Pearl City seniors Cade Halemanu and Sam Prentice remember too well the sting of missing the state tournament last year.

The duo helped ensure the Chargers’ season will extend into May this time around.

Halemanu struck out 10 while holding Moanalua to three singles in a complete-game victory to power the host Chargers to a 4-1 win over Na Menehune on Thursday and into today’s semifinal round of the OIA Division I baseball playoffs.

Halemanu, the Chargers’ cleanup hitter, also drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI double after Prentice led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a triple to right field. They followed the same script in the sixth, when Prentice launched a one-out triple to deep center and Halemanu again followed with a double to left to open up the three-run cushion.

With the win, Pearl City — the OIA West’s second seed — advanced to face OIA East top seed Kailua in today’s 4 p.m. semifinal at Les Murakami Stadium and secured one of the league’s six state tournament berths.

“(Kailua coach Corey Ishigo’s) always going to be prepared,” first-year Pearl City coach Wes Yonamine said. “That’s why they’re No. 1.”

Last year, the Chargers lost to Kailua in the OIA quarterfinals and then saw their season end with a loss to Moanalua in the fifth-place bracket.

Halemanu said returning to the state tournament “was the motivation this year … didn’t like that feeling (last year).”

Halemanu gave up a line-drive single to Cody Isa to lead off the game, but the Pearl City outfield handled just two more chances, both flyouts, the rest of the way. The right-hander established a crisp fastball and mixed in his offspeed pitches to keep Na Menehune off balance.

Moanalua faces Leilehua today in the fifth-place bracket looking to keep its season alive.

“We just have to move on,” said Moanalua coach Scott Yamada. “The pitcher threw a really good game. They played good defense. We just couldn’t execute at the end. We had opportunities, but just didn’t get it done.”

Pearl City took the lead on Caleb Young’s RBI double down the right-field line to score Carter Hirano in the bottom of the second.

Halemanu faced just one batter over the minimum before Moanalua’s Cade Fernandez drew a leadoff walk to open the fifth inning. Two sacrifice bunts and an error put runners on second and third for Christian Capinia, who hit a bouncer up the middle that took a tricky hop just before hitting the glove of Pearl City shortstop Matt Aribal. Capinia was credited with an infield single and drove in Fernandez with the tying run.

Prentice seized momentum back for Pearl City in the bottom of the inning when he launched a high arcing fly over Moanalua right fielder Andrew Oasay and sped into third.

“Every at-bat I’m just trying to do my job for the team,” Prentice said. “It was slower velocity, so we had to sit back and everybody knew that and we prepared for that this week.

“I wanted to cut down the swing just a little bit and be unselfish and just help the team find a way and it just works out that way.”

Halemanu followed with a double to left to break the tie and the Chargers scratched out another run on Jensen Kaya’s two-out infield single to score courtesy runner Kendric Nakamura.

Kailua 10, Leilehua 1

Kalua Neves finished 4-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs and Stone Parker struck out nine in a complete-game win for the Surfriders (11-2), who clinched their 14th consecutive state tournament berth.

Kailua holds the longest active streak of state tournament appearances and the third-longest all-time behind Molokai’s 18 straight (1968-85) and Hilo’s run of 16 in a row from 1985 to 2000.

Cody Riturban added three hits and Jalen Ah Yat added a two-run double during a four-run sixth inning for Kailua.

Christian Ontai singled home the only run for the Mules (8-6), who will play at Moanalua today in the consolation semifinals.

Campbell 2, Kaiser 1, 8 innings

Nick Sampson walked and scored the game-winning run on a two-out error in the bottom of the eighth inning to push the Sabers (12-1) into the semifinals against Mililani tonight.

Jace Okamoto tripled to score Noah Matsumoto with two outs in the fifth inning to put Kaiser ahead 1-0.

Campbell, ranked No. 1 in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10 for the first time this week, scored both of its runs on errors.

Campbell’s Jamin Kalaola struck out eight and allowed five hits in seven innings. Kaiser’s Tyler Dyball gave up just one hit in seven innings with seven strikeouts.

Mililani 12, Kalani 1, 5 innings

Shea Yamaguchi went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs and catcher Korrey Siracusa had two hits and drove in five runs for the Trojans (10-4), who were the only road team to advance to the semifinals of the OIA playoffs on Thursday.

Ryan Ancheta allowed five hits in three innings to earn the win for Mililani, which will play Campbell tonight. The Trojans clinched a state tournament berth for the sixth straight season.

Jarod Kaneshiro doubled and scored the only run for Kalani (9-4), which will host Kaiser in today’s consolation semifinals.