‘Iolani shortstop Matt Campos made a bunch of clean plays at shortstop on Wednesday in a 10-3 win at home over Kamehameha.
He had seven assists and two putouts, including a running catch of a sharp liner to his right for the final out of the game.
There was one bad play by Campos — and that can easily happen to any shortstop. He threw low to first on a sixth-inning grounder by Makoa Mau, who reached on the error.
During one at-bat, ‘Iolani fans yelled, “Dons” several times, referring to the nickname of the University of San Francisco baseball team, where Campos will be playing next spring.
He was recruited by the Dons and was awarded a 60 percent scholarship.
“They actually saw me when I went up (to the mainland) with two former UH coaches that put a summer team together,” said Campos, wearing a USF T-shirt after the win over Kamehameha. “It was with coach Keith Komeiji, Chad Konishi and Garett Yukumoto (the Hawaii Pacific University head coach) and I guess I caught their (the USF coaches’) attention. I went up to another showcase with Team Hawaii with coach Duane Eldredge, and they (the USF coaches) were satisfied with what they saw.”
About the error Wednesday, he said: “I kind of took it lightly because we were up by about seven, eight runs and I guess I short-armed it. But I had a field day out there today; I had a lot of action out there.”
Later in the sixth, Campos atoned for the mistake by throwing a zinger to first to get Kamehameha’s Nick Penzetta for the third out to end the Warriors’ three-run rally.
On the stellar seventh-inning catch, Campos added: “I had to kind of ride it. It was coming pretty hard.”
At the plate, Campos went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He was also caught stealing after beating out an infield hit for the third out in the fourth.
When asked about the focus of the team (now 2-1) as it gets deeper into the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season, Campos said, “We’re going (to try to) make it to states and we’re all going to bond together and pick up one another and it’s all going to pay off.”
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