Molokai’s 5-run sixth sinks Radford

David Rapanot and the Molokai Farmers saw the hole, they just needed to hit it.

Rapanot tripled to right field in the bottom of the sixth and threw a shutout inning in the seventh and MIL champion Molokai beat Radford 7-4 in the first round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division II state baseball championships at Hans L’Orange Park on Thursday.

Radford shaded the Farmers toward left field the entire game, and it worked for five innings until Koal Kaulia-Makaiwi and Rapanot made them pay.

"(Rapanot) was the one who told everybody to look for it middle away," Molokai coach Michael McCutcheon said. "He wanted everybody to try to hit it out that way, he’s a great player who is aggressive and stays focused throughout the whole game."

The Farmers tried to go the other way from the third inning on, but Radford starter Kevin Klein wouldn’t let them and shut them out in the third, fourth and fifth thanks to a pair of double plays. Klein never budged but Molokai got to his replacement.

"We struggled a little bit in the middle innings because we were trying to make the adjustment," McCutcheon said. "We figured it out and bounced back, obviously."

With a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, Klein walked Molokai’s Lee-Ian Meyer on four pitches. Michael Vito moved from catcher to pitcher but walked the next batter, Trevor Takata. Vito got two quick outs but walked Ena Victorino to load the bases and bring No. 9 hitter Kaulia-Makaiwi to the plate.

Kaulia-Makaiwi took a strike then got the outside pitch he was looking for, depositing it into short right field where Radford had no chance of catching it. His double drove in Meyer and Takata to tie the score 4-4.

Rapanot, who walked twice and was hit by a pitch in his previous three plate appearances, then drove in Victorino and Kaulia-Makaiwi with a triple drilled down the right-field line.

"I was trying to go that way all the time but they beaned me and walked me," Rapanot said. "They finally gave me the outside corner and I took it."

Radford stayed with the alignment but lefty Brayden Willing-McCutcheon singled through the infield into left to drive in Rapanot. Vito got out of the inning when Codi Kamakana flew out to right.

"That’s how we played them the whole game and they finally caught up," Radford coach Jacob Sur said. "Not much you can do about it. We battled, that’s the main thing."

Rapanot gave up a pair of unearned runs in the top of the sixth in relief of Meyer but left the bases loaded. One of the runs scored on a bases-loaded error by the Molokai second baseman and another scored on a bunt single by Derek Rodriguez, who enjoyed a 3-for-4 day with an RBI for every hit.

Rapanot wasn’t going to allow such drama in the seventh, striking out Marc Tejada on three pitches and Harley Thompson on four. He then forced Thompson to ground out to second to end it.