The first round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships got underway today with four games at Les Murakami Stadium.

Schedule

10 a.m.: Kamehameha-Maui 2, Kailua 0

1 p.m.: Hilo 4, Moanalua 3, 8 inn.

4 p.m.: Leilehua 2, ‘Iolani 0

7 p.m.: Mililani 2, Saint Louis 1

Mililani 2, Saint Louis 1

Malosi Mata’afa-Alferos and Ethan Murakoshi singled home both of the Trojans runs with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and Mililani (11-6) rallied to beat the Crusaders (13-6-1) and cap a low-scoring first round of the tournament.

Kai Hirayama closed out Saint Louis after the Trojans got to Saint Louis starter Jacob Villacorte, who took a two-hitter into the top of the seventh inning.

With a runner on second and one out, Ethan Bagasol singled to right field. Hirayama tried to score from second but was thrown out by Ryder Okimoto for the second out.

Mata’afa-Alferos was down 0-1 when he stung a ground ball past the second baseman to drive in Bagasol to tie the game.

After a throwing error put runners at the corners, Murakoshi came through with a single to left to bring in Mata’afa-Alferos for the winning run.

Saint Louis scored its only run on a two-out RBI single by Matthew Pavao to drive in Chyler De Silva in the second inning.

The Crusaders were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Hirayama scattered seven hits over seven innings with one walk and five strikeouts to earn the win.

Villacorte was the hard-luck loser giving up four hits and one earned run in 6 2/3 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.

It’s the second year in a row both ILH teams lost in the first round and the lowest combined run total on the opening day since the tournament expanded to four first-round games in 1969.

Leilehua 2, ‘Iolani 0

Mules junior right-hander Koen Barton finished off a three-hit shutout with pitch No. 105 inducing a fly ball to left with the bases load to send the Mules on into the quarterfinals.

Barton struck out five and walked two. He allowed only seven batters to reach base with three coming with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Barton hit a battler and walked the next two before getting Bruin Agbayani to fly out to left to end it.

“Just trying to find it, throw some strikes and let my defense work because we have a great defense out there,” Barton said. “I was feeling pretty good. I was just missing a little bit there at the end.”

Leilehua will play MIL champion Baldwin in Wednesday’s third quarterfinal at 4 p.m.

‘Iolani right-hander Trent Ihle pitched a complete game in a tough-luck loss. He allowed two unearned runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Hilo 4, Moanalua 3, 8 inn.

Dylan Villanueva hit the go-ahead RBI double with two outs in the top of the eighth inning to score Legend Lancaster and Makenna Wakakuwa pitched the final 2 2/3 shutout innings to lead the Vikings (14-2) over Na Menehune (10-6).

Villanueva also squeezed home a run with a bunt in the fourth inning and Boston Kobayashi followed with a two-run single for Hilo, which will play OIA champion Campbell in the first quarterfinal on Wednesday.

“We’re super excited. We just want to win the koa (trophy),” Villanueva said.

Lancaster scored both times after drawing walks and KJ Marzo added two hits for Hilo.

Shayde Koga legged out an infield single in the bottom of the fifth inning and an errant throw allowed Jake Ferreira to score from third to tie the game for Moanalua.

Koen Smith tossed seven innings for Na Menehune and allowed three runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Kamehameha-Maui 2, Kailua 0

Senor right-hander Raige Velez tossed a four-hit shutout and Ziah Chang went 2-for-4 with an RBI double to lead the Warriors (9-6) to just their second win in state-tournament history.

Velez struck out six in an 106-pitch performance to lead Kamehameha-Maui into the nightcap of Wednesday’s quarterfinals against No. 1 seed Kamehameha.

“It’s just getting the kids to believe in themselves,” said first-year KS-Maui coach Shane Dudoit, who led Baldwin to the state title the last time the tournament was held on Oahu in 2018. “Baseball is a game of hits and pitches and X’s and O’s, but having the kids getting to believe in themselves is something we practice.”

Japheth Joaquin singled to lead off the top of the fifth and scored on Chang’s two-out RBI double to left.

Duke Aloy reached second on an error to start the sixth inning and moved to third on a bunt and scored on Bransyn Hong’s sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Kailua (10-6) had the first two runners reach base in the fourth inning but KS-Maui got out of the inning on a 1-4-3-6-5-2-6 caught stealing of courtesy runner Jayden Ogomori at the plate.

“It wasn’t something that we practiced. We just take care of the ball. That’s all we can ask our guys to do,” Dudoit said.

KS-Maui’s only other win in the state tournament was in 2007 against Kalani. The Warriors were making their second appearance since 2011 after finishing second in the MIL by beating Maui in the second-place tiebreaker.

Velez tossed a four-hit shutout in that game against Maui that started on Wednesday and was finished on Friday due to weather.

“He is our ace pitcher. When you get to the state tournament, you’ve got to win every game to get to the next game and we felt confident with him on the mound for us,” Dudoit said.