Mililani takes down BIIF champ Waiakea, marches on to Division I semis

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Not pretty, but pretty effective.

Mililani relied on its pitching and defense and manufactured two runs off of an error, two hit batters and a sacrfice fly to gut out a 2-1 win over BIIF champion Waiakea in the quarterfinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Divsion I Baseball championships.

A wild third inning saw the Trojans get a runner aboard on a lead off walk by Logan Faildo, the another when Ethan Bagasol reached on an error to put runners on first and second. Malosi Mataafa-Alferos was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Cyler Wicklund also was hit by a pitch, bringing in a run in the process. Calvin Hawes then lofted a fly ball to center with one out to bring in Bagasol on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

In all two runs scored on no hits and one error in the inning.

That cushion proved to be just enough for starter Kayden Suma, who scattered nine hits across seven innings of work, allowing just one run, striking out two and walking one.

The Trojans also did the job defensively, with no fielding errors, though things did get extremely interesting in the bottom of the seventh.

Waiakea got a two out, RBI single by Jessie Inouye to get within a run, with the potential tying and winning runs on first and second. But Joshua Ward lined out to left a batter to later to end it.

Mililani only managed three hits in the game, two of them in the fourth inning, both singles, and the other in the seventh, also a single. Two of the three hits were off the bat of Faildo.