later, where Hawaii managed a double play after another ground out and shifted the momentum with a 1-2-3 inning.

“Gunnar leads off with a walk and then Gunner Beranek comes in, who can fly, and he hits a two-out ground ball to second base and I think ‘they can’t turn that around’ and sure enough, boom, boom. They play great defense too.” Nevada manager Adam Johnson said after the game. “Two pitches later, Caleb Gomez hits a smash groundball into the 3-4 hole and that will be on SportsCenter tonight, I can guarantee you that.”

This SportsCenter-like highlight came from Magno denying Gomez what should have been an easy single.

If Hawaii hadn’t played well, the three runs allowed could easily have become six or more.

Hawaii sent Cam Kaneshiro (2 innings) and Gauge Pacheco (4 innings) into the game. And while Nevada only managed five hits, the Mountain Regional champions managed to walk six batters and tried to capitalize, but Hawaii’s defense did its best to limit that damage.

In the final three innings, Nevada left a total of six runners on base, including at the beginning of the sixth inning where the bases were loaded.