Loren Iwata’s last pitch was much better than his first.

Waiakea’s Iwata struck out ‘Iolani’s Cole Yonamine to preserve a shutout in a 1-0 win in the Division I first round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium on Tuesday, moving the Warriors to meet MIL champion Maui today.

Iwata got Yonamine looking on a 3-2 pitch, his 110th delivery of the day. The cap for pitches in a game in the tournament is 110, so Lau Kong was his last batter.

“It was at the very end,” Waiakea coach Chris Honda said. “He was done.”

Iwata wasn’t sure, saying that he felt like he could go one more batter. He knew he was close to the magical 110, but made the point mute with his punchout.

The senior gave up three hits and five walks in his gem, Waiakea’s first shutout since Cody Hirata blanked Kailua in the 2018 semifinals. It is the fourth state tournament shutout for the program.

Seven zeros looked highly unlikely in the first inning, when Iwata fell behind the first two batters and walked them before allowing a single to load the bases with no outs after 15 pitches. He got out of the mess, though, with first baseman Clemson Julian throwing a runner out at the plate on a fielder’s choice before a pop to second and grounder to third ended the frame.

“I like the way the team backed me up and kept us in it to keep fighting,” Iwata said. “I had confidence my team could get it back afterwards if I did give up a run, it was just like first-inning jitters.”

‘Iolani starter Kaleb Tenn was even better while he lasted, yielding only two hits and two walks while throwing 72 pitches. One of those hits was a single to center field by Ivor Brooks to lead off the sixth in a scoreless game and he turned it into the telling run when Kaleb Wada lofted a dying mynah bird into right field. ‘Iolani right fielder Cole Ide came in on the ball and second baseman Treyden Chong Kee retreated to the spot only to have the ball clang off his glove and roll all the way to the fence between the bullpen and the dugout. By the time he caught up to it, Brooks was more than halfway home from third.

That handed Iwata the lead with 14 pitches to get it done and he did, striking out one pinch hitter and forcing another to fly out to right before his battle with Yonamine.

Yonamine, Lau Kong and Makana Oniate had hits for ‘Iolani, which lost its fourth straight state tournament game.

The Warriors have won two state championships, but they have never had to win four games to do so. An unseeded team has not won the title since Maui did it in 2017, beating Waiakea in the final.

Iwata was the losing pitcher last year when Mililani beat defending state champion Waiakea 2-1 in the second round. He was limited to 47 pitches that day, but gave up both runs.

“This is a big step toward our goal, but we still have three games to play,” Iwata said.