WAILUKU >> Coach Jon Viela didn’t just bide time as a very young Baldwin team improved week by week.
He raised the bar in his consistent, low-key way, and the Bears responded with a 5-1 win over Pearl City on Saturday night in the final of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships at Iron Maehara Stadium.
It was a fitting end for Viela, who spent 24 years as an assistant coach and head coach in the program. He leaves after this spring to become athletic director at Kamehameha-Maui.
“We always had confidence in each other. Friends for life. Brothers. Love each other,” senior center fielder Nawai Ah Yen said. “We had a good chemistry. We did it all for Coach Jon, his last year.”
Viela leaves with a bang. Baldwin went 17-0, capturing its first state crown since 1995. It’s the fifth baseball state title in school history.
“Everybody understood their role on this team and that’s what made them so successful,” said Viela, a former University of Hawaii infielder. “They were never envious of the next guy. They embraced their role and did whatever they needed to for the team to be successful.”
Baldwin, playing its third game in as many days, turned to two relatively inexperienced pitchers. Starter Kaipo Haole had thrown in just two games all season due to a foot injury.
On Saturday, Haole pitched four innings and allowed just one run on four hits with one strikeout and no walks.
“We knew from preseason, as coaches, that he would be our No. 3. He’s got something special,” Viela said.
Sophomore Nigel Mayfield took the mound in the fifth and threw three scoreless innings. He didn’t even pitch as a freshman a year ago.
“Nigel has stepped up unbelievably. He offered the team something nobody knew he had. He did very, very well,” Viela said. “Our pitching coaches broke down the position, the skills, every movement. That’s important for our kids to understand so the kids can self-correct. Nigel kept them off balance and our pitching coaches called the game very well.”
Senior shortstop Haloa Dudoit went 2-for-4 with a double, scoring two runs in the first two innings.
“Today, we were confident. We were settled, relaxed, not too jumpy,” said Dudoit, who will play at Concordia University next season. “This is what it’s about, and that’s the motivation for Kaipo and Nigel, and they stepped up.”
The Bears scored once in the top of the first inning and four times in the second against Pearl City starter Keanu Nicholson to take command. Dudoit led off with a double and was on third with the bases loaded when Kawena Alo-Kaonohi grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, allowing Dudoit to score.
In the second, Haole singled with one out and Cade Kalehuawehe walked. Dudoit followed with a single to center and Haole’s courtesy runner, Taje Akaka, stopped at third base. When the center fielder, Matt Yokota, struggled to get a grip on the wet baseball, Akaka raced home to score.
Chayce Akaka (3-for-3) followed with a single to left to load the bases. Bobby Drayer, another courtesy runner, came home from third base on a groundout by Ah Yen, giving Baldwin a 3-0 lead.
With two outs, Alo-Kaonohi sent a high pop-up near the mound on the third-base side, but Nicholson, the pitcher, called for the ball and muffed it. Dudoit and Akaka, hustling around the bases, had practically scored by the time the ball touched the ground, and the Bears had a sudden 5-0 lead.
The Chargers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Davin Kapuras led off with a single, stole second base and came home on Trestan Nakamura’s two-out single to left. It was the only run off Haole.
