I had a burger (not bad, it had lettuce and tomato) and fries at the state baseball tourney yesterday. It came with fries. OK. Later, I had to get the garlic fries (Gordon Biersch's signature "aroma"), but by then, my stomach was oiled to da max. I barely put a dent into something that I normally finish off.

Baseball? Three dramatic, close games and one blowout. The blowout was 7-0, Saint Louis over Baldwin, but it was 2-0 after three innings or so. I knew Saint Louis would feel much, much more comfortable on the synthetic turf (no bad hops) than anywhere else. It's similar to what they practice on, and far smoother, if slower, than Ala Wai Field.

Confidence has no substitute, and the Crusaders had no errors. Besides that, Josh Saio struck out 10 (with no walks), which means his defense only needed to convert 11 outs. Saio pitched as well as anyone in the state possibly could have. A four-hit shutout with those numbers? Amazing. He even used the cross wind (left to right field) to help on his tailing and cutting fastballs.

Yep, Saint Louis looked like the best team out there yesterday. No knock on the other winners, though. Roosevelt and Castle engaged in yet another epic battle; they split during the regular season. This time, Kelson Okimoto outdueled Pulama Silva. Question for Roosevelt now is, do they have enough weaponry on the mound today when they play in the quarterfinals? It's been quite a season already for the Rough Riders, but reaching the state semifinals would be astounding.

The heartbreaker of the day had to be Kailua's 4-2 loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii. Blake Amaral of KSH was impressive on the mound, but it was two errors by the Surfriders in the bottom of the sixth that turned the game around. Until then, it looked like Kailua would be in the quarterfinals. Instead, the OIA runner-up -- they lost to Pearl City in the league finals 8-7 -- are eliminated. KSH coach Andy Correa put it nicely when he said his team was both lucky and opportunistic. Watch out for Kolten Wong, the Warriors' talented senior infielder. He was a great running back, but his skills on the diamond are multi-faceted (pun intended).

As for Mid-Pacific, a great performance by Dane Kinoshita did the job against Aiea. He outdueled Randy Castillo, which is saying a lot. Castillo settled down after wild start and pitched well enough to win, but this was MPI -- steady defense, timely hitting, smart baserunning. Easton Torigoe (I like a name that has anything to do with a great baseball bat) was clutch once again. He's a .422 hitter and had three hits last night. But other guys stepped up, too, from the bottom of the order. The Owls have that darkhorse cloak, but a 32-5 record hardly qualifies them as an underdog. You know it.

The quarterfinals begin in an hour or so. Are Maui and Waiakea ready to prove the doubters wrong? Are they worthy of a Seal of Approval merely because they won league crowns? One thing about baseball state championships, that first-round bye is extremely valuable in a year when pitching is a bit thin statewide.

Are Punahou and Pearl City ready? I think so. They've shown a penchant for clutch at-bats and solid pitching depth. Punahou's brand of small ball could be lethal to defenses. The turf at Murakami is conducive to good bunting, one of Punahou's strengths. Even the sluggers of Saint Louis did a good job in that area yesterday.

Who wins this thing? Heck if I know. Maybe one or two teams pulls a rabbit out of their sleeve. You'd think there are no surprises left, not this late in the season. But you never know.

(By the way, the D-II state tourney is nothing but surprises for me since I didn't see any during the regular season. All I saw was Maryknoll, which played a D-I schedule in the ILH. Surprised that they won big against HPA? Don't be.)

And as for the snack bar at the stadium ... hot dogs and burgers are standard. But what I need on a breezy, cool night is good ramen. Call in Ezogiku or Taiyo Ramen, please. If I were greedy, I'd ask for Tenkaippin, but I'm not, so I won't.

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