WAIPIO — Thrice was nice, but four is even better. 

Kupono Barkdull persevered to get through five innings and Iona Uyehara hit a key two-run double to lift No. 2 Kamehameha to a 5-1 win over No. 3 PAC-5 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I championship playoff Thursday afternoon. 

A crowd of about 250 fans at Patsy T. Mink/Central Oahu Regional Park saw the Warriors (12-2) captured a fourth straight league title. In the process they denied the Wolfpack (9-4) their very first ILH crown at the D1 level. 

The game marked the fifth meeting between the teams this season. Kamehameha won the league's first round, while PAC-5 came out on top of the second round double-elimination tournament, which forced a playoff for the ILH championship and a seeded berth at next week's 12-team state tournament. 

"Congrats to PAC-5, man. They did an awesome job — coach Reyn (Sugai), their staff, their players, all their supporters," Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa said. 

The Warriors beat the Wolfpack in their lone first-round matchup back on March 24. The Wolfpack won two out of three against them in the second round, however, including a 2-1 decision just two days prior in the tournament final. 

"We're lucky sometimes. We played a five-game series, we beat them three to tw, but they made us earn it. They made us better because of it but it feels really good. Players came together, worked super hard throughout the year, so hats off to my guys, my coaches, administration — everybody involved to make this happen," Kitagawa said. 

Barkdull, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound lefty, improved to 4-0 on the year in his eighth appearance of the season. He allowed one run on just two hits to lower his earned run average to 2.15, but struggled with command at times. Barkdull walked a season-high four batters and beaned another, but also matched his season-best mark with five strikeouts. 

"He battled a little bit. He walked four, beaned a guy, but he gutted it out and gave us five strong innings," Kitagawa said. 

Barkdull was put to the test right off the bat. Stanford-bound shortstop Alika Ahu drew a leadoff walk on the 10th pitch he saw from Barkdull, but the southpaw needed just six pitches from there to get out of the top of the first and strand Ahu at third.

"I started off with a high pitch count. It probably wasn't the best start, but I found my groove in the third, fourth inning," Barkdull said. 

Barkdull helped his own cause in the bottom of the first, when he drew a bases-loaded walk off of PAC-5 pitcher Zion Cornog to score Coen Sardinha for the game's first run. 

Sardinha led off the frame with a single through the right side of the infield before Kaikea Patoc-Young reached on a fielding error. Ryeder Takahashi laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both Sardinha and Patoc-Young into scoring position before Bronson Boucher drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases for Barkdull. 

"Coach Daryl put a take one on us, so it kind of forced us to be more patient and wait for my pitch. I mean, Cornog had two pitches going good today, (but he was) kind of missing low in the zone with the off speed so I knew I could spit on that and I just was seeing the ball good today, taking good takes and knowing the zone," Barkdull said. 

The very next batter, Kino Adams, brought Patoc-Young in to score on his RBI-ground out to short for the second out. 

Kitagawa credited his batters for manufacturing the early pair of runs. 

"We've been having a hard time scoring runs, to be honest. A lot of our games this year were one-run games, but we found a way to punch up two, so good start for us and then we found a way to add on," Kitagawa said. 

The Warriors went up 3-0 in the second inning after Mahiehie Kawai got aboard with a one-out single. Another fielding error by the Wolfpack put two runners on base, both of whom moved into scoring position on a wild pitch by Cornog. Kawai came in to score on an RBI-ground out off the bat of Patoc-Young. 

PAC-5 got on the board with a two-out rally in the top of the third. Jaxon Cadiz was hit by a pitch and eventually came home on an infield single by Keaka Bennett. After the run scored, the Wolfpack once again had the bases loaded but Barkdull got Thomas Mitchell to strike out swinging and end the threat. 

"That felt good because, I mean, it probably wasn't my best inning I had — walked (two), beaned a guy — but I got my stuff going at the right time and kind of left them stranded with the bases loaded," Barkdull said. 

Barkdull's teammates, particularly Uyehara, gave him some breathing room by pushing across two more runs in the bottom of the third. Boucher led off the half-inning with a single through the left side. Two batters later, Adams drew a walk before Cornog got the second out on a pop fly. 

Uyehara, the next batter, took the first two pitches of his ensuing at-bat — both for balls — before he turned on the next offering from Cornog and laced it into left field. Left fielder Titan Dixon made a sliding attempt to catch the liner, but it got down in front of him, which allowed both baserunners to score and stretched the Warriors' lead to 5-1. 

"I think we caught a break in left field, kind of a sinking liner, but we did enough," Kitagawa said. 

Uyehara said he got the pitch he was expecting in the sequence. 

"I got two curveballs and I was just looking fastball," he said. "I was up in the count, looking fastball and I got one and I just swung. The wind was blowing hard in."

Barkdull was ecstatic to see Uyehara come through and atone for an uncharacteristic fielding error by the second baseman in the top of the first. 

"Iona's super clutch. I think he's been the most clutch guy all season, always getting RBIs and there's just never a doubt with him; He's always scoring the guys when we need it," Barkdull said. 

After Uyehara's double, Cornog went on to retire the final 10 batters he faced. The junior right-hander allowed four runs and three walks in six innings of work. He threw 58 of his 96 total pitches for strikes and recorded a pair of strikeouts. Three of the five runs he was charged with were unearned. 

"They're real scrappy and they got good players; they're tough," Uyehara said of the Wolfpack. 

Cornog fell to 3-2 on the year with a 2.40 ERA. It matched his longest outing of the season. 

"Hats off to them, they capitalized when they needed to," PAC-5 coach Reyn Sugai said of the Warriors. "I mean, that's how it's been these past five games we've played them. We just gave a little bit too much free bases today and we didn't take advantage offensively when they did."

The Wolfpack left eight runners on base, half of them in scoring position. 

Pono Kong got the final six outs for the Warriors. He gave up one hit and a walk with two strikeouts in two innings of relief. 

Kamehameha will have a coveted first-round bye in the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Championships, which gets underway Wednesday. The first two rounds will take place at Hans L'Orange Park in Waipahu before the tournament moves to Les Murakami Stadium in Manoa for the semifinals and championship game. 

"Baseball's so hard, so I mean, we're fortunate and blessed (to get the bye), but if we didn't get it we'd battle anyway," Kitagawa said. "I think any team can win and I think the best team doesn't always win, too. It's baseball. You gotta catch a few breaks, you gotta be lucky a little bit so we're going to give it our all."

Sugai, the third-year coach of the Wolfpack, said his team is eager to turn the page on the loss in preparation for their very first appearance in the D1 state tournament. 

"I just think everybody's excited and we just want to play baseball. It's an extra day; We're not sad about it, we get to play more baseball," Sugai stated. 

The bracket for the state tournament will be released after Saturday's play-in game between Mid-Pacific and Hilo, the third-place teams from the ILH and Big Island Interscholastic Federation, respectively.