Small-ball worked again for Hilo High, as did Maui Ahuna’s bigger approach at the plate. It all got excessive with Logan Wilson on the mound.
The 6-foot-2 junior right-hander is coming into his own, and just in time for the Vikings with another Hilo-Waiakea BIIF Division I baseball championship series almost assuredly looming on the horizon.
Wilson delivered a five-inning no-hitter with a little selective wildness thrown in Friday at Walter Victor complex as the Vikings did their part, beating Kealakehe 10-0 in a TKO to sweep the semifinal series.
“When I play baseball, I’m mad on the mound, and the only guys I’m mad at are the guys in the batter’s box,” Wilson said, “and once they start timing my hits and know what I want to throw, I’m going to be wild a little bit.”
Wilson got a fortuitous bounce in the first inning when a pitch sailed over a ducking batter’s head and hit his bat to go for a strike, but the pitch also underscored an important theme. Waveriders batters couldn’t just settle in and count on Wilson to always be around the plate.
“A lot of command on his fastball and his breaking ball,” coach Baba Lancaster said. “Some days he can be a little wild and keep (hitters) off-balance and on their toes, but he’s had a great season.”
Wilson walked one and hit a batter, but he was wildly effective over 55 pitches, retiring the last 11 hitters he faced.
All four of his strikeouts came in the first two innings, but then he pitched to contact.
“My defense asked me to get them in the game,” Wilson said.
The closest the Waveriders (4-10) came to a hit was a well-struck ball off the bat of Kainoa “Boo” Jones in the fifth, but Ryan Crivello tracked it down in deep center field for the final out of the inning.
Hilo (11-3) scored six runs in the first on the strength of three bunt singles, three walks by Toby Estrella, two errors and Ahuna’s two-run double. Ahuna finished the series with three extra-base hits, including two triples in Thursday’s 14-3 win in Game 1.
Ryan Cabreira started Hilo’s bunting brigade in the first inning Friday — Titus Sato and Tobey Jackson followed — and the senior catcher finished 2 for 2 with a bases-loaded walk.
“That was the game plan,” Lancaster said of drag bunting for hits. “We were going to make them work.”
Lancaster also worked, getting all 20 of his healthy players in the game. Hits by Cabreira and Kelsen Ogawa led to two runs in the third.
Estrella worked three innings and the Waveriders’ two pitchers combined to walk nine batters and hit one. Kealakehe committed four errors, including one in the fifth that allowed the TKO-clinching run to score.
The Vikings likely will have to wait a day until they can officially turn their attention to Waiakea and the finals, which start next Friday at UH-Hilo’s field.
Asked what the focus would be until then, Wilson said, “Defense and our getting our bats (going).”
The Warriors beat Keaau 13-3 on Friday in Game 1 of their semifinal series and will look to close things out Saturday.
Waiakea (12-1) twice beat Hilo handily during the season, 8-2 and 8-3, but Wilson turned in a solid relief effort in the second game.
“He’ll be one of our starters for sure,” Lancaster said, “we don’t know what game yet.
“We just have to get (ourselves) mentally ready. We pressure out when we play Waiakea.”
Waiakea 13, Keaau 3: Cody Hirata pitched four smooth innings, and Brandon Nakayama paced the host Warriors’ 16-hit attack with a pair of run-scoring doubles in the five-inning TKO.
Facing freshman pitchers Justice Dorser and Jayten Kamakea, the first five batters in Waiakea’s lineup — Cody Kunimitsu, Stone Miyao, Kalai Rosario, Cody Min and Devon Hirata — each collected two hits, and all of them drove in two runs except for Miyao, who drove in three, including an RBI double.
The Cougars trailed just 4-1 in the fourth when Bronson Respicio-Mercado singled, stole two bases and scored on Ricky Rapoza’s sacrifice fly, but Waiakea scored four times in its half of the fourth and ended the game with a five-spot in the fifth.
Hirata allowed only the one hit with three strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters. Braxton Cagampang pitched the fifth and allowed two hits, including Dylan Kamakea’s RBI single.
Nakayama was productive from the eighth hole in the lineup, as was Devin Midel from the No. 9 spot, bunting for two hits and scoring twice.
In three innings, Dorser was charged with 10 hits and eight runs, seven earned, and Jayten Kamakea yielded six hits and five runs in 1 1/3 innings, with two walks and a strikeout.
Game 2 is 1 p.m. Saturday at the Cougars’ field.