It wasn’t as sweet as his junior season, but Hilo graduate Micah Kaaukai put up respectable senior numbers as he closed out his career at Cameron University in Oklahoma.
The shortstop hit .277 with a home run and 16 RBIs and 12 steals for the Division II Aggies, who finished 15-32, a 15-win drop for the previous season.
In 2017, Kaaukai led Cameron with a .435 batting average and was named to a pair of All-American teams,
Here is a look at home other Big Island graduates fared during the baseball season:
•Daylen Calicdan (Kamehameha) made five starts and played in 13 games during his redshirt freshman season at UH-Manoa. The infielder was 5 for 19, drove in a run and didn’t commit an error with four putouts.
• Outfielder Chay Toson (Kamehameha) was third on Southwestern (NAIA, Kansas) in batting with a .331 average. The junior, a transfer from Olympic CC, hit two home runs with 20 RBIs and seven steals in 37 games.
•Puget Sound senior infielder Jordan Hirae (Kamehameha) hit .182 with five RBIs in 20 games for the Loggers, a Division III school in Washington.
•Shaun Kurosawa (Waiakea) and Marcus Degrate (Kealakehe) each completed their sophomore seasons at College of the Siskiyous, while Kobie Kinzie (Kamehameha) and Austin Damate-Aina (Hilo) finished their freshman campaigns season at the junior college in Weed, Calif.
Degrate batted .325 in 80 at-bats, Kurosawa hit .219 and drove in 13 runs in 105 at-bats, while Kinzie was 3 for 20 and Damate-Aina 1 for 9.
•Hilo grad Nick Antony hit four home runs during his freshman season at Pierce, batting .270 with 12 RBIs 63 at-bats.
•Former Vikings teammate Josiah Factora was 1 for 9 during his sophomore season for the junior college in Washington.
•Sophomore Shelton Grace (Konawaena) didn’t get a hit in eight at-bats and scored two runs for Mayville State (NAIA, South Dakota).
•Playing for Centralia (junior college, Washington), sophomore infielder Taylor Mondina (Waiakea) hit .259 with a home run, 17 RBIs and five steals in 38 games.
• Sophomore Kanaikai Gaughen (Hawaii Prep) finished 3 for 43 with three RBIs for Mississippi Valley State (Division I).
• Sophomore Makana Aiona (Kamehameha) played in two games with four at-bats for Saint Martin’s (Division II, Washington)
• Sophomore Keian Kanetani (Keaau) played in five games with five at-bats for Pacific (D-III, Oregon).
