ASSOCIATED PRESS Instead of signing a pro contract, Colby Summer opted to stay at UH this season.

For Hawaii pitching staff,
it’s finally ... summer time!

THE definition of patience is the will or ability to wait or endure without complaint. Whether University of Hawaii pitcher Colby Summer complained of his predicament or not, he certainly learned patience, sometimes agonizingly so, while watching his teammates compete in 75 home games over the past two seasons.

Rainbow Baseball San Jose State at Hawaii When: Today, 6:35 p.m.; tomorrow and Sunday, 1:05 p.m. Where: Les Murakami Stadium TV: Sunday's game live, KFVE, Ch. 5 Radio: All games live, KKEA, 1420-AM Tickets: $3-6 Notes: The teams have split 62 games in a series that started in 1980. ... Last year, the Spartans won four of the six games, including a sweep of the season-ending series in San Jose. ... Fans with season tickets to any UH sport can buy one ticket and get one free to any of the three games this weekend.

Summer, a 6-foot-8 right-hander, never threw a ball for the 'Bows in 2003 and 2004 after transferring from Mt. Hood College. He experienced pain in his right arm just before the start of the 2003 season and had Tommy John surgery in May 2003.

The long wait ended when Summer started the third game of the Alabama series, pitching six-hit ball for six innings to earn a win in his first UH start.

"It was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do, learn the patience rule," said Summer. His deal was to take rehabilitation one throw at a time, do it the right way and not hurry back.

"It was hard to not pick up a ball and throw it over the fence from the pitchers mound," he said "Some days the arm felt great and other days I wondered what the hell happened."

After surgery, the plan was to rehab through the 2004 UH season. At the end of last year he was into the long-toss program and throwing off the mound. That carried him into summer ball. He was able to play for the Aloha (Ore.) Knights, throwing his first competitive pitches in a one-inning outing June 5, three days before being selected in the 38th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Boston Red Sox.

The Knights went on to win the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kan.

"Everything progressed well. My throwing velocity was much harder during the summer than it is now and the funny thing is I wasn't trying to do it," Summer said. "I rehabbed so well, I haven't had pain in the elbow in months."

Summer also started in the four-game series against Pacific and Washington State, but became a midweek starter when three-game weekend series became the norm. That changes again tomorrow when he joins the weekend rotation against San Jose State.

"Nothing Colby did warranted him not being in the weekend rotation. It's just other guys were pitching better. My wanting to get Steven Wright back in the bullpen made the decision easy," UH coach Mike Trapasso said.

"Colby hasn't done anything different from his first start. He has thrown well and kept us in every game he has pitched. I think his expectation levels and ours are close to being there. I think we will continue to see his stuff get better."

Summer is happy with Trapasso's decision.

"I felt I've been pitching well the past few weeks and deserve to be in the rotation. That's where I felt I needed to be a help to the team," Summer said.

When he was drafted, Summer said then that he would wait to see how things went in summer ball, then make a decision about turning pro. There were times when he was close to signing with Boston.

"There was pretty good money, but not a great amount where people would say, 'Why didn't you take it?' I wanted to come back and prove myself to the university, the coaches and the doctors who helped me. The coaches all believed in me," said Summer, who has no regrets about the decision.

A shortstop all through high school and his first year of junior college, he didn't start pitching until his second year at Mt. Hood. Several schools recruited him to play both positions.

"I'm a 23-year-old rookie. I'm learning the ropes as I go along. I'm fortunate to have guys like Stephen Bryant and Ricky Bauer and Coach Trap and Coach K (Chad Konishi) to learn from," said Summer.

A sociology major, he needs two more classes after this semester to complete his degree.