Kaiser’s Noah Sham joins growing contingent of Hawaii players at Nevada baseball

WAIKIKI — The Hawai’i-to-Reno pipeline continues to grow.

Kaiser senior Noah Sham adds to the number of players from the 50th state that are continuing baseball career at the University of Nevada, Reno after making his commitment official Wednesday morning at a signing day event at the Sheraton Waikiki.

“First of I want to thank the man above and just thank my parents for everything that they do for me and for supporting me through my baseball journey,” Sham said.

“This feeling, it’s exciting. I’m really pumped and excited to see and experience the collegiate level. I’m ready to get after it and train hard.”

Click here for full list of signees and universities that they will be attending.

During his junior season, the Kaiser shortstop batted .370 with 12 RBIs and 10 stolen bases and earned All-OIA Division-I East Player of the Year honors while helping the Cougars reach the league championship game.

Kaiser coach Josh Halemanu said Sham’s work ethic is a big reason why he is the player he is today.

“He just shows up everyday,” Halemanu said. “He’s a competitor and he’s not backing down from anybody. He believes in himself and he had a great year. He came up big for us when we needed him. That’s Noah.”

The Nevada baseball team finished atop the Mountain West Conference standings in the spring with a roster that had three players from Hawai’i, including freshman Sean Yamaguchi out of Saint Louis and Payton Dixon out of Mid-Pacific.

That number doubled during fall ball with the addition of 2025 Kamehameha-Kapalama graduates Kainoa Kaneshiro and Greyson Osbun and transfer Lee Matsuzaki. Assistant coach Noah Shackles is also a Mid-Pacific graduate.

“What really drew me was the coaching staff,” Sham said of his decision to pick Nevada. “The coaching staff is really good and they’re really fun to talk to and the people around me as well. Some of the past freshman, Payton Dixon and Sean Yamaguchi, they said they had a wonderful year and I just want to experience that level and it’s good to see other people succeed and hopefully I get to experience that.”

Sham is projected to compete for one of the middle infield positions but he is willing to play any spot to get on the field.

“I’m able to play any position that they need me to fill in so maybe utility. Overall just excited to play any position and to be out there for the experience is what I’m looking forward to,” he said.

He will be studying business and finance during his playing days for the Wolf Pack.

With the University of Hawai’i becoming a full-member of the Mountain West next summer, Sham is also eagerly anticipating the opportunity to play collegiate baseball at Les Murakami Stadium in the future.

“Just watching and growing up playing at UH stadium is just going to be a blessing and playing in front of my home town,” said Sham. “Playing with Reno is also a great opportunity too. I’m just super excited for that. I just can’t wait to see people that I know up there and family that comes out to support me.”

Also joining Sham in the signing day event were teammates Tanner Kagimoto and Hayzen Inouye. Kagimoto signed with Hawai’i Pacific University while Inouye will continue his playing career at Cal-Poly.

Halemanu said the trio have set the tone for the Kaiser baseball program.

“If we don’t practice, they’re somewhere working out. All this hard work they do on the side and the extras they put in put them in the position they’re in now.

“We have workouts in the offseason, voluntary workouts, I think we had around 10 to 12 show up when we started this program. Now because of the way these guys do their business, we have 30 guys. I think our program has changed because everybody sees how they go about their business.”

Inouye batted .417 in the spring primarily playing catcher for the Cougars.

“He’s got a cage at his house and he’s always finding people and resources to make himself better,” Halemanu said of Inouye. “Hayzen has improved a lot because he’s started lifting in the morning 6 o’clock, maybe even 5:30. He does all his baseball individual work in the afternoon and he just puts in a lot of work.”