HILO — Waiakea High School’s varsity baseball team defeated Kealakehe High School 10-0 in a four-and-a-half inning outing on Monday afternoon.
This win was a feel-good game for the Warriors, who fell 4-3 to Honoka‘a High School in their most recent test Saturday after a grand slam blew their 2-0 lead.
“I told them,” WHS head coach Chris Honda said, “‘It’s just another day and that’s baseball.’ It’s up and down and anybody can beat anybody on any given day. So I told them today ‘let’s come out, let’s play our game and play to our potential.’ They did that.”
Waiakea’s pitchers proved to be a brick wall against the Waveriders. Gavin Nishida started on the mound and pitched a perfect three innings, fanning six of nine batters faced. In the top first, Nishida consecutively struck out the first three at-bat’s.
Lucas Yamanaka came out of the bullpen to close out the game. Yamanaka struck out four of eight batters while allowing just one hit — a single by KHS pitcher Zesden Tolentino.
“Our pitchers pounded the zone and pitched to contact,” Honda said, “(Nishida) did well and mixed his speeds up. Yamanaka closed the door he threw a lot of strikes too today.”
Devin Garza batted leadoff in the bottom first and reached base on a dropped third strike. After the two-hole grounded out, Joshua Ward followed up with a single — then Clemson Julian singled to bat in Garza. Isaiah Justo singled, and Ward reached the plate on an error. Tolentino fanned two to end the inning.
The Warriors put up five runs in the bottom second as errors plagued the Waveriders. Toren Segovia led with a bunt to get on base, Garza singled and then Segovia rounded three bases on an error to score. Jesse Inouye touched base on an error, then Ward singled to bat in Garza. Kaleb Wada singled and an outfield error let Inouye and Ward score. Ivor Broks hit a single to bat Wada in before the end of the inning.
Kealakehe allowed another run in the bottom third. Garza singled and stole second, advanced to third as the two-hole grounded out then crossed home on a passed ball.
Walks and more errors let Wada and Brooks each add runs in the bottom fourth — then in the top fifth, two strikeouts by Yamanaka and a flyout ended the game.
Garza went three-for-four with three runs and a sacrifice fly to lead Waiakea in the box. Ward went two-for-three to score two runs and bat one in. Wada went one-for-two with a walk to score two runs — and Brooks went one-for-one, walking twice to score a run and a RBI.
Tolentino led Kealakehe at the plate, going one-for-two and accounting for the Waveriders’ only hit of the outing. On the hill, the lefty fanned four — allowing five earned runs on ten hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitch.
The Warriors will host Hawai‘i Prep on Saturday at 3 p.m. for their senior night game.
Kealakehe will play at home Saturday afternoon against Honoka‘a.