Baldwin to forfeit 2 games

The season may be over prematurely for the Baldwin Bears baseball team.

Coach Kahai Shishido confirmed a story reported on a Maui sports radio program yesterday that his team will forfeit two games this week. The Bears were scheduled to play Lahainaluna today and Saturday.

Shishido said that the future of the team's season would be evaluated, but declined to discuss specifics of the matter.

Baldwin is 12-0 in Maui Interscholastic League play, just one win away from clinching a regular-season title and an automatic state tournament berth.

The Bears (19-2) are ranked No. 5 in the Star-Bulletin Baseball Top 10.

It could open a door of opportunity for Maui and Kamehameha-Maui, the second- and third-place teams in the MIL. Only two MIL teams will qualify for the state tournament.

Maui, at 11-2, now has a better shot at the league title. The Sabers meet Seabury Hall this week and are scheduled for a two-game showdown with Baldwin next week.

"I talked to our boys today, and they had questions about it. I don't know about it, but we gotta take care of our game with Seabury tomorrow and beating Baldwin twice in order to be champs," coach Lee Yonamine said. "You gotta be ready to play. It's an unfortunate thing that happened, but hopefully they can work it out to where we play each other."

Kamehameha-Maui, a team of underclassmen, also had a talk at practice yesterday. The Warriors are 10-4 in league play with two games left.

"All season long, we've talked with our kids about working hard on things we can control," KS-Maui coach Barry Takahashi said. "We can't waste any mental energy on rumors, what's truth or fiction. All we can do is continue to improve in case we play further."

OIA playoffs set: Mililani and Kalani have earned the top seeds in the 2005 Oahu Interscholastic Association postseason baseball tournament that begins Wednesday.

Four games open the tournament, including Aiea at Roosevelt, Castle at Waianae, Pearl City at Kaiser, and Kailua at Campbell.