By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
HONOLULU — Nick Fukunaga created the latest chapter in Hilo’s fairy tale season with a pitching performance that walked on a high wire of trouble all night long.
The junior right-hander often ran into a pickle, but pitched tough enough to lift the Vikings over top seed Kailua 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the Division I state baseball tournament on Wednesday night at Les Murakami Stadium, sending Hilo into the semifinals for the first time since 1999.
Hilo (15-5) will play Baldwin (14-1), the Maui Interscholastic League champion and No. 4 seed, at 7 p.m. today.
Fukunaga pitched six innings of perseverance. He allowed two runs on five hits and four walks (three intentional; none of which scored) and struck out two, stranding 10 runners on base, including the sacks packed in the sixth.
“My curveball and changeup were working, my fastball not really. I couldn’t locate it,” Fukunaga said. “I also have a cutter but I didn’t throw it. I didn’t trust it. I trusted my defense to make plays. This win proves we can do anything here.”
Jordan Tagawa pitched a scoreless seventh for the save, and right fielder Randall Iha recorded the last out, making a sliding catch and crashing into the fence down the right-field foul line.
“Time froze,” Iha said of his catch. “It’s amazing to beat Kailua. We just believed in ourselves and this began way before we started tryouts in June. All the extra time we spent in the weight room and working out added up. That brought us here.”
Hilo coach Tony DeSa was amazed, too.
“We beat the No. 1 team in the state. It’s unbelievable,” he said.
Then he turned his attention to Fukunaga, who threw 94 pitches and not once retired the side, trouble following him like a shadow.
“That’s how he pitches,” DeSa said. “He makes it uneasy the whole time. He seems to do better with runners on base. But he makes quality pitches, survived and got out of trouble. He pitches with a lot of heart.”
The Surfriders (14-2), the Oahu Interscholastic Association champion, outhit the Viks 6-2, but walked six, including two free passes to Jodd Carter with the bases full to score two runs.
In the fifth with one out, Carter drew his second bases-loaded walk to snap a 1-1 tie, and one out later Micah Kaaukai was hit by a pitch, getting an RBI and making it 3-1.
Meanwhile, Fukunaga threw shutout ball through the first four innings, but his work was taxing. He had at least one baserunner every inning, racked up a full count to five batters, and ran his pitch total to 62 pitches.
He somehow escaped collateral damage in the fourth when the first two Surfriders reached with no outs. After a fielder’s choice out, the pitcher’s best friend — a double play — ended the threat when Jacob Cobb-Adams smoked a grounder to second baseman Kaaukai, who threw to shortstop Chayce Kaaua and he gunned a fastball to first.
In the bottom of the third, Kailua starting pitcher Elijah Davidann, who’s 6 feet 5 but doesn’t throw particularly hard, ran into problems when his control disappeared. He walked the bases loaded, setting up an inviting opportunity for Koa Matson with one out.
But on the first pitch against reliever Jacob Cobb-Adams, Matson got jammed and hit a grounder to third baseman Kahaku Iaea, who throw home for a force out. Carter walked to bring in a run, and Tyler Higa-Gonsalves hit a groundout to cap Hilo’s short-lived rally: one run on no hits and four walks for a 1-0 lead.
The Vikings later leapfrogged to a 3-1 but the Surfriders got within one in the sixth when Tyler Takata squeeze bunted in a run. A little later the bases were loaded with two outs, and Kailua’s No. 3 hitter Kila Zuttermeister, who was intentionally walked his two previous trips, stepped to the plate. He smashed a deep fly to center to end the inning.
Cobb-Adams took the loss in 2 2/3 innings. He walked four, including Carter twice for bases-loaded RBIs. Davidann yielded a run in 2 1/3 innings, and walked two. Of Kailua’s six walks, two translated into runs.
Kaaua batted 2 for 3, accounting for Hilo’s only hits.
Fukunaga’s tough six-inning outing follows junior ace Kian Kurokawa’s complete-game gem, a 5-3 upset over Punahou, the former seven-time state champion, in the first round.
That leaves a pitcher-by-committee assignment for the semifinals against the Bears, who beat Kamehameha-Kapalama 5-3 and will have a deep staff after sophomore Noah-Jason Apolo went the distance.
The Viks will be underdogs again, but it makes no difference to them, not after taking down another heavyweight.
“It’s amazing and crazy. We feel like we can do anything this year,” Fukunaga said. “We all believe we can win.”
Kailua 000 011 0 — 2 6 2
Hilo 001 020 x — 3 2 1
Division II
• Waipahu 6, Konawaena 0: Dylan Sugimoto pitched six scoreless innings, struck out 12 and stranded the bases loaded three times. The sophomore left-hander allowed four hits, three walks, and hit three batters. Micah Luke pitched the final inning.
Drake Yoshioka, Jarinn Afaga-Abreu and Sugimoto each had two RBIs for the Marauders (13-0), the OIA champion and No. 2 seed, who also drew 12 walks.
Ryan Torres-Torioka took the loss in four innings for the Wildcats (12-3), the BIIF runner-up.
No one paired hits for Kona, which will play Seabury Hall in a consolation game at 11:30 a.m. today at Hans L’ Orange Park.
Waipahu 200 012 1 — 6 6 0
Konawaena 000 000 0 — 0 4 1