ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kailua's Sean Medeiros watched his ground-rule double against Mid-Pacific yesterday.
Cardiac Kailuans
win another one late
With one swing of his bat, Kailua's Ryan Rodrigues ended Mid-Pacific's reign as state baseball champion and added another chapter to the Surfriders' storybook postseason run.
Rodrigues sent the Surfriders to tonight's title game of the Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championship with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning to give Kailua a 4-3 win over MPI yesterday at Iron Maehara Stadium.
"I just wanted to hit the ball solid and get on base ... I wasn't expecting to hit a home run," Rodrigues said. "I was just expecting to hit the ball solid and he just gave me a good one and I took it."
Kailua will try to win its second state championship in the last three years when it faces the winner between Kamehameha and Waiakea.
State baseball
At Iron Maehara Stadium, Wailuku, Maui
Yesterday
Hilo 4, Waianae 1
Aiea 5, Kauai 2
Roosevelt 4, Baldwin 3
Kailua 4, Mid-Pacific 3
Kamehameha 7, Waiakea 5
Today
Consolation: Maui vs. Hilo, noon
Fifth place: Aiea vs. Roosevelt, 2:30 p.m.
Third place: Mid-Pacific vs., Waiakea 5 p.m.
First place: Kailua vs. Kamehameha, 8 p.m.
MPI plays the loser of that game for third-place at 5 p.m.
Kailua jumped out to a 3-0 lead in yesterday's first semifinal game only to see Mid-Pacific chip away and tie the game in the sixth. After a scoreless seventh, Rodrigues ended the contest by driving a 1-2 pitch from MPI ace Harrison Kuroda over the left-field fence.
"He just tested me on a two-strike fastball high and I just threw my hands at it," Rodrigues said.
The victory continued Kailua's streak of late-inning heroics as the Surfriders won their fifth straight game by scoring in its final turn at bat.
But none of the previous wins had the drama of yesterday's game.
Kailua jumped on MPI starter Grant Yamaguchi for two runs in the bottom of the first inning and added a third in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Rodrigues.
MPI scored single runs in the fourth and fifth and tied the game in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Justin Kashiwaeda to score Ryan Asato.
Both teams went to their top pitchers in the late innings to keep the game tight.
Kuroda, who earned a complete-game win over Waianae on Wednesday and picked up a save against Baldwin on Thursday, entered the game in the bottom of the fifth.
He held Kailua to three singles over the next three innings and struck out five consecutive batters at one stretch to runs his streak of scoreless innings to 11.
Kailua brought in Christopher Mahelona in the sixth, one day after he threw 86 pitches over four innings against Roosevelt on Thursday. After giving up Kashiwaeda's sacrifice fly, Mahelona shut down the Owls' bats.
"I was trying to save it for tomorrow, but the team needed me today and I said I have to do it for the team," Mahelona said. "I got the rest I needed last night and today, so my arm was ready."
Rodrigues, who tested the left-field fence with a ground-rule double in the first, stepped into the batter's box in the bottom of the eighth and ended the game with his solo blast.
MPI, which defeated Kailua in last year's state semifinals, could only watch as Rodrigues rounded the bases.
"These guys are tough," MPI coach Dunn Muramaru said. "I give my kids all the credit. ... That's probably the only way they would have lost, they couldn't jump up and knock the ball down."
Kailua coach Corey Ishigo said he doesn't know who will start on the mound for the Surfriders in tonight's final, and hopes the Surfriders' good fortune can hold out for one more day.
"I'll just flip a coin and let the baseball gods decide," Ishigo said. "The baseball gods have been helping me out throughout this season so they'll give me an answer."
Mid-Pacific (14-9-1) 000 111 00 -- 3 4 2 Kailua (14-1) 201 000 01 -- 4 10 2 Grant Yamaguchi, Harrison Kuroda (5) and Kip Masuda; Bronson Kamaka, Christopher Mahelona (6) and Sean Medeiros. W--Mahelona. L--Kuroda.
Leading hitters--MPI: Keven Whalen 2b; Ryan Asato 2-4, 2b, RBI. Kailua: Cody Teixeira-Vickery 2-4; Medeiros 3-4, 2b; Ryan Rodrigues 3-3, 2b, HR, 2 RBIs.
Fifth-place bracket
Roosevelt 4, Baldwin 3 (8 innings)Kevin Fujii's single to right field scored pinch-runner Ha'aeo Shea-Miyamoto with the winning run as the Rough Riders defeated the Bears in extra innings.
Cameron Kimura led off the bottom of the eighth by reaching base on a throwing error and took second on the play. Fujii then laced a hit down the right-field line to end the game just as the two-hour time limit was about to expire.
Baldwin shortstop Gered Mochizuki went 3-for-4 with two triples. The Bears end the season at 17-5.
Baldwin (17-5) 000 201 00 -- 3 7 2 Roosevelt (11-5) 200 001 01 -- 4 8 1 Jeff Kajiwara and Meade Tabata; Ricky Eusebio, Ransen Tamai (5) and Kevin Fujii. W--Tamai. L--Kajiwara.
Leading hitters--Baldwin: Gered Mochizuki 3-4, 2 3bs, 2 RBIs; Tabata 2-3. Roosevelt: Ivan Fujii 2-4, 2 2bs; K. Fujii 2-4, RBI; Tamai 2-3.
Aiea 5, Kauai 2
Taylor Watanabe and Jonathan Sakurai posted run-scoring singles in the top of the second to send Na Alii into the fifth-place game.
Aiea pitchers Ranon Aquino and Shawn Hao combined to hold Kauai to three hits. Kauai ends its season at 10-6.
Aiea (14-2) 032 000 0 -- 5 8 1 Kauai (10-6) 101 000 0 -- 2 3 0 Ranon Aquino, Shawn Hao (5) and Herbert Chung; Jake Oketani, Garen Itamura (4) and Daryl Higashi, Jerrick Amaki (4). W--Aquino. L--Oketani.
Leading hitters--Aiea: Taylor Watanabe 2-2, 2 RBIs; James Miyashiro 2-3, RBI; Dustin Grace 2-2, RBI. Kauai: Alec Reichel 2b.
Consolation
Hilo 4, Waianae 1Jaryd Taise earned the win on the mound and went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Vikings to today's consolation final. Hilo plays Maui at noon.
Waianae ends its season at 9-6.
Hilo (10-4) 002 000 2 -- 4 10 2 Waianae (9-6) 100 000 0 -- 1 6 1 Jaryd Taise and Keola Holt-Mizuguchi; Clayton Uyechi and Darryl Ohelo. W--Taise. L--Uyechi.
Leading hitters--Hilo: Taise 3-3, 2b; Scott Sakamoto 2-3; Matthew Haasenritter 2-4.
