The past two University of Hawaii baseball seasons, catcher Chayce Ka’aua has endured diversity of adversity.
“My family gave me encouraging words,” said Ka’aua, who was medically cleared to play a week ago and is part of the Rainbow Warriors’ travel squad for road games against Cal State Northridge this weekend. “They kept me up, kept me in the right place.”
In the third game of the 2016 against New Mexico, Ka’aua suffered a broken middle finger on his right (throwing) hand while sliding into a base.
His finger was fitted for a splint, and then he was told to rest it for a month. After that, he underwent a week of rehabilitation. “Then I got cleared, and I was back in the lineup,” said Ka’aua, who went 1-for-4 with a walk as the designated hitter against Santa Clara.
Ka’aua, a 2013 Hilo High graduate, added: “Even when I got back, hitting was fine but throwing still bothered me. I couldn’t feel the ball with my middle finger. It took me a while. Throwing wasn’t cooperating. As time went on, it got better. It healed great.”
Ka’aua said he was born with two hernias. Because doctors thought it was too risky to insert a mesh into an infant, Ka’aua said, “they sewed it up, like a temporary fix.”
He always knew the problem could reappear.
“As it just so happens, it popped out two weeks before (this) season,” Ka’aua said. “It was bad timing. I was running and I felt a pop. I didn’t feel anything. I kept doing what I was doing. No pain. A couple days later, I woke up and went to use the bathroom and there was a lump on my left side.”
He was diagnosed with a hernia. He agreed to undergo a procedure in which a piece of mesh was fastened to his pelvic bone to cover the hole.
His physical activities were restricted to walking for four weeks. He filled his backpack with books, then walked up and down staircases. “I slowly got back into some body-weight workouts,” Ka’aua said. “It was a long and tough road.”
Ka’aua was set to return to the lineup for the past Friday’s game against UC Davis. But that game was rained out and rescheduled for the next day as the first game of a doubleheader. Overnight, UC Davis decided to switch from a left-handed pitcher to a righty, and right-hitting Ka’aua was bumped from the lineup. But he was used as a pinch hitter in the nightcap, going 1 for 1 and driving in two runs, and went 1 for 4 as the designated hitter on Sunday.
UH coach Mike Trapasso said Ka’aua will have a significant role in the Big West series that begins Friday.
“It was a hard pill to swallow at the time,” Ka’aua said of the medical setbacks. “People told me a lot of things happen for a reason. I kept looking at it that way. I kept my head up, and waited for the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s finally here.”
Glance
Who: Hawaii (22-14, 4-5 Big West) at Cal State Northridge (20-22, 7-5)
When: Noon HST Friday; 10 a.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. Sunday
Where: Northridge, Calif. (Matador Field)
Pitching matchups: Friday, UH RHP Brendan Hornung (5-3, 2.70 ERA, 76.2 IP, 6 BB, 68 SO) vs. CSUN RHP Tei Vanderford (4-4, 3.37, 69.1 IP, 28 BB, 54 SO); Saturday, UH RHP Jackson Rees (3-0, 4.03 ERA, 51.1 IP, 21 BB, 26 SO) vs. CSUN RHP Andrew Weston (5-1, 3.29, 63.0 IP, 14 BB, 39 SO); Saturday, UH RHP Neil Uskali (6-2, 3.29 ERA, 63.0 IP, 12 BB, 40 SO) vs. CSUN RHP Samuel Myers (3-5, 4.00, 63.0 IP, 19 BB, 56 SO)
Notes: The Rainbow Warriors are just one win shy of matching last year’s win total with 17 games to play … Center fielder Dylan Vchulek has reached base in 36 straight games, the sixth-longest such active streak in the nation. … UH’s pitching staff is averaging just 2.07 walks per nine innings, the best ratio in the nation … The Matadors are batting just .254, but 32 percent of their hits are for extra bases, including 36 home runs, and they average 5.0 runs per game. … The ‘Bows trail 29-16 in the all-time series.
