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Ace pitcher Royce Komesu, a last-minute scratch on Tuesday due to a hamstring injury, crafted a four-hit shutout on Wednesday to lead the Kailua Surfriders over Maui champion Baldwin 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships at Les Murakami Stadium.
Kailua (13-4) advances to Thursday’s semifinal round and will meet the Mid-Pacific/Mililani winner in a 4 p.m. matchup at Les Murakami Stadium.
Komesu used his mix of angles, release points and pitches to stymie coach Jon Viela’s Bears (14-2).
“Today, I was about 80 percent,” said Komesu, who couldn’t get out of warm-ups in the bullpen just 24 hours earlier because of a balky left hamstring. “(On Tuesday), it felt like it was it was going to give. After school, we put heat on it and stretched it out.”
Komesu didn’t dominate Baldwin, but managed to pitch out of jams in the even-numbered innings, as well as Baldwin’s seventh-inning threat. Baldwin had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the second, two runners on in the fourth, two more in scoring position in the sixth. In all, the Bears stranded nine baserunners, including seven in scoring position.
Campbell 9, Kaiser 0
Not only did the No. 2 seed Campbell Sabers advance to the semifinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships, but the Sabers did it saving starter Ian Kahaloa, who only had to pitch five innings in a 9-0 shutout of Kaiser at Les Murakami Stadium.
Kahaloa, who allowed two hits and one walk with five strikeouts, is now eligible to pitch up to eight innings over the next two days, beginning with Thursday night’s semifinal game against Saint Louis/Waiakea at 7 p.m.
Campbell coach Rory Pico could afford to take his junior right-hander out early because his offense tallied 16 hits and led 8-0 after a dominant five innings.
“It helped a lot because I can throw more innings,” said Kahaloa, who threw only 62 pitches. “All I did was make the defense work instead of last time striking out everybody.”
Saint Louis 2, Waiakea 0
Jordan Yamamoto and Kodi Medeiros more than lived up to the hype on Wednesday night.
The top two high school arms in the state squared off in the quarterfinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships with Yamamoto twirling a two-hit shutout to outduel Medeiros and Waiakea in a 2-0 victory at Les Murakami Stadium.
With nearly 30 radar guns behind home plate registering all 227 pitches the two future draft picks threw, Yamamoto stood victorious at the end after his ninth strikeout punctuated a masterful performance.
Yamamoto walked two and allowed only four balls to reach the outfield as the Crusaders (16-6) advanced to Thursday night’s second semifinal to play No. 2 seed Campbell.
Mililani 5, Mid-Pacific 4
The Trojans jumped ahead early and held on to defeat the defending state champion Owls.
Mid-Pacific, the ILH champion, scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to close the gap.
For inning-by-inning updates, go to hawaiiprepworld.com.
