HONOLULU - The Baldwin High School baseball team earned a berth in the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I State Championship title game by defeating Hilo 6-2 in the semifinal round on Thursday at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Bears can claim their fifth state championship today by beating Waiakea.
For the second straight day, fourth-seeded Baldwin (15-1), this year's Maui Interscholastic League D-I champion, took an early lead and got a complete-game pitching performance.
Against the Vikings (15-6), the Bears led 5-1 after the top of the second inning. Hilo scored once in the seventh before Troy Shishido finished off his three-hitter.
"We knew that Troy had the potential to pitch well, and he showed it throughout the MIL," said Bears coach Jon Viela. "Tonight he pitched well, and that's what we expect from him."
In the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Noah Apolo went the distance for Baldwin in a 5-3 victory over Kamehameha Kapalama. The Bears led that game 5-0 after two innings.
Fact Box
State Baseball Championships
Division I
Thursday's Results
Consolation At Hans L'Orange Field
Punahou 6, Kaiser 2
Kailua 2, Kamehameha Kapalama 2 (Kailua advances on hits minus errors tiebreaker, 8-6)
Castle 4, Mid-Pacific Institute 3, 8 innings
Semifinals At Les Murakami Stadium
Waiakea 2, Pearl City 1
Baldwin 6, Hilo 2
Today's Games
At Hans L'Orange Field
Consolation final: Moanalua vs. Punahou, 11:30 a.m.
At Les Murakami Stadium
Fifth-place game: Kailua vs. Castle, 11 a.m.
Third-place game: Pearl City vs. Hilo, 1:30 p.m.
Championship: Waiakea vs. Baldwin, 7 p.m.
Division II
Thursday's Results
Consolation * At Hans L'Orange Field
Waialua 6, Kalaheo 3
Konawaena 10, Seabury Hall 7, 5 innings (time limit)
Semifinals * At Les Murakami Stadium
Waimea 9, Kamehameha-Hawaii 4
Waipahu 9, Maryknoll 2
Today's Games
At Hans L'Orange Field
Fifth-place game: Waialua vs. Konawaena, 9 a.m.
At Les Murakami Stadium
Third-place game: Kamehameha-Hawaii vs. Maryknoll, 8:30 a.m.
Championship: Waimea vs. Waipahu, 4 p.m.
"That's big. Real big," Viela said of not using any relievers so far. "Now we have the rest of our pitching staff available for one game."
Brandon Kaupe and Anoai Moe-Keahi each had two hits for the Bears on Thursday. Kaupe drove in a run.
Waiakea, seeded third, beat Pearl City 2-1 in Thursday's first semifinal.
The Warriors have also had two complete games - Kodi Medeiros handled Thursday and Quintin Torres-Costa shut out Castle in the quarterfinals.
The Warriors defeated the Bears 8-6 in a Maui High Tournament game in February at Maehara Stadium.
Only once before have two Neighbor Island teams met in a D-I title game - in 1984, when Baldwin beat Waimea. Viela was a freshman with the Bears that year.
Baldwin is in the championship game for the second time in three years. The Bears lost to Punahou in the 2010 final at Maehara Stadium.
The last MIL team to win a state baseball title at any level is Molokai, which claimed its second in a row in 2000.
Seabury Hall was eliminated from the Division II tournament with a 10-7 loss to Konawaena at Hans L'Orange Park. The game ended in the bottom of the fifth inning due to the two-hour time limit in consolation games.
Tyler Gentile and Kalei Hendershot each scored two runs for the third-seeded Spartans (7-3), the MIL Division II champions.
The Wildcats (13-3) trailed 4-0 before scoring seven runs in the bottom of the second. Domonic Morris had a three-run homer in the rally.
BALDWIN 6, HILO 2
| Baldwin | 050 | 010 | 0—6 | 7 | 2 | |
| Hilo | 100 | 000 | 1—2 | 3 | 2 | |
| Troy Shishido and Isaiah Maddela. Conrad Kauffman, Jordan Tagawa (2), Jodd Carter (6) and Koa Matson. W—Shishido. L—Kauffman. 2B—Hilo, Elijah Cruz. | ||||||
| KONAWAENA 10, SEABURY HALL 7 | ||||||
| 5 INNINGS | ||||||
| Seabury Hall | 312 | 10 | — | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| Konawaena | 072 | 10 | — | 10 | 7 | 2 |
Kaleb Palmer, Brandon Crowe (2) and Kalei Hendershot. Jarett Kitaoka, Royce Torres-Torioka (1) and Evyn Yamaguchi. WTorres-Torioka. LCrowe. HR-Konawaena, Domonic Morris. 3B-Seabury Hall, Crowe. 2B-Seabury Hall, Hendershot. Konawaena, Yamaguchi.
