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After a shaky start, Maui powered to an early finish in the Sabers’ state tournament opener.
The Sabers had a few hours to settle in upon arriving in Honolulu on Wednesday morning then surrendered two runs in the top of the first inning of their first-round matchup with Mililani at Les Murakami Stadium. But they recovered quickly and raced to a 12-2 rout in five innings to advance past the opening round for the first time since 2013.
“It means a lot because every time we came here we always lost by one or two (runs),” said junior pitcher Treston Carter. “We wanted to get back to this spot and redeem ourselves.”
In just his third start of the season, Carter gave up five hits, struck out two and walked three in a complete-game victory and Maui advanced to face ILH champion and top-seeded Saint Louis today at 7 p.m. in the Division I quarterfinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships.
Carter also contributed two singles to Maui’s 11-hit attack ignited by leadoff batter Micah Jio.
“He starts our engine for sure,” Maui coach Chase Corniel said. “The guy is very dynamic and very exciting to watch and to coach.”
The senior center fielder singled and scored in the bottom of the first to shift the momentum after Mililani’s opening surge.
The Sabers manufactured the tying run in the second and had the go-ahead run at third when Jio drilled a line drive to center to give the Sabers the lead. The ball skipped all the way to the fence and Jio sprinted around the bases on the error.
“I was just thinking get three, maybe four if I get lucky,” Jio said, “because every time I go (for) four in the past I always get thrown out at home, so I’m kind of gun shy already.”
This time, Jio made it safely to the plate and the Sabers pulled away with a six-run outburst in the third inning highlighted by Jyrah Lalim’s three-run double down the left-field line and aided by two of Mililani’s five errors.
The Sabers added two more runs in the fifth, the last scoring on Kao Mindoro’s RBI single, to end the game due to the 10-run rule.
“They kept the pressure on, they put the ball in play and we didn’t help ourselves,” Mililani coach Mark Hirayama said. “We hit a couple (leadoff) batters and they handle the bat pretty well so they were able to move them over and manufacture and we haven’t been a club all year to put up a bunch of runs. It just makes it tough when we have to chase a big number.”
Waiakea 4, Moanalua 3
Khaden Victorino singled home the tying run in the bottom of the sixth inning and Gehrig Octavio scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly as the Warriors scored four times in their last two innings to beat Na Menehune.
Four relievers held Moanalua (10-7) to one hit and Casey Yamauchi induced the game-ending double play to earn the save for Waiakea (15-2), which plays No. 2 seed Kailua in today’s 1 p.m. quarterfinal.
Pinch hitter Anthony Benevides hit a one-out RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning for the first hit of the game. Yamauchi followed with an RBI single to give Waiakea a 2-1 lead.
Pinch hitter Bryson Sato hit a two-run single in the sixth inning to put Moanalua back in front 3-2.
Kamehameha 3, Kalani 0
Junior Li’i Pontes and two relievers combined on a two-hit shutout and the Warriors (15-6) improved to 7-0 all-time in the first round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships with a win over the Falcons (10-6).
Dylan Salcedo doubled to lead off the third inning and scored on a Hunter Fujitani single. It was the only extra-base hit of the game.
Kamehameha added two runs in the fourth inning on a double steal and an error by the Falcons, who made two critical baserunning mistakes as well.
Kalani starter Harrison Moy went the distance and struck out nine with two walks and six hits allowed.
Hunter Breault, who threw 53 pitches in Monday’s loss to Saint Louis in the ILH title game, struck out the first two batters in the seventh inning. He then gave up a hit, a walk and hit a batter to load the bases and was taken out after 19 pitches.
Francis Gora entered in relief and struck out Kalani pinch hitter Justin Gatewood to end it.
Breault would be available to pitch in today’s quarterfinal game against defending state champion Baldwin at 4 p.m., but would be limited to 91 total pitches.
HHSAA DIVISION I BASEBALL
Maui 12, Mililani 2, 5 inn.
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Mililani (8-8) 200 00 — 2 5 5
>> Maui (11-5) 136 02 — 12 11 1
Shane Griffin, Cole Mayeshiro (3), Seth Thomas (5) and catcher. Treston Carter and catcher. W—Carter. L—Griffin.
Leading hitters—Mil: Bryson Arakaki 2-2; Noah Domogsac 1-3, 2b, run. Maui: Micah Jio 2-4, RBI, 2 runs; Bryant Nakagawa 2-4, 3b, RBI, run; Kao Mindoro 1-3, 2 RBIs, run; Orrion Suda 2 runs; Kaipo Paschoal 2-3, 2 runs; Carter 2-3; Jyrah Lalim 1-3, 2b, 3 RBIs, 2 runs.
Waiakea 4, Moanalua 3
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Moanalua (10-7) 100 002 0 — 3 1 0
>> Waiakea (15-2) 000 022 X — 4 6 0
Randy Tabura, Skyler Yamamoto (4), Ryne Oshiro (6), Christian Capinia (6) and Andrew Oasay. David Nakamura, Devon Hirata (3), Devin Midel (5), Casey Yamauchi (6) and Jacob Igawa. W—Yamauchi. L—Oshiro.
Leading hitters—Moan: Bryson Sato 1-1, 2 RBIs. Waik: Anthony Benevides Jr. 1-1, 2b, RBI, run.
Kamehameha 3, Kalani 0
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Kalani (10-6) 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
>> KS (15-6) 001 200 x — 3 6 0
Harrison Moy and Bronson Matsumoto. Li’i Pontes, Hunter Breault (7), Francis Gora (7) and Dylan Salcedo. W—Pontes. L—Moy. S—Gora.
Campbell 5, Kaiser 4
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Kaiser (9-8) 100 003 0 — 4 9 1
>> Campbell (15-1) 010 031 X — 5 5 2
Chase Asuncion, Pono Lyman (6) and Kainoa Torres. Jamin Kalaola, Ayzek Silva (6), Darien Robinson (7) and Todd Takahama. W—Silva. L—Lyman.
Leading hitters—Kais: Lincoln Lima 2-3, 2b, 2 runs; Kainoa Craig 2-2, 2b, 3b, RBI, run; Keoni Pangan 1-4, 2b. Camp: Shane Shimizu 2-3, RBI, run; Ikaika Ganancial 1-3, 2b, 2 RBIs; Nicholas Sampson 1-2, 2 runs; Markus Ramos 1-1, 3b, RBI.
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