Baldwin Clinches State Berth With Saber Sweep

Makana Victorine of Baldwin helped the Bears beat Maui High 9-6 last Friday at Maehara Stadium. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

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.

Maui High’s Kao Mindoro gets one of his two hits against Baldwin Friday at Maehara Stadium. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

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.

Baldwin’s Noah Apolo holds up at third base after getting the sign from third base coach Shane Dudoit. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

Baldwin short stop Isaiah Maddela (14) fields a grounder for a putout at first base against Maui High on Friday. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.