BIIF baseball semifinals: How sweep it is for Hilo

Right when Hilo most needed steady arms, two aces have emerged and pitched the longtime powerhouse into a familiar place.

Joey Jarneski threw a six-hitter, and the Vikings edged Waiakea 5-4 to sweep the BIIF Division I semifinal series on Saturday at the Warriors field.

“It was fun and exciting,” he said. “We had to battle back. We made some errors, and I walked guys, but my team backed me up and scored runs.

“In the beginning, my cutter wasn’t working, but at the end I found it. I wanted to hit my locations and let my defense help me out. I had confidence in my team that we were going to win this game.”

In the other semifinal series, Keaau eliminated Kealakehe 10-6 in Game 3 at the Waveriders field. Kealakehe finishes with a 7-5 record.

The Vikings (6-4) will play the Cougars (8-4) in the BIIF championship series starting with a doubleheader at 3 p.m. Friday at Wong Stadium.

The winner will be crowned the BIIF champion and earn a first-round bye to the HHSAA state tournament.

It’s the seventh consecutive year Hilo will be playing for the BIIF crown. During that span, the Viks won it in 2009, ’10, and ’13.

Keaau has never been to states or in the BIIF championship.

The Warriors (8-3) already clinched the other state spot with the league’s regular-season title.

Jarneski’s complete-game gem comes one day after junior right-hander Josiah Factora stumped Waiakea 7-4 in Game 1.

In Game 2, Hilo scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh with two out. (The Vikings were home team, even though it was Waiakea’s field.)

Calvin Uemura relieved Waiakea starter Caleb Freitas-Fields and pitched a scoreless sixth. Then he ran into trouble when he faced a disruptive Micah Bello.

The Hilo center fielder led off the seventh, and strategically worked a walk. Bello stepped out after every pitch to break Uemura’s rhythm.

Bello reached third on a pair of groundouts, and scored the winning run when the ball skipped to the backstop.

Uemura went 1 2/3 innings, walked one and whiffed two in the loss. Freitas-Fields pitched five innings, and gave up four runs (one unearned) on six hits and one walk, and struck out three.

“We’ve got a bunch of resilient kids,” Hilo coach Tony De Sa said. “We were down and came back. It was a great baseball game.”

Like Factora in his complete-game gem, Jarneski threw his best when he was hanging on a cliff. He stranded seven, including the bases loaded in the first.

How’s this for treading on a tightrope: Jarneski intentionally walked Makoa Andres to set up an any-base forceout with two out in the first.

Jarneski then got a routine groundout. The bases-packed threat was squashed. And good baseball fortune shined on the Viks brighter than Saturday’s hot sun.

The sophomore right-hander allowed four runs (three unearned) on six hits and three walks, and whiffed four.

Waiakea sophomore outfielder Nate Minami was a toothache, both swinging and taking pitches. He batted 2 for 3 with an RBI, including a bases-loaded walk in a four-run fourth.

Two errors led to Jarneski’s three unearned runs in that inning. Other than that, he was a crafty escape artist, retiring the side only once — in the top of the seventh.

Meanwhile, a pair of freshmen Vikings led the offensive charge. Bello batted 2 for 3, and scored three runs, and fellow outfielder Austin Aina went 2 for 3, clocking an RBI double in a three-run fourth.

During the regular season, Hilo defeated Keaau 7-5 at Wong Stadium, where the two meet again with a state berth and their season on the line.

“We’ve got two more to go, and it’s a long road. It won’t be easy,” De Sa said.

At least, the Vikings are peaking and riding a nice wave of momentum. And even better, Factora and Jarneski have stepped up as big-time aces.

“We’re getting there at the right time,” De Sa said. “Everybody is coming around.”

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