Royce Ebesu fired a three-hitter to lead Hilo over Mililani, 7-1, last night in an opening-round game of the Wally Yonamine Foundation state baseball tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Vikings (11-3) will play three-time defending champion and top-seeded Punahou (14-1) in a quarterfinal at 7:30 tonight.

Ebesu struck out nine and walked four in going the distance for the Vikings, the third Big Island team in today's quarterfinals.

Richard Mariano allowed four runs, four hits and four walks with three strikeouts for the Trojans (10-4), who meet Kailua at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Central O'ahu Regional Park in a consolation bracket game.

The Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the third. Cade Uyetake led off with a walk, went to second when Ebesu reached on a sacrifice/fielder's choice. The runners advanced on Kiley Kawazoe's sacrifice.

Geonah Ragual then hit a grounder to third that allowed Uyetake to score, but the first baseman dropped the throw. Ragual reached safely, but courtesy runner Anson Arakaki was caught in a rundown as Ragual took second on the play. Kehldan Nakamoto walked but the inning ended when Ragual was hit by Casey Koizumi's batted ball to short. Koizumi was credited with a single.

The Vikings broke it open by sending 12 batters to the plate in a six-run fifth. Koizumi, Ryan Fukunaga and Uyetake had RBI singles and Cortney Arruda had a run-scoring triple. One run scored on a double-steal with Koizumi stealing home, and another run scored on a wild pitch.

The Trojans scored in the sixth after Ebesu had retired seven in a row. With one out, he walked three consecutive batters to load the bases. One scored when John Abreu grounded out to first to make it 7-1.