Ex-‘Iolani star Campos coming home to play for Rainbows

Matt Campos is returning to his happy place.

After two baseball seasons with the University of San Francisco, Campos is transferring to the University of Hawaii.

Campos, a 2016 ‘Iolani School graduate, remembered being “that Little League kid running at the upper first-base side at Les Murakami (Stadium) watching (UH games).”

When he decided to transfer, he said, “I was thinking I wanted to have fun, and Les Murakami was always a place where I saw as something fun. I kind of wanted to be part of that, inspiring those other little kids running around up in the bleachers at Les Murakami, too.”

He recalled when USF visited UH in 2017, his freshman year with the Dons. “I remember I was bullpen catching for the first couple games of the series,” Campos said. “I was running up and down the side, and there were people I didn’t even know yelling, ‘hey, Campos, welcome home.’ I thought, ‘wow, I’m playing against them, and I still have them behind my back, which is the coolest thing ever.’ To have that every game is something special.”

Campos, who hit .274 as a catcher/infielder this past season, is projected to compete at second, shortstop and third for the Rainbow Warriors. In accordance with NCAA transfer rules, he is required to redshirt this coming season.

Campos has worked on his swing since he was 2. “My dad bought me a little plastic golf set,” Campos recalled. “I would be whacking golf balls around my house and breaking things. My dad was like, ‘OK, let’s sign you up for baseball.’ I started playing in a league when I was barely 4 years old.”

At 12, he was a member of the Waipio team that played in the 2010 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Waipio won the American title, but lost to international champion Japan in the title game.

“That was a great team,” Campos said. “That was actually the only team I played for where I knew we would win every single game we played. We found ourselves with the backs against the wall a handful of times, and we had no doubt in our minds that we were capable of coming back.”

He found similar encouragement at ‘Iolani, where the coaches offered to let him take as many grounders or swings as he wished in practices.

“They told me, ‘let us know what you need to get to where you want to be,’ ” Campos said. “They really pushed for hard work and work ethic. I mean, they pushed us physically and mentally. I feel that’s where my mental toughness grew. From a baseball standpoint, I really learned a lot.”

As a senior in 2016, Campos hit .370 with an on-base percentage of .452 and slugging percentage of .574. He was named to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s All-State first team for the second time after being selected as a sophomore.

Campos said he chose USF, in part, to learn to be independent. While he enjoyed his time with the Dons, he recalled, “after games, guys would see their parents. I would go change in the locker and go back to my apartment and eat dinner. Whenever my parents came up, I felt like it was a home series, definitely having them behind my back and fully supporting me. I know that really made them happy. I missed playing in front of them, too.”

The transfer, he said, is “kind of giving support back to my support system.”