The Maui baseball team is quite a ways away from Iron Maehara Stadium, but it feels right at home at the Wally Yonamine State Baseball Tournament.

The Sabers, who haven’t lost at Les Murakami Stadium since 2015, used being the designated home team as the MIL champion to top Waiakea 6-4 in the second round of the tournament on Thursday.

Every time Waiakea scored a run in the top half of an inning, Maui responded with at least a run of its own.

“Today was total team victory,” Maui coach Chase Corniel said. “Guys producing in the bottom half and keeping their head up when we went down 1-0. It could have gone downhill from there.”

Waiakea struck first in the top of the third inning when Teysen Tamiya scored on shortstop Nariyuki Dumlao’s error, putting the Sabers in an early hole they didn’t want to be in.

But then it was Maui’s turn to hit.

Ekolu Arai got things started with a double to left field and then tied the game on an error by shortstop Ivor Brooks. David Vergel de Dois and Dawson Nuese followed with first-pitch singles to give Maui the lead and knock Waiakea starter Kaleb Wada out of the box after just 42 pitches. Lucas Yamanaka took over on the bump and failed to record an out, with EJ Ramones smashing the first strike he saw to right field for a bases-clearing triple.

By the time the inning ended Maui had five runs on five hits with three Waiakea errors. It could have been even worse for Waiakea, but Jerrell Alston — the third pitcher in the inning —induced a lineout to left and groundout to second to end the inning with the bases loaded.

The Warriors fought back with two runs in the fifth on a walk by Brooks and a fielder’s choice by Isaiah Justo but Maui starting pitcher Logan Kuoloia left the bases loaded on a pop foul to right field.

“When you give up the inning you kind of have to come back banging and score one more than them to take the lead back and that’s what we did,” Kuoloia said.

Just as it did in the third inning, Maui responded with a run in the bottom of the inning when Dumlao singled and the right fielder allowed it to get past him and roll all the way to the wall.

Kuoloia continued to pull rabbits out of his hat until the seventh, when Waiakea finally got wise to his tricks.

The Warriors had to score three runs before spending their last three outs and nearly did it.

Isaiah Justo started the parade with a single that Dumlao somehow got a glove on at shortstop but threw over the first baseman’s head and Wada followed with a double. Kuoloia left the mound and switched positions with Dawson Nuese, calling it a day after three earned runs on 99 pitches.

“He’s been a horse the whole season, there is no secret about that,” Corniel said. “I’m proud of him, he battled and he’s always been a battler.”

Nuese only needed five pitches to get out of the jam, getting pinch hitter Clemson Julian to ground out to short and Kalama Ulibas to fly out to center to touch off a muted celebration before they meet Kailua or Saint Louis.

Maui won its first state tournament game since 2017 when it beat Waiakea for the title. The Sabers lost their first game in 2019 and 2022 at Iron Maehara Stadium.