One hit was enough for Maui.
Nicholas Nashiwa hit a sharp single to left field to score pinch runner Mickie Matson in the bottom of the sixth inning and Maui beat Saint Louis 1-0 in the semifinals of the Wally Yonamine/HHSAA State Baseball Championships on Friday at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Sabers are in the final for the first time since 2017, the only time they won it all. They will have to do it on a different field, though, as the championship was moved to Moanalua after rain washed out most of Thursday’s play. Les Murakami Stadium is reserved today for graduation ceremonies.
Nariyuki Dumlao led off the telling frame by taking a 1-0 pitch off the leg, then was erased on a fielder’s choice. After a successful sacrifice bunt, Saint Louis lifted starting pitcher Kolby Gushiken in favor of Aycen Fernandez despite Gushiken holding Maui hitless to that point. Fernandez, whom Saint Louis coach Benny Agbayani called “our go-to guy,” went ahead one ball and two strikes, but Nicholas Nashiwa evened the count and then broke the spell by pulling a pitch for only the second time in the game. Matson scored without a throw when the Crusaders cut the ball off.
“Clutch,” Maui coach Chase Corniel said. “We had the right guy in the right place and he came through. I’m so proud of him, it took a lot of long hours in the offseason to get here.”
Nashiwa, Maui’s cleanup hitter, drove in his first run of the tournament. Only three of Maui’s seven runs have come on clean hits.
“This guy throws pretty hard, so I was just trying to be on time,” Nashiwa said. “I was really late on my takes and stuff, so I adjusted and caught it a little bit in front. But it found grass, so that’s all that matters.”
Maui starting pitcher Izaiah Koko made the heroics possible, throwing six shutout innings on five hits and two walks, pounding the zone with 40 of his 77 pitches for strikes. He was lifted in the seventh for Dawson Nuese, who allowed a four-pitch walk to Chase Sutherland but bore down to strike out pinch hitter Hoko Gaspar and get Laakea Correa to pop out to second to touch off another Sabers celebration in Manoa.
It is Nuese’s second save in as many game. No Maui pitcher had ever had a save in the tournament before this year.
Saint Louis had its share of chances but left five runners on in the tight ballgame and suffered through more than one baserunning mistake.
The Crusaders nearly broke through in the bottom of the third when Hoomana Heffernan laced a single to right field on a textbook hit-and-run, and Nuese, playing right field, got overzealous with his throw to third and nearly hit the wall on the fly.
Nashiwa, the third baseman, corralled the friendly carom and nailed Correa at the plate, with catcher David Vergel de Dios blocking the dish. Correa stayed down for a minute after the collision and left the game, but he returned in the seventh. They had another chance in the fourth, but Sean Yamaguchi was picked off second with two outs. Sutherland was picked off first in the fifth by Vergel de Dios and successfully made it to second but overran the bag and was tagged out.
Agbayani has suffered plenty of 1-0 losses in his long playing career, but this one hurts a little more.
“As a coach it’s pretty tough, you are not out there playing,” Agbayani said. “You prepare your kids as much as you can and hope to come out with a victory. Our kids tried, they went out there, they battled and we had our opportunities and when those opportunities don’t work that’s the result you get. The kids gave me everything they had, that’s all you can ask.”
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