Coming off a tough one-run loss in last season’s state championship game, the Baldwin High School baseball team looked like it was in trouble when it stumbled through a 1-6-1 preseason slate this season.

These Bears have recovered quite well.

Baldwin scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to come from behind and beat Mililani 2-1 in the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I state semifinals Thursday, reaching the 12th state final in program history.

The Bears (14-2) will play Kamehameha Kapalama tonight at 7 at Les Murakami Stadium with a chance to claim their seventh state title, a year after surrendering a late lead in a 3-2 loss to Waiakea at Maehara Stadium.

“Awesome, awesome,” Baldwin coach Craig Okita said via phone immediately after Thursday’s win. “Hey, we did have a terrible preseason, but all along we talked to our guys about coming back and dealing with adversity and working your way back, one step, one day at a time.

“We got the breaks today and we’re just excited and happy to be back here.”

Bryson Nakamoto has been solid all year long on the mound for Baldwin, but he was never better in a bigger game than Thursday’s 112-pitch performance.

Mililani took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, and it stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth.

Nakamoto got the win with 6 2/3 innings pitched, six hits allowed, six strikeouts, three walks and the one unearned run. Kadon Antolin got the final out for the save.

“I was thinking: ‘Keep pitching, let my defense work, and just persevere, try to get through it, keep my team hyped up and stuff,’ ” Nakamoto said on the OC16 television broadcast after the game.

Trailing 1-0, Kuhio Aloy singled with one out in the bottom of the sixth and pinch runner Peyton Bui immediately stole second base.

Jaren Pascual tied the game a couple pitches later with an RBI bloop single to left field. Jayson Kahaleanu pinch ran for Pascual and took second on a sacrifice bunt by Christian Dominno.

Kade Fujioka then stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter and smoked a single up the middle to score Kahaleanu with the go-ahead run.

“Those three guys did come up big in that sixth inning,” Okita said of the key hits by Aloy, Pascual and Fujioka. “We hit the ball decent today, right at their guys and Mililani, hats off to them, man, they are a tough team. They’ve always given us problems, they took us out (in the semifinals) in 2019. We had a very good team that year and they took us out, on Maui. So it’s nice to get through with this one.”

After taking the lead, Nakamoto got the first two outs in the top of the seventh on a strikeout and liner to shortstop before surrendering two straight singles. At 112 pitches, Nakamoto had to leave the game due to the pitch-count limit and Antolin finished the game on a pop out on his second pitch.

Antolin has been the Bears’ No. 3 starter on the mound for most of the season and he is a candidate to start today, as is University of Hawaii commit Levi Maddela.

“We’ll see, we got Levi, we got Ant, you know, so we’re going to see who wins and what our approach will be for that game,” Okita said. “That’s kind of what we’re going to do.”

Aloy, a BYU signee, was 2 for 3 Thursday and is now 5 for 6 in the state tournament with two doubles, a run and two RBIs.

The season ended for MIL runner-up Kamehameha Maui (9-8) with a 12-2 loss to Hilo in a fifth-place semifinal. Kamehameha Maui coach Shane Dudoit said the team played its youngsters and changed pitchers every inning.

“We try to get to the state tournament to win it all,” Dudoit said in a text message. “After a loss early, we look to the future.”

In D-II play, the season ended for MIL champion Molokai (12-4) with a 9-4 loss to Konawaena in a fifth-place semifinal Thursday.

For the Bears, they have a chance to add to their impressive list of state baseball crowns: 1959, 1960, 1984, 1995, 2016, 2018.

Baldwin is in the state final for the sixth time in the last 12 tournaments.

“Just to have the opportunity to play for it is big and we’re looking forward to it,” Okita said. “We know whoever we play it is going to be a dogfight and if we’re going to win, we’re going to have to go out and earn it.

“Our kids have worked hard all season, they definitely are deserving of it, but, hey, we gotta go out there and play and get it done.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

BALDWIN 2, MILILANI 1

Mililani 010 000 0–1 6 1

Baldwin 000 002 x–2 6 1

Skye Hyun and Kalei Alana; Bryson Nakamoto, Kadon Antolin (7) and Anu Chaves. W–Nakamoto. L–Hyun. Sv–Antolin.

Leading hitters–Mililani, Cyler Wicklund 2-3. Baldwin, Aloy 2-3.

*****

BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• DIVISION I

Thursday’s Results

Semifinals

No. 2 Baldwin 2, Mililani 1

No. 1 Kamehameha Kapalama 4, No. 4 Campbell 0

Fifth-place semifinals

No. 3 Waiakea 4, Leilehua 2

Hilo 12, Kamehameha Maui 2, 5 innings

Consolation semifinal

Saint Louis 6, Iolani 5

Today’s Games

Consolation final • At Moanalua

Saint Louis vs. Moanalua, 3:30 p.m.

Fifth place • At Kaiser

Waiakea vs. Hilo, 4 p.m.

Third place • At Les Murakami Stadium

Mililani vs. Campbell, 1 p.m.

Championship • At Les Murakami Stadium

Baldwin vs. Kamehameha Kapalama, 7 p.m. (OC16)

• DIVISION II

Thursday’s Results

Semifinals

No. 3 Kauai 2, Waianae 1

Damien 5, No. 1 Waipahu 4

Consolation semifinals

Konawaena 9, No. 4 Molokai 4, 6 innings

Kahuku 5, No. 2 Kamehameha Hawaii 4, 5 innings

Today’s Games

Consolation final • At Radford

Konawaena vs. Kahuku, 3:30 p.m.

Third place • At Les Murakami Stadium

Waipahu vs. Waianae, 10 a.m.

Championship • At Les Murakami Stadium

Kauai vs. Damien, 4 p.m. (OC16)