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A Maui-made rematch: KS-Maui baseball 3rd at state; Baldwin finishes 4th

Seabury Hall finishes 6th in Division 2

By Eli Pace 5 min read

Having both won their way to the semifinals before losing, KS-Maui and Baldwin collided in the game to determine the third and fourth place teams at the 2025 Hawaii High School Athletic Association Baseball State Championships.

In the end, KS-Maui prevailed 7-4 on Saturday at Ichiro “Iron” Maehara Baseball Stadium. It was a back-and-forth contest with no shortage of cheers from both sides, especially for the seniors on each of the teams.

The Bears opened the Division state baseball tournament with a 3-1 win over Kailua. Kaedyn Miyake-Matsubayashi led Baldwin at the plate with two hits, one run scored and 2 RBI in his three at-bats. Baldwin's Kai Wantanabe also recorded two hits in the game, and Marley Sebastian had one hit and one RBI.

Baldwin pitcher Kaden Anderson got the win after pitching four innings while allowing one hit, no earned runs and recording two strikeouts. Kip Wantanabe finished off the game on the mound, pitching the final three innings with two hits and one run allowed. He also logged a pair of strikeouts.

In the quarterfinals against KS-Kapalama, Baldwin's Marley Sebastian scored the game's only run in the first inning and the Bears held on for a 1-0 victory. Baldwin pitcher Jayden Perry-Waikiki got the win after he pitched a seven-inning gem, allowing no runs on five hits with one walk and one strikeout.

After winning two nail-biters, Baldwin's luck had run out and the Bears lost 1-0 in the semifinal round against Waiakea. La'akea Ko had two hits for Baldwin, which stranded 10 runners on base. Baldwin pitcher Justice Wakamatsu pitched all six innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

On the other side of the Division I state bracket, KS-Maui defeated Leilehua 6-2 in the quarterfinals after enjoying a first-round bye.

KS-Maui's Bransyn Hong (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBI) led the Warriors' offense, and Zaiyah Barrozo and Teyvon Kahalewai each added an RBI against Leilehua. Raisin Velez, Kahalewai, Kaleb Mathias and Kaiolohia Kang all scored runs for KS-Maui.

KS-Maui pitcher Kano Arakawa got the win. He gave up 10 hits and two earned runs with three walks and nine strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched. Bransyn Hong came in for relief to get the last out and picked up the save.

In the semifinals, KS-Maui faced eventual tournament champion Saint Louis and fell 6-1. KS-Maui recorded hits from Kahalewai and Hong, and Hong scored the Warriors' only run in the game. Josiah Kaya-Medeiros pitched six innings with four strikeouts, and Hong pitched the last inning with one strikeout.

With that, the table was set for a rematch of Baldwin and KS-Maui, which played five times prior to Saturday's meeting with KS-Maui winning four of those contests. Overall, KS-Maui finished the season 14-4, and Baldwin was 14-5.

Playing for third place at state, Baldwin took an early lead against KS-Maui on Saturday.

KS-Maui rescinded with a run in the bottom of the first inning, and then took a lead with two more runs in the bottom of the third.

After a scoreless fourth inning, Baldwin recorded three runs in the top of the sixth. KS-Maui then came back with four runs in the bottom half of the frame, giving the warriors a 7-4 lead.

Baldwin used seven pitchers in the game including Sora Kitagawa, Kolaiah-Dhustin Villa, Logan Bolduc, Kip Wantanabe, Jackson Sebastian, Devyn Rosaga and Devin Inokuma.

Senior Noah Pacheco pitched 5.1 innings for the Warriors and got the win. He allowed four earned runs while walking no batters and striking out five. Raisin Velez came in in relief and got the final two outs for the Warriors.

At the plate, Baldwin's Dylan Wellerstein (2 hits, 2 RBI) and Sean Gaoiran (2 hits) both had multi-hit games while Eli Nouchi, La'akea Ko, Kolaiah-Dhust. Villa and Devin Inokuma each scored runs.

KS-MAui's Bransyn Hong and Kili Ting each scored two runs. Ting (1 hit) and Cua Kaina (2 hits) each had RBIS. Zaiyah Barrozo, Sidon Aiwohi and Ethan Morita each scored a run.

Hong was named to the Division I All-Tournament Team as an infielder, and Baldwin's Jayden Perry Waikiki made the All-Tournament list as a pitcher.

Seabury Hall finishes 6th

In the Division II state tournament, Seabury Hall lost a first-round game 9-0 to Kapolei, which would go on to finish second to tournament champion Damien.

Seabury bounced back in the consolation bracket with a 4-2 win over Honokaa. Murray Brown had two hits and two RBI in the game. Spartans pitcher Bryson Tasaki pitched all seven innings with 10 strikeouts and got the win.

Seabury faced Farrington in the game to decide the fifth and sixth-place teams and lost 7-0. Seabury managed three hits in the game (Bryson Tasaki, Ha'alohi Dancil and Duke Dodge) while James Asher Halik pitched four innings with three earned runs and five strikeouts. Kayden "Bob" Volner and Dancil each pitched one inning in relief with two strikeouts each.

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