Baldwin Clinches State Berth With Saber Sweep
By Rodney S. Yap
Baldwin High School swept its three-game series with Maui High, outscoring the Sabers 23-6 and improving its unbeaten record to 9-0.
The fifth-ranked Bears, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10 state baseball rankings, clinched the Maui Interscholastic League regular-season title with a 9-6 win over Maui High in Friday’s series finale at Maehara Stadium.
Maui High fell to 5-3.
Turns out the Bears scored all the runs they needed — eight — in the first two innings off a pair of Maui High freshmen pitchers in Logan Cabrera and Kyle Oshiro.
In the first, Baldwin opened the scoring on a balk, before Noah Apolo had an RBI single to center field. The Bears made it 4-0 when a pair of runs scored on Nawai Ah Yen’s hard hit grounder to second base.
Maui High cut the deficit in half, 4-2, before Baldwin made it 6-2 on a two-run single by Makana Victorine. Shadd Santos later singled in another run and Ah Yen followed with a sac fly.
Victorine started and went the first three innings for the Bears. Patrick Turner and Michael Hooper supplied the relief.
Baldwin finished with 11 hits and Maui High had eight hits.
Lane Kashiwamura had two hits as did Apolo and Santos. Maui High was led offensively by Kao Mindoro, Micah Jio and Chazz Ishikawa, who each had two hits apiece.