MANOA - He's all the Raige for Kamehameha-Maui.

Raige Velez fired a four-hitter and the Warriors beat Kailua, 2-0, Tuesday in the opening round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I state baseball tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Maui Warriors will take on their sister school from Kapalama, the top-seeded Warriors, at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a quarterfinal.

"He is our ace pitcher," KSM coach Shane Dudoit said. "When you get to the state tournament, you gotta win every game to get to the next game. He felt confident on the mound for us. He got up to about a 100 pitches. We were close to having to get him out, but it worked."

Velez used 106 pitches for the complete-game win. He was backed by a fundamentally-sound defense that made big plays to frustrate the young Surfriders, who started four freshmen and two sophomores. One of the sophomores was right-handed starting pitcher Jayden Hunt, who pitched well himself, two runs, one unearned, three hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

But the day belonged to Velez, a 5-foot-11 senior. He is the Warriors' ace, who beat Maui, a perennial tournament participant, to gain the MIL's second state berth.

"I knew coming in that we had to win this game," Velez said. "It's the most important game, so I did my job. My defense had my back and it went well."

The teams were scoreless through four before the Warriors scored in the fifth off of Hunt. Japheth Joaquin led off with a single to  right, took second on Laiku Wong's sacrifice, went to third when Nakea Kahalehau grounded out to short and scored Ziah Chang's double to left before Haili Dudoit struck out to end the inning.

Kamehameha-Maui added a run in the sixth when Duke Aloy reached on a two-base error when right fielder Kaimana Burgo dropped a fly ball. Second baseman Rayvin Pagan replaced Hunt on the mound and was greeted with a sacrifice by Shiloh Gilliland. With the infield playing in, Bransyn Hong's sacrifice fly to center scored Aloy to make it 2-0.

Meanwhile, Velez cruised along, but escaped two threats. In the fourth, Titan Kauhi led off with a double to right-center - a pitch that strayed too much over the plate, Velez explained. Zayne Hookala was hit by a pitch, but Velez got the next two batters out. With Hunt at the plate, a wild pitch moved pinch runner Jayden Ogomori to third. With runners at the corners, the Surfiders tried to bait the Warriors with a delayed steal of second by Hookala. But the Warriors' defense played it soundly. After a number of back-and-forth throws, they finally got Ogomori out in a rundown between home and third to end the inning.

The next threat came in the sixth when Burgo and Ryce Aoki led off with back-to-back singles. With Kauhi at the plate, Velez kept his pitches away from the left-handed hitter and eventually got him to foul out on a sliding catch by left fielder Wong. After Hookala struck out, Masao Minami hit a drive to the right-center alley, but right fielder Kahalehau made a nice running catch to end the inning.

"I trust my defense a whole lot," Velez said. "Without them I can't win games."

This is KSM's fifth tournament appearance. It was just its second championship bracket win.