WAILUKU — Skyler Cabacungan got things started for the Baldwin High School baseball team yesterday with a pair of triples in his first two at-bats.

He finished a 13-9 win over King Kekaulike with a three-minute, 1-2-3 final inning on the mound at Maehara Stadium as the Bears moved to 3-0 in the Maui Interscholastic League.

Baldwin led 10-9 through six innings, a stark contrast to its first two MIL wins. The Bears needed just eight innings to outscore their first two opponents 29-0, including a 10-0 win in five innings over Na Ali'i (0-2) on Friday.

''That was a very big win for us,'' said Cabacungan to The Maui News, who is a 5-foot-6, 150-pound senior headed to San Jose (Calif.) City College to play football and baseball. ''We came out a little sluggish, but we stayed together after we lost some guys early.''

Four Bears came to the game only to tell coach Jon Viela that they had to leave before the 1 p.m. start because of the school's junior prom, including starters Kainalu Garso and Gabe Kahoohanohano.

''We overcame the adversity and got the job done,'' Cabacungan said.

Viela said it was just a bit of miscommunication.

''I knew the guys were going to junior prom, but I did not know that they would be leaving that early,'' Viela said. ''We put T.K. Loewen in right field and CeeJay Santos in left and they both did well.''

Viela told Cabacugan in the sixth that he would be coming on to close, and then the Bears turned the one-run lead into a nonsave situation by scoring three times in the top of the seventh.

As he had been earlier in the game when the Bears scored five runs in the first two innings, Cabacungan was in the middle of the uprising. His bloop single scored Santos, Riley Beeson had a sacrifice fly and Jordan Negrini knocked in the final run with a single to left.

Cabacungan then came in to strike out the first two hitters he saw before inducing a soft grounder to third to end the game.

''Those runs made it a lot easier, they helped me a lot,'' he said. ''I was able to just trust my defense. When it was one run, I was thinking a lot, but after we opened it up, it was easy to go out there.''

Viela also credited starter Chase Tokunaga and Kaulana Ching (1-0), who entered in the third inning. Tokunaga, Ching, Brock Shishido — Friday's winning pitcher — and Tyler Ono, who beat Kaahumanu Hou on Wednesday, are all sophomores.

Viela said he was not surprised Na Ali'i came out ready to play.

''My whole outlook on the MIL is that anybody can beat anybody,'' he said. ''Just look at King Kekaulike today. They came out a lot more prepared than they were last night when they had five errors. Today, they really played well.''

The Bears opened a 10-5 lead with two runs in the third and three more in the fourth, but Na Ali'i drew within 10-9 with a four-run fourth moments after the scoreboard went dark because of a power outage in central Maui.

In the end, there was enough young pitching and defense for the Bears.

''They say good pitching will beat good hitting,'' Viela said. ''We had decent pitching today. We threw strikes, but they hit the ball. Our defense wasn't bad, but King Kekaulike hit the ball and put pressure on us.''

Cabacungan finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs. Todd Miyazono was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs, while Beeson, Santos and Shishido each had two hits, including a double. Ching and Jarin Hayase each had a pair of the Bears' 17 hits.

The game was an improvement for Na Ali'i, although they now trail Baldwin by 2 1/2 games just a week into the 12-game MIL Division I regular season. Taylor DeGuerra was 3-for-4 with a run, while Kealoha Ishikawa and Kapono Williamson each went 2-for-4 and combined to score five runs. All three also doubled.

''We seemed to be a little more confident at the plate today and were making plays on defense,'' King Kekaulike coach Mark Makimoto said. ''This, without a doubt, will help our confidence. You play a team like Baldwin, as disciplined as they are, as well as we did today and it has to help. Baldwin always has good at-bats and plays solid defense. To play as well as we did today, we are going to gain some confidence this weekend.''

Baldwin 232 300 3—13 17 3

King Kekaulike 320 400 0—9 8 2

Chase Tokunaga, Kaulana Ching (3), Skyler Cabacungan (7) and Riley Beeson; Kalei Miller, Justin Cayaban (4) and Mikey Douglas. W—Ching, 1-0. L—Miller, 0-1. 2B—B, CeeJay Santos, Brock Shishido, Beeson, Todd Miyazono; KK, Taylor DeGuerra, Kealoha Ishikawa, Kapono Williamson. 3B—B, Cabacungan 2.

For more Maui news, visit www.mauinews.com