The island that has produced more state baseball championships than Oahu since 2015 will host the first state tournament played in three years.

The Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships begin today at Iron Maehara Stadium, which hosted the last tournament played before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019.

Punahou’s three-year run as the defending state champion will come to an end as the Buffanblu are not one of three teams representing the ILH this season.

League champion Saint Louis, which last won states in 2014, is the No. 2 seed in the tournament behind top-seeded Baldwin, which won it all in 2016 and ’18.

Combined with Maui High in ’17, the Valley Isle has produced three of the past four state champions.

“I’d prefer we be the two or three (seed), put it that way. You don’t necessarily want to enter the tournament with the bull’s-eye on your back,” Baldwin coach Craig Okita said. “I’ve seen us play really well and I’ve seen us play not so well, so the hope is we’ll be able to put together three good games in a row and see what happens.”

The Bears, who open with the Hilo and Kamehameha winner on Thursday night, could play three consecutive ILH opponents, or have to play OIA champion Mililani in the semifinals, should they win it once again.

However it shakes out, it’s nothing new for the Bears in blue. Baldwin’s 2018 run to the state title as the No. 1 seed saw the Bears beat Punahou and ‘Iolani out of the ILH before run-ruling Waiakea in the final.

Baldwin hosted a preseason tournament earlier this year with Maui High and King Kekaulike and played games against Saint Louis, Punahou, ‘Iolani and Maryknoll.

The Bears went 1-3 against their ILH opponents before running through the MIL season undefeated, going 14-0 to win an 11th consecutive league crown.

“I think we’ve come a long way this season and we’ve done what we said we needed to do to get to this point,” said Okita, who returned to coach at Baldwin in 2016 before taking over the program in 2020. “We took it on the chin (in the preseason tournament), but it was probably the best thing that could happen to us. I’d like to think we’re a different team (now) and we’re excited to go out on that field and prove it.”

The Bears have plenty of talent, headlined by shortstop Wehiwa Aloy, who is committed to Sacramento State, and senior Makane Honokaupu, who Okita said could be a late-round draft pick this summer.

They also have two seniors who are bound for junior college.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys and we also have a couple of seniors who have decided this is the end of the road. They’re going to go on to college and study, so I respect that too.” Okita said.

The list of state champions over the past decade also extends to the Big Island.

BIIF champion Waiakea, the No. 3 seed, won it all in 2012 with left-hander Quinton Torres-Costa and catcher Kean Wong leading the way.

The Warriors finished runner-up in both ’17 and ’18 and completed an undefeated 8-0 run through league play this season, beating Hilo a third time on a walk-off to win the league crown.

Eight of the 12 teams in the tournament also made the field in 2019. Newcomers Pearl City, Kalani and ‘Iolani last made it in 2018 and Moanalua’s most recent appearance was 2017.

Kailua has the longest consecutive string of appearances at 16 in a row and has made 21 of the past 22 tournaments, with its last title coming in 2001.

The Chargers and Na Menehune will get things started in the opening game of the tournament today at 10:45 a.m.