The Campbell Sabers did everything coach Rory Pico wanted in their opening state tournament game.

Not only did the No. 2 seed advance to the Division I semifinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships, but the Sabers did it while saving starter Ian Kahaloa, who only had to pitch five innings in a 9-0 shutout of Kaiser at Les Murakami Stadium.

Kahaloa, who allowed two hits and one walk with five strikeouts, is now eligible to pitch up to eight innings over the next two days, beginning with Thursday night’s semifinal game against Saint Louis at 7 p.m.

Pico could afford to take his junior right-hander out early because his offense tallied 16 hits and led 8-0 after a dominant five innings.

"It helped a lot because I can throw more innings," said Kahaloa, who threw only 62 pitches. "All I did was make the defense work instead of last time striking out everybody."

Kahaloa pitched a nine-inning complete game with 16 strikeouts in a 3-2 win over Kaiser two weeks ago in the quarterfinals of the OIA tournament.

Campbell (15-1) had a much easier time on Wednesday, scoring in five consecutive innings off four different Kaiser pitchers.

"I think we had 16 singles today, but I’ll take it because the boys put some good swings on pitches today," Pico said. "You face a pitcher for the second time and you get to study their tendencies and look at the charts and I think offensively we had a better plan against this pitcher today."

Seven different Sabers had two hits, including Dorrien Hermosura, whose two-run single in the fourth inning gave Campbell a 5-0 lead.

Blayze Arcano-Liacuna went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Hermosura and Zachary Recolan each scored twice.

"We thought back to the last game and what they did against us and made adjustments," Hermosura said. "I think we have a good chance."

It’s the second straight year the Sabers have reached the semifinals and a win on Thursday would push them into the state final for the first time since they won it all in 1978.

Shawn Miyashiro and Elima Haole had the only two hits for Kaiser, which didn’t advance a runner to second base until the sixth inning, when it left the bases loaded.

"Other than the first inning I think second time around we all made adjustments and started to put the ball in play more," Kaiser coach Mark Rasmussen said. "For the most part, (Campbell) found some holes and had, what, 16 (base hits)? Hats off to them." 

Ian Kahaloa, Chad Samante (6), Markus Ramos (7) and Tryzen Patricio. Kamalu Vincent-Simeona, Aaron Oda (4), Shawn Miyashiro (5) and Kelan Yoshioka. W—Kahaloa. L—Vincent-Simeona.

Leading hitters—Camp: Jobe Ibana 2-4, run, sb; Keola Himan 2-5, RBI; Dorrien Hermosura 2-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Patricio 2-3; Zachary Kapihe 2-4, run, RBI; Blayze Arcano-Liacuna 2-4, 2 RBIs; Zachary Recolan 2-3, 2 runs, RBI.