Two outs away from seeing its record-setting baseball dynasty come to a shockingly abrupt end, four-time defending state champion Punahou rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning last night to deny Roosevelt, 9-8, in the Wally Yonamine Foundation Championship quarterfinals.

Reece Kiriu hit a towering 360-foot double to the wall in left-center field to score Tyler Young from first base for the winning run, just after Young's one-out single to right scored courtesy runner Shane Yoshiyama from second to tie it 8-8.

The No. 1 seeded Buffanblu (14-5-1) will face No. 4 seed and Maui Interscholastic League champ Maui (14-3) in today's 4:30 p.m. semifinal at Les Murakami Stadium.

Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Punahou had to rally from deficits of 5-0, 7-6 and 8-7 to get past unseeded Roosevelt, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's fifth-place team.

The Rough Riders (10-8) took an 8-7 lead in the top of the seventh inning when Sean Matsumoto reached on a two-base error and scored on a single to right by Aaron Yamane.

Yamane later tried to score from second on a single to right by TJ Bae, but was thrown out at the plate on a relay from right fielder Geoff Kunita to first baseman Jeeter Ishida to catcher Zach Kometani.

Kometani, leading off the bottom of the seventh, reached on a bunt single and courtesy runner Yoshiyama was sacrificed to second by Ishida. Young then brought home Yoshiyama with a single to right — tying the game — and Kiriu followed with his blast to left-center to score Young.

"It was a fastball up," Kiriu said of the game's final pitch. "Luckily, I was able to get a hold of it."

It was a redeeming finish for Kiriu, who was the starting pitcher but lasted only two innings after allowing five runs on four hits and four walks. Punahou erased the deficit by scoring six runs on five hits in the bottom of the third, sparked by two-run doubles by Matt Suiter and Paul Snieder.

Roosevelt tied it 6-6 in the top of the fourth, after Rylen Ikehara's fielder's choice grounder to second scored Zach Hamasaki from third, and the Rough Riders went up 7-6 an inning later when Yamane's double to right brought home Casey Tanabe from second.

But the Buffanblu tied it again in the fifth, when Young hit a two-out double to right and scored on Kiriu's single down the left-field line.

Roosevelt then took the lead again at 8-7 in the seventh.

"Our boys gave a great effort, they have nothing to be ashamed of," Rough Riders coach Craig Arakawa said. "They've been playing well the last few games, so we had confidence going in. But Punahou is battle-tested, and they're the four-time champs for a reason."

Read Wes' blog on prep sports at http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com