College baseball: Ka’aua back on base for Hawaii

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…