Looks like Baldwin has a tuff test going into states.

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Maui_Warrior
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Looks like Baldwin has a tuff test going into states.

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http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=8887

Baldwin draws No. 3 seed at state
By ROBERT COLLIAS, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – Now, the scouting starts.

The Baldwin High School baseball team drew the No. 3 seed for the Wally Yonamine Foundation state tournament that begins Wednesday at Murakami Stadium on Oahu. The Maui Interscholastic League champions will play Thursday at 2 p.m. against either Aiea or Kamehameha Schools Oahu.

Aiea (9-4) is the fourth-place team out of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, while Kamehameha (16-5) is the second-place team out of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. The Warriors are ranked second in the state by the HondaReport.com statewide poll behind nationally ranked Punahou (18-2-1 ILH, 31-3-1 overall). The Bears (14-3 MIL, 21-5 overall) are fourth in the HondaReport.

If Kamehameha Oahu can get by Aiea, it would set up what appears on paper to be the best quarterfinal matchup, against Baldwin.

The Bears have been to more state baseball tournaments than any other school in Hawaii with 33, including the last eight in a row and 21 in the last 22 years.

Baldwin is tied for third for most state titles in the sport, with four (1959, 1960, 1984 and 1995), behind Iolani’s eight and Punahou’s seven.

’’There is no trick to playing in the state tournament,’’ Baldwin coach Kahai Shishido said. ’’It is just a matter of playing good defense, throwing strikes and hopefully that way you can be in every game and come through with key hits when you need them. If you do that, hopefully you can come out with a win.’’

Shishido said he didn’t know much about Kamehameha or Aiea, but he would be on the phone to find out as much as he could as soon as possible.

’We have guys that we call every year, friends who we call to try to get a scouting report on whoever we face and it is usually pretty reliable,’’ Shishido said.

Maui High’s Lee Yonamine will be doing the same thing as he researches Moanalua (10-2), the OIA runner-up. The Sabers (13-4 MIL) open the tournament against the Menehunes at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. A win in that game would set up a quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Waiakea on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.

’’I don’t know anything about them,’’ Yonamine said of the Menehunes. ’’But I know some guys on Oahu who can help me.’’

Yonamine taped the OIA championship game won by Kailua over Moanalua. Kelsey Isa, Yo-namine’s teammate on the 1982 Maui High state championship team, is an assistant coach for Moanalua. Isa was ejected from the OIA championship game.

’’I can’t call him and ask him what’s up about his team, but I’m sure we will have fun talking about him getting run from that OIA (championship) game,’’ Yonamine said. ’’I did see when I watched the game, Moanalua tries to run a lot and put pressure on the defense because they don’t have much power. They have good team speed and they try to use it. Defense is going to be important and I guess we are going to have to hold them a little longer (on base), watch for the hit and run and maybe throw more fastballs to the batters. Hopefully we can keep them off the bases.’’

The top two seeds are Punahou and Kailua (10-3 OIA). Both MIL coaches said no matter what the scouting reports uncover, teams have to play their games with their best pitchers from the get-go.

For the Sabers, that most likely means junior right-hander Kalaika Kahoohalahala (3-1), who Yo-namine said can recover from a start quickly and be ready later in the tournament.

’’He is the one who can come back fastest,’’ Yonamine said. ’’And he has been our go-to guy all year.’’

For the Bears, the likely opening-game starter is senior left-hander Derrick Saito (6-1).

’’You gotta take every game one at a time,’’ Shishido said. ’’You can’t afford to look past any game. We gotta look at whatever we got and go with our best and live to play another day.’’
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