HONOLULU — Waiakea left-hander Kodi Medeiros had better velocity with his 94-mph fastball and movement on his pitches, especially his sweeping slider and cutter, which impressed scouts, but Saint Louis right-hander Jordan Yamamoto had better command, and that made a world of difference.
HONOLULU — Waiakea left-hander Kodi Medeiros had better velocity with his 94-mph fastball and movement on his pitches, especially his sweeping slider and cutter, which impressed scouts, but Saint Louis right-hander Jordan Yamamoto had better command, and that made a world of difference.
It was the pitching component that mattered most as the Crusaders blanked the Warriors 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I baseball state tournament Wednesday at Les Murakami Stadium.
No. 3 seed and Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Waiakea (13-2) plays Kaiser (12-6) in a consolation game at 7 p.m. today at Hans L’ Orange Field in Waipahu.
In a 13-0 first-round victory against Roosevelt, the Crusaders threw No. 2 pitcher Pono Anderson, saving Yamamoto for Waiakea, which won the state title in 2012 when Medeiros was a sophomore.
The Crusaders manufactured a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, when Jacob White walked, was sacrificed to second, and scored on leadoff hitter Rayson Romero’s RBI single to right-center field.
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up added an insurance run an inning later when Ryder Kuhns doubled, and Devan Stubblefield beat out a high chopper to third for a run-scoring infield single.
Medeiros finished with 119 pitches, and allowed two runs on five hits and three walks, and whiffed eight. He had one wild pitch and hit two batters.
Yamamoto, who topped out at 92 mph, used 100 pitches in his shutout. He fired a two-hitter, walked two and struck out nine. He pitched cleaner and had no wild pitches or hit batters.
Medeiros and Caleb Freitas-Fields had the only hits for Waiakea.
No one paired hits for the Crusaders, but they capitalized on their scoring opportunities.
In the third, Saint Louis had the game’s first good scoring opportunity, but gambled and had a runner thrown out at home.
Medeiros broke up Yamamoto’s no-hit bid with a one-out single in the fourth, and Freitas-Fields followed with a single to right. Courtesy runner Grant Nonaka wandered too far off third, and was thrown out after Nate Minami missed a bunt. One pitch later, he struck out to end the inning.
That ended the Warriors’ one and only scoring opportunity.
St. Louis 000 011 0 — 2 5 0
Waiakea 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
HILO 11, AIEA 3
Joey Jarneski pitched six strong innings for the victory, and Micah Kaaukai batted 2 for 3 and Jodd Carter 2 for 4 to lead the Vikings (10-5-1).
The BIIF runner-up Vikings play for the consolation title against today’s Maui-Roosevelt winner at 9 a.m. Friday at Hans L’Orange Field.