Both head coaches, the player who hit it — even the kid who caught it — thought it was a hit.

The fate of Wednesday’s Division I quarterfinal of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships between Punahou and top seed Baldwin was left to the wind blowing in from left field at Les Murakami Stadium during the final out.

With the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first, Punahou’s Ola Aina barreled a deep drive to left-center that was tracked down by Anthony Hoopii on the run to seal the Bears’ 8-7 win over the Buffanblu.

The catch made Baldwin just the second No. 1 seed in the past 10 years to advance to the semifinals, where the Bears will face ‘Iolani tonight at 7.

“I thought it was a hit, but we’ve got our best and fastest player in center field with the strongest arm,” Baldwin coach Shane Dudoit said. “He did what he had to do and clutched up on it.”

Hoopii, who doubled home two runs in the first inning, said he also thought it was a hit when he saw the ball off the bat.

“I lost the ball at first and then I saw it carrying and thought, ‘Oh, man, I’m not going to make it,” Hoopii said. “Sure enough, I stayed with it and it ended up in my glove. I felt relieved.”

It saved the Bears (14-1) from the same disappointment that tortured eight of the previous nine No. 1 seeds.

Baldwin, which has been ranked in the USA Today Super 25 for most of the season and outscored its MIL opponents 107-11 in the regular season and playoffs, looked the part in building a 6-0 lead after two innings.

The Bears sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning and scored five runs off Punahou starter Kyle Uemura.

Baldwin clobbered pitches all over the field, with Cade Kalehuawehe drilling a run-scoring triple to right and Hoopii sending a two-run double to the gap in left-center for a 5-0 lead.

Chayce Akaka set the tone with a single and scored after the throw to second on a stolen base got away from the Punahou defense, allowing Akaka to come all the way around to score with some aggressive baserunning.

Akaka walked and scored in the second inning to put Baldwin ahead 6-0.

“We came out real hungry,” said reliever Roy Meinen, who recorded the final two outs for the save.

It didn’t look like starter Kaipo Haole would need a reliever after setting down the first six Punahou hitters in only 13 pitches.

The Buffanblu left the bases loaded in the third inning but strung together six hits in the fourth — highlighted by Jake Tsukada’s three-run triple — to tie the game.

Baldwin retook the lead on Nainoa Keahi’s two-out, two-run single in the fourth inning, but the Bears were again in trouble in the sixth.

Meinen replaced Haole with the bases loaded and nobody out and gave up a single off his glove to Tsukada to cut the deficit to 8-7.

Meinen then got a strikeout for the first out and two fielder’s-choice grounders to get out of the inning.

“For Roy to come in and make the pitches that he made was beyond more than what we could ask for,” Dudoit said. “He has struggled during the season, so to come in with the game on the line and make those pitches is a helluva job.”

He had to do it again in the seventh inning. Down to its final out, Punahou got a double from Kirk Terada-Herzer, who went 4-for-4 with two runs scored.

Asa Kurasaki, who hasn’t recorded an out in six trips to the plate this tournament, drew a walk to set up Aina’s final at-bat.

“I thought it was going over (the center fielder’s) head. I thought he hit it as well as he could hit it,” Punahou coach Keenan Sue said. “Most parks that’s gone, but not at UH.”

BALDWIN 8, PUNAHOU 7

At Les Murakami Stadium

Punahou (13-7) 000 601 0 — 7 13 3

Baldwin (14-1) 510 200 x — 8 10 0

Kyle Uemura, Matt McConnell (4) and Ryan Nishi. Kaipo Haole, Roy Meinen (6) and Cade Kalehuawehe. W—Haole. L—Uemura. S—Meinen.

Leading hitters—Pun: Jake Tsukada 2-4, 3b, 2 RBIs, run; Kirk Terada-Herzer 4-4, 2b, 2 runs; Asa Kurasaki 2-2, 2 bb’s, run, RBI; Ola Aina 2-3, run, RBI. Bald: Chayce Akaka 2-3, bb, 2 runs, 2 sb’s; Haku Dudoit 2 runs; Kalehuawehe 2-3, 3b, 2 RBIs; Dawson Tokishi 2 runs; Anthony Hoopii 2b, 2 RBIs; Nainoa Keahi 2 RBIs.