HHSAA Baseball
Late inning surge propels Hilo over Kaiser, into D1 state tournament


ScoringLive staff
April 29, 2023, 10:33pm

  

Sat, Apr 29, 2023 @ [ 1:00 pm ]

Kaiser

3

Hilo

11

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Kaiser 0 010200352
Hilo 0 0 0137X1183

W: Jaylon Geraci    L: Kanoa Morisaki

HILO: Mekenna Wakakuwa 2-4 2 runs 3 rbi dbl; Jaylon Geraci 6.0 IP 3 ER
KAIS: Kanoa Morisaki 2-4 2 rbi / 5.0 IP 6 ER 4 K




The Vikings are state tourney bound once again.

Hilo rode a huge sixth inning en route to an 11-3 win over Kaiser in the play-in game for the final berth in the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I state tournament.

"It feels really good. BIIFs didn't go the way we wanted it, but we're blessed to be in the bracket for states so we're feeling good," said Devin Saltiban, referring to the loss in the BIIF D1 championship series to Waiakea. "We're getting ready. We feel confident for the state tournament and yes, we're ready."

Trailing 3-1 in the fifth, the Vikings made the Cougars pay for hitting the first two batters, as Mekenna Wakakuwa laced a shot to right for a double that scored both runners to tie the score up. Wakakuwa then came home to on wild pitch three batters later for what appeared to be a crucial go-ahead run, making the score 4-3.

"Those are the best kind of situations. As a team we love those kind of situations because when the game is in your hands, that's when we come alive," said Wakakuwa. "We know it's all or nothing for us and we've been in a bunch of close games all season."

Heading into his sixth inning of work, Vikings' starter Jaylon Geraci saw the potential tying run come aboard as the Zach Ho reached on an error, then saw runners on first and third on the second miscue of the inning with just one out. But a batter later, Hilo turned a crucial double play to get out of the inning, with the batter called out on a fly ball hit to center and Ho being called out on throw to home to end the threat.

From there, Hilo found its groove offensively, padded its lead in a big way in the bottom of the sixth, as seven runs came home off of four base hits in the bottom of the sixth, two of them doubles and another a line shot triple by Devin Saltiban that was a fitting crescendo to the rally.

"He's huge to our team because he always does his job, whether it's picking the team up and when we need big hits he comes through and he never hangs his head which is huge, so he's a huge leader for us," said Wakakuwa of Saltiban.

Koa Marzo Jr. came in the seventh in to close things out for Geraci, who allowed three runs on six hits in six innings of work, and he did just that, needing just 11 pitches to close things out. Geraci was perhaps even more efficient, as he threw just 61 pitches in the game.

"He did good, he did his best and I'm really proud of him too. He tried to locate his pitches," said Saltiban of Geraci's performance. "It comes down to the errors. We just got to fix everything up but we're ready. Just cut down the errors and we'll be good."

Wakakuwa, was 2 for 4 with a double, a run and two RBIs, and Saltiban added a 2 for 4 day at the plate with an RBI triple.

Kaiser starting pitcher Kanoa Morisaki, who pitched 5 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits, also keyed the Cougars' offensively, with a 2 for 3 day at the plate with 2 runs scored and an RBI.

Hilo had four hits go for extra bases compared to none for the visiting Cougars.

Next up for the Vikings is a first round state tournament pairing with Moanalua, set for 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 2 at Les Murakami Stadium on the campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

"Our mindset is 'one more.' Just take it one game at a time and do not overlook anybody because they're in states for a reason we're going to take it one opponent at a time and win each game hopefully," said Wakakuwa.




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