Punahou pummels Pearl City, 8-1
• Moanalua tops Kaiser• Saint Louis tops Kailua, 4-2
• MPI beats Hilo in 10 innings, 8-5
• Waimea pounces on Waipahu, 12-5
• Baldwin stomps Campbell, 13-2
by Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
WAILUKU, Maui — Sophomore right-hander Zachery Muenster limited Pearl City to three hits and one walk with nine strikeouts over six innings last night to help Punahou knock off the No. 1 seeded Chargers, 8-1, in the Wally Yonamine Foundation Baseball Championship quarterfinals.
The six-time defending champion Buffanblu improved to 13-5-1 in the regular and postseason and will face Interscholastic League of Honolulu rival Mid-Pacific (16-4) in today's 7 p.m. semifinal at Iron Maehara Stadium.
Muenster, who started and pitched two innings in Wednesday's 12-0 opening-round victory over Mililani, also defeated Pearl City in last year's quarterfinals as a freshman just called up from the JV.
Two nights later, he started and was the winning pitcher in Punahou's state title victory over Kailua.
"That definitely helped (tonight)," Muenster said. "It gave me the confidence that I could do this."
Also helping was a Punahou offense that broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the fourth inning after Rick Nomura came home on a balk and Ryan Yamane's RBI single to left field. The Buffanblu made it 4-0 in the fifth on run-scoring singles by Alaka'i Aglipay and Nomura, then scored four runs in the sixth on two hits, a wild pitch and an error.
Muenster, meanwhile, took a no-hitter into the fifth, when Kahana Neal led off with a single and scored after back-to-back singles by Tyler Tokunaga and Jordan Oshiro.
But that would be it for the O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion Chargers, who dropped to 15-1.
"He (Muenster) beat us last year, and he did it again," Pearl City coach Gary Nakamura said. "It was hard for our kids, he kept us off-balanced. Some pitches were in the dirt and we were stilll swinging."
PUNAHOU (13-5-1) 000 224 0 — 8 10 0
PEARL CITY (15-1) 000 010 0 — 1 3 2
Zachery Muenster, Kaiana Eldredge (7) and Eldredge, Reece Toma (7). Kahana Neal, Sumi Pruett (6) and Isaac Shim, Royce Murai (6). W — Muenster. L — Neal.
Leading hitters — Punahou: Eldredge 2-3, 2 RBIs; Alaka'i Aglipay 2-4, 2 RBIs; Rick Nomura 2-4, double, RBI; Ryan Yamane 2-3, RBI. Pearl City: Jordan Oshiro 1-3, RBI.
Read his blog on high school sports at http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com
