One more brick.

Mililani baseball coach Mark Hirayama used a construction analogy to illustrate the Trojans’ development this spring, and they’ll enter their final game on Friday looking to add the final piece to their season-long project.

"This whole season’s been a building process," Hirayama said. "We’re trying to put the bricks on the house one brick at a time, one day at a time. Hopefully tomorrow’s going to be the last brick we put in place."

A year after ending a stirring postseason run with a loss in the state championship game, the Trojans gave themselves another opportunity to finish the job with a 4-0 win over Kailua in the semifinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I State Baseball Championship on Thursday at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Trojans advanced to Friday’s 7 p.m. championship game at Murakami Stadium behind senior Trevor Inouye’s complete-game shutout. The right-hander held Kailua to three hits, struck out seven and walked two to help give Mililani another shot at the program’s first state title.

"That’s been our dream since the beginning of the season; that’s all we wanted do, just get to the state championships," Inouye said. 

Mililani shortstop Justice Nakagawa sparked the offense with a triple in the bottom of the second and scored the game’s first run on Kellen Otsu’s single. Devin Awai and Adam Connell added RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings and sophomore leadoff hitter Kaimana Souza-Paaluhi capped a 3-for-4 afternoon with a single to drive in Mililani’s final run in the sixth.

The Trojans were well aware of Kailua’s ability to rally in the late innings after the Surfriders battled back from a 3-1 deficit to edge Mililani 4-3 in the semifinals of the OIA Red playoffs on May 2. This time Mililani didn’t give Kailua many openings to start a comeback. 

"We knew we had to fight back and know what we did wrong the last time and we stepped up in this game and showed what we can do," said Souza-Paaluhi, who also stole three bases.

Inouye remained in command for most of a 101-pitch performance and went to a three-ball count to just three batters.

"I just had to get ahead and get my fastball established on the inside corner of the plate," Inouye.

Inouye’s shakiest moment of the game came in the top of the sixth with Mililani leading 3-0. Peter Kanoho led off with a double to left center, Brenden Odo drew a four-pitch walk and Inouye’s first three pitches to Dalton Kalama were out of the strike zone.

One ball away from putting the tying run on base with nobody out, Inouye worked the count back full and got a flyout to center. Inouye then got out of the inning when Nakagawa fielded a bouncer near second base to start a double play.

"He was one pitch away from coming out of the game," Hirayama said. "But he settled down and it’s a matter of throwing strikes and giving us a chance to make plays. That’s been huge for us the last couple days, timely ground balls to get us out of an inning."

Mililani’s current lineup includes two starters from last year’s championship game. Others were in the dugout and some of the team’s younger members were in the stands. While experiencing a state final could be a benefit, "you never know once this place fills up and the adrenaline gets going," Hirayama said.

"But we’re going to approach it like it’s just another game and we’ve got things we have to take care of. We’re not going to change because it’s a championship game."

Joey Cantillo, Dustin Imanaka (6) and Dalton Kalama. Trevor Inouye and Sean Sonognini. W–Inouye. L–Cantillo.

Leading hitters–Kailua: Peter Kanoho, 2B. Mililani: Kaimana Souza-Paaluhi, 3-4, RBI, 3 sb; Adam Connell, RBI; Justice Nakagawa, 3B, 2 runs; Kellen Otsu, RBI; Devin Awai, RBI.