Punahou escapes

Punahou's run at a fifth straight state championship survived another day.

Barely.

Division I State Baseball All games at Les Murakami Stadium Seeds: 1. Punahou (ILH); 2. Pearl City (OIA); 3. Waiakea (BIIF); 4. Maui (MIL) Yesterday Consolation » Kailua 11, Castle 1 Quarterfinals » Maui 6, Kamehameha-Hawaii 3 » Saint Louis 5, Waiakea 0 » Punahou 9, Roosevelt 8 » Pearl City vs. Mid-Pacific, late Today Consolation » Baldwin vs. Aiea, 9 a.m. Fifth-place bracket » Kamehameha-Hawaii vs. Roosevelt, 11:30 a.m. » Waiakea vs. Pearl City/ Mid-Pacific loser, 2 p.m. Semifinals » Maui vs. Punahou, 4:30 p.m. » Saint Louis vs. Pearl City/ Mid-Pacific winner, 7 p.m. Tomorrow » Consolation championship, 8:30 a.m. » Fifth-place game, 11 a.m. » Third-place game, 1:30 p.m. » Championship, 7 p.m.

Roosevelt threatened to dethrone the Buffanblu yesterday in the quarterfinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I state baseball tournament, keeping Punahou on the chase for most of a 2-hour, 42-minute contest.

But the top-seeded Buffanblu rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to finally get past the Rough Riders 9-8 and advance to today's semifinal round to face Maui at Les Murakami Stadium.

"They just battled, showed heart, showed character and didn't want to go home," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said of his team. "Same thing with Roosevelt, they played a tremendous game and took it to us."

After a rocky outing on the mound, Punahou's Reece Kiriu found redemption at the plate in the seventh. After Tyler Young tied the game with an opposite-field single to score Shane Yoshiyama, Kiriu hammered a double into the left-center gap to send the Buffanblu to the victory.

"I was looking for a fastball and luckily it was up in the zone and I got a hold of it," Kiriu said. "It felt good to finally get it back on offense since I couldn't get it done on defense.

"It doesn't matter how we win, we just have to win and get it done."

Paul Snieder weathered the Roosevelt rallies to earn the win with five innings of relief after the Rough Riders chased Kiriu in the third inning.

Though the outcome sent the Rough Riders to the consolation bracket, Roosevelt coach Craig Arakawa found consolation in his team's effort.

"A lot of these three-year seniors, this is their first time in the states and to get to this point and play a game like they did tonight, that's awesome for them," Arakawa said. "They're never going to forget it."

The Buffanblu committed five errors to aid Roosevelt's cause, but came up with a key defensive play in the top of the seventh to set up the comeback in the bottom of the inning.

Roosevelt, the fifth seed from the OIA, took advantage of a wild outing from Kiriu, who walked in two runs, and Punahou's defensive lapses to take a 5-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings.

Punahou responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning with Matthew Suiter and Snieder delivering two-run doubles. Jeeter Ishida also singled in a run and Young added an RBI double into the left-field corner to give the Buffanblu the lead.

The see-saw teetered this way and that for the rest of the evening with Roosevelt taking a 7-6 lead only to see Punahou put together a two-out rally in the fifth to knot the score again.

After a quiet sixth, Roosevelt pushed a run across in the seventh when Sean Matsumoto reached on a two-base throwing error and scored on Aaron Yamane's bloop single to right that dropped in just beyond Ishida's glove.

Turhan Bae followed with another single to right, but Yamane was thrown out at the plate on a relay from right fielder Geoffrey Kunita to Ishida to catcher Zachary Kometani.

"I was trying to force it a little bit too much," Arakawa said. "Punahou showed how explosive they can be. I knew one wasn't going to be enough. I just had to force the issue a little."

Arakawa's premonition proved correct in the bottom of the seventh. Kometani bunted his way on base to lead off the inning, and Yoshiyama -- the pinch runner -- moved up on a sacrifice by Ishida, setting the stage for the decisive hits from Young and Kiriu.

"We just needed a baserunner," Kadooka said. "We got clutch hits from Tyler and Reece and it's a storybook ending to an incredible game."

Saint Louis 5, Waiakea 0

Sophomore Chris Chung fired a two-hit shutout -- the Crusaders' second in as many days -- to eliminate the Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Warriors.

Chung, who struck out six and walked three, got plenty of help from his defense. The Crusaders (26-8) were errorless for a second game in a row.

Eric Hernandez took the loss for Waiakea (16-7).

Maui 6, Kamehameha-Hawaii 3

Jacob Babauta spelled relief for the Sabers, pitching 4 2/3 scoreless innings to shut down the Warriors. Babauta, a senior, transferred from Saipan nearly one year ago.

"He was really raw when he came to us. He couldn't hold runners, didn't know how to throw from the windup," coach Lee Yonamine said. "But he has a live arm."

Babauta entered in the third inning with the game tied at 3 and starter Mitchell Crim in trouble. Babauta allowed just three hits the rest of the way, fanning three and walking none for Maui (21-6).

The Maui Interscholastic League runner-up went ahead in the fourth with two runs in the top of the fourth. Tevan Devera singled and scored on a wild pitch as the Sabers took a 4-3 lead it didn't relinquish. Jordan Inamasu's fly ball to center brought Crim home from third for a two-run lead.

Pearl City 5, Mid-Pacific 4, 9 inn.

Bryson Namba's double-play grounder was enough to score Kurt Poentis from third with the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning and the second-seeded Chargers outlasted the Owls.

Trailing 4-3 in the sixth, MPI put together a two-out rally and tied the game on Derek Tan's single to center. But the Owls left the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh and the game went into extra innings.

After a scoreless eighth, Poentis walked to lead off the ninth and moved to third on a hit-and-run single to left by Bryson Nakamura. Namba then grounded into the double play that allowed Poentis to cross the plate.

MPI threatened to extend the game again in bottom of the ninth when Aaron Fujiki tripled to right field with two out. But Pearl City sophomore Kahana Neal nailed down the win by striking out Easton Torigoe.

Pearl City faces Saint Louis in a semifinal game tonight at 7.

CONSOLATION

Kailua 11, Castle 1, 5 inn.