WAILUKU — The St. Anthony High School baseball team knew in June that a state Division II tournament would be added for the first time this spring.

Now, the Trojans know they will be there.

The defending overall Maui Interscholastic League champions had an easy time clinching the first MIL D-II regular-season title — and the state tournament bid that goes with it — in a 13-0, five-inning win over Moloka'i on Friday at Maehara Stadium.

With one game to go in the regular season between the same two teams today at 1 p.m., the Trojans are 8-2, while the Farmers fell to 5-5. If they had swept this weekend, the Farmers would have taken the regular-season title on the head-to-head tiebreaker with both teams having the same 7-4 records.

The Farmers decided to start little-used Nelson Rapanot on the mound instead of ace Scottie Rapanot Jr., who played shortstop. Another solid pitcher, former MIL All-Star Kaden Tabil, did not make the trip as he was attending to academic concerns.

Another starter for the Farmers also did not make the trip because he was ineligible.

With 2007 MIL Player of the Year Michael Jahns on the mound for the Trojans, that was a decision that added up to a big loss.

Jahns tossed a two-hitter, struck out nine — three of which reached on passed balls and subsequent throwing errors to first base — and walked one.

The only hits he gave up were singles to Joseph Akaka and Kahekili Pa-Kala in the first inning after Jahns struck out the first two batters on six total pitches.

''I left two in the zone with two strikes on each one of them,'' Jahns said after he improved to 5-1 on the season and 11-2 over the last two. ''Moloka'i is a good team and they swing at strikes. They wouldn't let me get anything by them.''

Jahns said he settled in after that.

''I got into a nice groove, my curveball was working and my fastball had a lot of movement on it and I was hitting my spots,'' said Jahns, who is headed to Northwestern University on a baseball scholarship in the fall. ''My defense played well, too. (Second baseman) Ryan Rodriguez made all the plays we needed, Buta (Wilhelm-Ioane) made a nice play on a pop fly.''

Jahns said that having the state tournament wrapped up is big, but the Trojans are going to state to do more than they did last season when they lost both games. The MIL pennant last season was the school's first in 29 years.

''Going into the state tournament you have to have the will to win, not just be happy to be there,'' Jahns said. ''You can't be, 'We're here and we're going to give up.' We gotta try to pull out some wins over there.''

The win was relatively easy on Friday.

The Trojans scored twice in the first inning. Lead-off hitter Aronne Santos walked, then took second when Jahns was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and then again on a balk. The balk scored Santos and Wilhelm-Ioane singled to plate the second run.

Things quickly got out of hand as the Trojans scored four times in the second on one hit and a pair of errors. Five more runs crossed the plate in the third inning when the Farmers committed four errors and the Trojans had four hits.

St. Anthony coach Shane Dudoit said he was surprised when he did not see either Tabil or Scottie Rapanot on the mound. When Moloka'i coach Clarence Loo told Dudoit that Tabil had stayed home to concentrate on academics, Dudoit expected to see Rapanot on the mound as he had been in every other first game of a series this season.

''Oh yeah, Scottie is probably their number one guy,'' Dudoit said. ''I'm really not sure what they were thinking, but it worked out for us. I guess they'll be tough tomorrow.'' Loo said that Scottie Rapanot would most likely start on the mound today.

''We knew we had to have both wins, so I decided to hold Scottie for tomorrow,'' Loo said. ''We are down to 11 players and the tow guys we are missing are middle infield guys, so we knew pretty much we were going to struggle. I would have had to use the two guys I used today tomorrow if they didn't go today.

''We had to take the ferry over this morning and it is hard to get your land legs back and we were compromised pitching-wise.''

Nelson Rapanot and reliever Pa-Kala combined to walk 14, hit a batsman, and the Farmer defense committed seven errors.

The Trojans also took advantage of the inexperienced pitching for seven stolen bases. There were also five wild pitches and two passed balls on the Farmers.

Dudoit wasn't completely pleased with his team, even on a day they dominated in every phase. Santos had two hits, walked twice and scored three times to lead the offense, which also got a double from Aaron Uehara.

Dudoit will be sending coaches around the state to scout potential state opponents the next couple weeks. The MIL D-II tournament, where another state spot will be up for grabs, will be played next week. The matchups are now locked up — No. 1 St. Anthony will play No. 4 Ka'ahumanu Hou (0-10) on Wednesday, while No. 2 Moloka'i will play No. 3 Seabury Hall (2-9) on Thursday and the winners will play for the tournament title Friday.

''We still need to improve in all areas, including attitude,'' Dudoit said. ''We need to find a way to stay focused and at the same time have fun playing baseball.''

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