Bears Advance to Semifinals With 7-1 Win Over Waipahu

Baldwin defeated Waipahu 7-1 Thursday at Maehara Stadium. Photo by Ben Juan.

By MauiNow.com

Second-seeded and No.2 Baldwin prevented an all-Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division Invitational by beating Waipahu, 7-1, in the last quarterfinal of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I state baseball tournament Thursday night at Iron Maehara Stadium.

The Bears (15-0) will play defending state champion Campbell in a semifinal at 7 p.m. tonight. The game can be heard live on ESPN 900AM Radio.

Kawena Alo-Kaonohi tossed a complete-game victory, allowing a run, five hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

Chayce Akaka and Curt Keahi each had two hits and two RBI to pace the Bears’ offense against Waipahu staring pitcher Jaron Sugimoto. Sugimoto was tagged for seven runs, three earned, 10 hits and four walks in five-plus innings.

Baldwin defeated Waipahu 7-1 Thursday at Maehara Stadium. Photo by Ben Juan.

Waipahu took a 1-0 lead in the second on a busted squeeze play.  Steven DeSilva led off with a single and took second on a wild pitch before Khaine Viliamu drew a walk. They moved over a base on Michael Price’s sacrifice. With Micah Takayama at the plate, DeSilva broke for home, but Alo-Kaonohi’s pitch was in the dirt and deflected off catcher Taje Akaka allowing DeSilva to score on the steal of home. Viliami stole third on the play. But Alo-Kaonohi retired the next two hitters to limit the damage.

The Bears tied it in the bottom of the second on Haloa Dudoit’s RBI single.

Baldwin took the lead in the third on Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa’s sacrifice fly to center and Keahi’s RBI single to make it 3-1.

The Bears put the game away in the fifth when two errors paved the way for four runs.

Click here for Baldwin-Waipahu Boxscore.