Keian Kanetani was the pilot of a baseball season joyride for the ages last year, when Keaau reached the BIIF championship for the first time.
Keian Kanetani was the pilot of a baseball season joyride for the ages last year, when Keaau reached the BIIF championship for the first time.
The Cougars lost to Hilo, but that didn’t diminish his accomplishments. He batted .581 and was named the BIIF Division I Player of the Year.
There’s one thing Kanetani does better than hit a baseball, and it’s not pitching. Although, he went 3-1 with a 2.21 ERA.
The 5-foot-10 senior is a home-run slugger at hitting the books. His cumulative grade-point average is 4.009, and he’s in the running with a dozen others to be the school’s valedictorian graduation speaker.
“I’m most proud of my GPA because it took more time, work, and dedication to accomplish,” Kanetani said. “Although I am very proud of being last year’s BIIF player of the year.”
That production on and off the field, along with his community service, earned him an academic and merit scholarship at Pacific University, the popular Division III college home for Hawaii kids.
Kanetani has been a student at coach Kaha Wong’s Big Island Baseball organization since he was 9 years old.
He’s played his offseason ball with the Hilo RBI travel team and Wong’s all-star teams.
Last July, Kanetani attended the Under Armour Academic West Top 96 baseball camp, which is run by college coaches, including schools like USC, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and Harvard.
In fact, there was a bunch of academically inclined Division III schools such as Pacific, Lewis and Clark, Whitman, Whitworth, Vassar, and Tufts.
Kanetani’s performance at the two-day camp got him noticed, and his academic background drew offers from Pacific, Whitman, and Lewis and Clark, his three top suitors.
“Pacific felt like a home away from home, and there a lot of Hawaii kids there,” said Kanetani, who immediately credited his parents (Kerry and Janis), teachers, coaches, and teammates for helping him become a future Boxer.
His Cougar coaches highlight his character — like his self-motivation and leadership — before mentioning Kanetani’s baseball skills.
“He’ll do his own thing. He’ll run on his own,” Keaau coach Herb Yasuhara said. “You don’t have to tell him what to do.”
Assistant coach Blayne Sato views Kanetani as the best type of teammate, someone who cares about others but will push them at the same time.
“The biggest part about Keian has been his growth as a person, his maturity and leadership,” Sato said. “The baseball part would come. He’s that nice combination of student-athlete.”
Kanetani serves as a tutor and helps teammates during the team’s mandatory study hall. He puts his time management skills to good use and gets his homework done, too.
That falls into line the life lesson from his parents.
“It’s work hard now and have fun later,” said Kanetani, who has a family name tradition.
He’s Keian Blane Kanetani. His dad Kerry’s middle name is also Blane. His brother is Konner Bryce Kanetani, a 2012 Keaau graduate.
Brother’s benchmark
Konner Kanetani is majoring in civil engineering at UH-Manoa, where he’ll graduate this year. He’s already got a job lined up at Hensel Phelps, a construction company on Oahu.
“Keian is competitive, and he’s always wanted to be better than Konner at everything,” Janis Kanetani said.
Her youngest wants to major in physics at Pacific and get into an engineering program later.
Kerry Kanetani would sing the same song to the ace pitcher/shortstop when he was a youngster: “Emphasis on academics because it will take you farther.”
Kanetani had already set a goal. His trait of self-motivation kicked in early. His dad hit a home run because the message sunk in.
“I just have a competitive spirit and wanted to be better than he was,” Kanetani said. “I decided before I entered high school I wanted to have better grades. Konner helped push me and set a good example for me.”
Angel’s heart
Kanetani is vice president of the school’s Interact Club, which does community service projects, such as highway clean-ups.
He also volunteered for the Salvation Army’s Christmas Angel Tree program. Impoverished youngsters put their wishes on a ticket to hang on a tree.
Asked what he liked best about volunteering, Kanetani hit a home run.
“I like seeing the good in the community, all the good people giving back to the community,” he said. “It touches me. On the Angel Tree, there were a lot of requests for bikes.”
The best part about being a pilot is you can take people, like your Cougar teammates, on a memorable ride of a lifetime.
And sometimes in return, you receive a priceless gift and not just on a baseball field.
“Bikes are not cheap,” Kanetani said. “This one guy walked in with 10 bikes, and it was heart-touching.”
To submit an On scholarship candidate, email kjakahi@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
On scholarship
Who: Keian Kanetani
School: Keaau
Sport: Baseball
Class: Senior
College: Pacific University