Kaiser's Curt Clivio connected with this pitch for a 2-run single againt Maui. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Noah Sakatani throws a pitch to the plate against Maui. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MANOA -- Kaiser jumped out to an early lead in the first two innings and put away Maui, 8-3, in the opening round of the 2014 Wally Yonamine Foundation/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Baseball State Championships at Les Murakami Stadium at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on Tuesday evening. The Cougars who finished fifth in the O’ahu Interscholastic Association Red Division and ranked seventh in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings, will take on top-ranked and second seeded Campbell tomorrow at 11:30.  

“That’s what we talked about before the game and we got to jump out on them and getting four runs in the first inning, can’t ask for anything more than that. That was awesome we came out swinging the bats a little bit and they helped us out with errors and to take that lead, that was huge,” said Kaiser coach Mark Rasmussen, on the early lead.

Curt Clivio went 1 for 4, a run and 2 RBI to help lift the Cougars early in the first inning and Jeshua Bitanga went 2 for 3, a run and an RBI.

“I was just going up swinging and got a base hit, it could’ve been anyone, but it happened to be me,” said Clivio.

Noah Sakatani pitched all seven innings, struck out five batters, walked four and had an earned run.

“Noah wasn’t himself today, he normally throws better than that it’s a state tournament game on TV, but he didn’t have his best stuff but he got by,” said Rasmussen, on Sakatani.

Kaiser attacked Maui early in the first after Kelan Yoshioka and Michael Austin hit singles to centerfield and right field respectively. Jacob Tiu walked Aaron Oda to load the bases. Curt Clivio hit a 2 RBI single to centerfield to bring in Yoshioka and Austin. Miyashiro reached second on a double error on that brought in Oda and Clivio for two more Cougar runs to make it, 4-0.

“We just kept putting pressure on them. Jeshua had a great sacrifice bunt to push the other guys up and those other two guys ended up scoring, that was our plan was to get ahead first and see what we could do later on,” said Rasmussen.

“It helps getting all the nervousness out and knowing you have a comfortable lead and putting the pressure on them and that helped us and Noah (Sakatani) throw well,” said Clivio.

“Most of the games I pitched so far we came out pretty hot with the bats, it feels good and takes off the pressure,” said Sakatani.

In the top of the second, Yoshioka got to second after an error on the short stop Micah Jio. Oda hit an RBI single just inside the right foul line to score Yoshioka. Jeshua Bitanga hit a double inside the left foul line and an error on Dustin Kokubun brought in Oda for a 6-0 lead.

The Sabers committed six errors for the game, three of them allowing Cougar runs.

In the top of the sixth, the Cougars added another run after Kamalu Vincent-Simeona scored from third base off of a fielder’s choice after a dropped strike.

In the top of the seventh, Bitanga hit a double to left field and scored off of Luis Omphroy’s sacrifice fly to centerfield to put the Cougars up big, 8-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sakatani struck out Brandon Yonashiro for the first out. Sakatani walked RJ Hernandez and Dustin Kokubun, who came in as a pinch runner, scored off of Callen Beeson’s RBI single to centerfield. Jordan Yaji-Kawaha added a run off of a Yoshioka error and Beeson scored off of an error from Bitanga to make it, 8-3. However, Kody Medeiros lined out to Austin to end the game.

“Noah pitched awesome and the defense was backing him up for the most part, the last inning got a little bit sketchy, but for the most part it was good,” said Clivio.

“We were hoping it didn’t get dark because we’re not used to playing under the lights but we were talking about getting it over before the sun goes down, we kind of expected that to happen, but it did happen,” said Rasmussen.

“For the most part, the defense was on today and without my ‘D’, I wouldn’t be pitching as much. My defense backs me up 100 percent of the time, that last inning, we don’t really play in the lights and might’ve affected that pop fly, but the defense has been backing me up so far,” said Sakatani.

Kaiser took Campbell to nine innings in the OIA Red quarterfinals, but the Sabers prevailed, 3-2 on May 1.

“If we can keep it as close as last time, I’d be happy, at least you have a shot. If we keep it that close like last time, at least we have a shot and I know they’re going to pitch well and play defense well so we have to be ready,” said Rasmussen.

“We played them and kind of know them now better and just hope for the best and have been pretty hot these past few games,” said Sakatani.

“We feel a lot more confident going in now knowing what they have,” added Clivio.

Maui will play Roosevelt at Hans L’Orange Park at 9 am on Thursday.