Kailua, Iolani and Punahou each came away with victories in the opening round of the Division I Baseball State Tournament. ScoringLive photo illustration

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No. 7 PUNAHOU 6, PEARL CITY 2

No. 7 Punahou got strong pitching out of its bullpen and used a four-run seventh inning to turn back Pearl City, 6-2, Tuesday night in the opening round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I Baseball State tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Buffanblu (14-6) will play No. 1 and top-seeded Baldwin in Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. quarterfinal.

Matthew McConnell pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball before giving way to Kyson Donahue, who moved over from shortstop, to get the final two outs to end the game.

"He's just throwing strikes," Punahou coach Keenan Sue said of McConnell. "It's not that complicated. You throw the ball over the plate, good things happen. That's what (Pearl City starting pitcher) Cade Halemanu did. He did an amazing job. We got lucky with a few timely hits, so that's baseball."

Punahou starting pitcher Kahi Bisho pitched four innings, allowing two runs, three hits and five walks with six strikeouts. But he was pulled after 98 pitches.

"We always tell our guys as the starting pitcher, if you cannot have your ‘A' game and still keep us where we are, which I think was 2-2 at the time, you did your job. That to me is a competitor, not to have your best stuff and still go out there and do what they needed to do to for the team."

Kalae Harrison's RBI triple off of Pearl City starter Halemanu in the top of the seventh ignited the Buffanblu's big inning.

"The best kind of hit-and-run is the triple," Sue said of Harrison's hit. "He was supposed to put that on the ground, but he ended up putting it over the right fielder's head, so it's a good mistake."

Added Harrison: "Coach called a hit-and-run, but (the pitch) was a little up so I tried to get on top of it. Got a little lucky, got it over the right fielder. I was trying to stay on it so I could create backspin on the ball. I tried my best to get it on the ground, but it went over the right fielder."

Halemanu went six-plus innings, allowing six run, two unearned, eight hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Alika Almaraz retired the three batters he faced that ended the sixth for Pearl City.

Asa Kurasaki batted 3 for 3 for Punahou, falling a home run shy of the cycle.

With the game tied at 2 entering the top of the seventh, Kirk Terada-Herzer reached on first baseman Carter Hirano's error. He fielded the grounder behind first, but Halemanu was late covering. Carter slid into the first base bag to beat out Terada-Herzer, but dropped the ball in the process. Harrison followed with his triple and scored on Kurasaki's triple to right. Ola Aina's RBI single made it 5-2. Aina stole second, took third on a ground out and scored on Jake Tsukada's sacrifice fly to right before Donahue flied out to end the inning.