Maryknoll players raise the Division II championship trophy after claiming their third straight with a win over Aiea. Evan Asato | SL

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Maryknoll's Shane Himeda slides into home plate to score a run against Aiea. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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Manoa – The Maryknoll Spartans defeated the Aiea Na Alii, 8-4, Saturday evening at Les Murakami Stadium for their third straight Division II State Baseball Championship and their fourth overall (2009, 2013, and 2014). 

"Feels Amazing," said Maryknoll coach Randy Yamashiro. "I'm still at a lost for words even though it's the third one. This is why we do this. It epitimizes what the program is all about and speaks volumes of what we want to do every day. For these seniors, from their freshmen year all the way to now it's just a stepping stone for our program."

The Spartans were led by senior Joshua Mueno's performance of 2-3, a double, and 3 RBIs. As a pitcher he went 6.0 I.P. with 6 H, 4 ER, and 1 K.

"Third straight championship is amazing," said Mueno. "Today was the best game we played together. We were really one team and one family today."

"He maned up today," said Yamashiro. "He minimized his pitch count he was better than the last two outings. Today he was hitting his spots. He had a game plan. He knew what he had to do and he went at it.

After a Kahi Hirano walk and a Neal Nakasone Jr. double the Spartans had runners on second and third with Mueno coming to the plate in the top of the first. Mueno delivered with a two run scoring double down the line to left.

Maryknoll added to their lead in the top of the second after a Cade Ohata walk, Matthew Dunaway singled and a Jarin Kobashigawa singled to load the bases for the top of the lineup. Hirano had an RBI single followed by Nakasone Jr.'s ground out, and Mueno picked up his third RBI as the Spartans raced out to a 5-0 lead.

Aiea got on the board when Freshmen Logan Ho hit a double all the way to the wall to start the bottom of the second, advanced to third, and was brought in on a safety squeeze by Dylan Madamba. The Na Alii followed up in the third with a Shannon Fermahin RBI-single to make the score 5-2.

The game got hectic when with runners on second and third Maryknoll had Mueno at the dish and he walked on a ball four in the dirt that went to the backstop. The wild pitch scored the runner Hirano from third. Aiea tried to cut down the run at home but the throw from the catcher to the pitcher covering was an errant one and the ball went wide to allow a second run to score originally from second. While the second runner tried to score another throwing error allowed the original hitter Mueno to score making it 8-4.

After two more Aiea runs in the fifth Mueno finished off the sixth inning retiring the Na Alii hitters 1-2-3. Mueno had gone a complete game in the opening game against Kapolei on Thursday meant Mueno could only give the Spartans six innings. 

Mueno's battering mate Nakasone Jr. took the mound in the seventh with a four run lead. Nakasone Jr. got his batter to strike out and the second to ground out. After a rare Spartan miscue Nakasone Jr. had a 2-2 count and a runner on first.

"At that moment I knew I needed to pitch a strike and I knew my defense was going have my back," said Nakasone Jr. "But when he couldn't hit the ball and it got in the catcher glove all my emotion lifted above me. I was definitely at the bottom of that pile."  

The Maryknoll Spartans join the likes of Mid-Pacific (1990-1992) and Iolani (1996-1998) to have won three straight State Baseball Championships.