Waiakea sophomore David Nakamura filled four roles on Saturday: starting pitcher, hitter, escape artist, and home-plate strike thrower.
The last part was the most pivotal, and it helped the Warriors prevail over Hilo 4-1 in eight innings in Game 2 of the BIIF Division I championship series at Wong Stadium.
The Warriors (14-3) and Vikings (12-4) will play for the BIIF title at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Wong Stadium. Both already have berths to the HHSAA state tournament, which will be held May 4-7 on Maui.
Nakamura, a 5-foot-7 left-hander, got a no-decision in five innings. He had ordinary stats: one run allowed, two hits, five walks and three strikeouts. But no one walked a high wire of suspense like he did.
Reese Mondina, also a sophomore southpaw, pitched three scoreless innings in relief for the win. He gave up three hits and one walk and whiffed three. He probably deserves more ink, but Nakamura beats him in roles filled, 4 to 1.
To build the drama, let’s start with the escape job Nakamura performed first. In the fourth and fifth innings, Hilo loaded the bases and scored exactly one run. One run. On Ryan Ragual’s RBI double.
The game tilted toward Waiakea in the top of the eighth on Ragual’s fielding error. Shaun Kurosawa singled, Taylor Mondina walked, and Anthony Benevides banged a high chopper to third base.
Ragual played the short hop and the ball went through his legs and rolled down the left field line. Two runners raced home on the miscue, and Nakamura capped the scoring with an RBI single off Josiah Factora, who suffered a tough-luck loss.
In 7 1/3 innings, the Hilo senior right-hander gave up four runs (three unearned) on 11 hits and three walks. Brett Komatsu relieved Factora after Nakamura’s run-scoring single and recorded two outs. There were no strikeouts, which meant Waiakea always hit the ball, and something could always happen.
In the fourth, Nakamura played the role of escape artist. He walked three and somehow only one run scored. Joey Jarneski led off with a walk, and Ragual pulverized an 0-2 pitch for an RBI double to tie it 1-1.
Then Micah Bello and Josh Breitbarth drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with one out. Nick Antony hit a shallow flyout to right, and Nakamura pulled his great escape when he got Austin Damate-Aina on a routine comebacker.
Nakamura did it again the next inning — with no runs surrendered. With one out, Noah Higa-Gonsalves and Jarneski walked, and Factora reached on an infield error. Then third baseman Jaron Kawaguchi fielded a grounder and threw to home for the forceout. Nakamura struck out Bello to escape again.
Gerry Meyer is the personal pitching coach for former Waiakea standouts and MLB minor leaguers Kodi Medeiros and Quintin Torres-Costa. He also tutors Nakamura, who credited former MLB pitcher and Waiakea great Onan Masaoka for establishing his pitching foundation.
Nakamura throws a fastball, cutter, changeup and palmball like Torres-Costa. The palmball runs into a right-handed hitter while Nakamura’s change tails away. He also received handy advice from Torres-Costa.
“He told me to aim small and miss small,” Nakamura said. “I also have to credit coach Cody (Urasaki, Waiakea’s assistant) for tweaking my pitches.”
When Nakamura twice faced bases-packed pickles, he noted it didn’t bother him because of his faith in the Warrior defense. He was his own best defense, though. Nakamura got a comebacker and a strikeout.
Factora pulled his own escape job in the sixth when Kurosawa doubled, and Taylor Mondina and Nakamura walked to fill the bases with two out. But Gehrig Octavio bounced a comebacker to Factora who ran to first base to get the putout by himself.
Now for the pivotal play of the game in the bottom of the sixth with the score tied 1-1: Bud Cox walked with one out, was sacrificed to second, and then Chase Costa-Ishii singled to right field, where Nakamura was moved after Reese Mondina took the mound.
With the runner heading home, Nakamura charged the ball and threw a fastball strike to catcher Mackanzy Maesaka, who snagged the early arrival and put down the tag to squash Hilo’s potential go-ahead run.
The Vikings just couldn’t find their timing at the plate. They had only five hits, including only one hard-hit ball — Ragual’s double. No one paired hits, and even worse they left 11 on base, including the sacks packed in the fourth and fifth frames.
Kurosawa had three hits while Trayden Tamiya and Nakamura contributed two hits each with one RBI apiece for Waiakea, which stranded seven on base.
Both teams squandered scoring chances in the first inning.
Nate Minami led off with a single, took second on a sacrifice, and rounded third on Kurosawa’s two-out single to center field, the home of Hilo center fielder Bello, who has a strong and accurate arm.
Minami was waved around third base, but Bello’s throw arrived at home before yesterday, and catcher Breitbarth applied an easy tag for the third out. (A night earlier in Hilo’s 4-2 win in Game 1, Bello threw out a runner from the same distance.)
In the bottom of the first, Hilo leadoff batter Noah Higa-Gonsalves was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a passed ball, and took third on Jarneski’s groundout to second base. But Nakamura recorded a flyout and groundout to close the inning.
Waiakea compiled three hits in the third and had the bases load with no outs but scored only one run. Nakamura and Guy Yokoe singled, and Minami walked. Tamiya followed with an RBI single, but one batter later cleanup hitter Kurosawa hit into a double play.
“We kept scratching and got a break (with Hilo’s error), and our pitching kept us in the game,” Waiakea coach Rory Inouye said. “The coaching staff has confidence in David. He has great stuff, and we’re looking forward to having him for two more years after this season.”
Hilo coach Tony De Sa is fond of saying that baseball is a funny game. When something unusual happens, De Sa will throw out the line, “That’s baseball.”
Waiakea had two errors, one more than Hilo. The Warriors couldn’t execute a sacrifice bunt twice. Inouye knows where De Sa is coming from with the “That’s baseball” line.
His gritty left-hander, the escape artist named David Nakamura, had the bases loaded twice. He walked three guys in one inning. Yet, only one run scored in two golden opportunities.
“That’s baseball,” Inouye said. “Sometimes, it goes the other way, too.”
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Hilo 000 100 00 — 1 5 1
