The outdoors has become the great outdoors for University of Hawaii baseball player Alex Baeza.

After returning to Honolulu following a summer in Utah, Baeza went through the state-mandated 14-day quarantine for incoming trans-Pacific travelers. He fulfilled the obligation on Tuesday. Baeza had tested negative for the coronavirus before arriving in Hawaii, and he has never had any symptoms.

“It’s great,” Baeza said of ending his stay-at-home restrictions. “I can go outdoors instead of looking through a window.”

Baeza spent Wednesday moving from a Kapahulu house to places he will share with UH teammates Tai Atkins and Stone Miyao.

“It’s been interesting,” Baeza said of the quarantine. “It was a lot of video games and a lot of trying to figure out what I could do workout-wise in a living room.”

That was in contrast to this summer in Utah, where he was born and reared. When restrictions were lifted, Baeza competed in the Utah College League on the Salt Lake City Community College campus. “It was good competition,” said Baeza, noting Brigham Young University’s starting rotation participated.

As part of social-distancing precautions, the umpires, batters, catchers and infielders wore masks during the games. “It was tough the first couple days,” Baeza said of playing while wearing a mask, “but after a game or two, you figure it out.”

In six games, Baeza went 9-for-16 with four doubles.

Baeza is returning to UH after not being selected as a fourth-year junior in the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft for First-Year Players. He also was not offered a free-agent contract. Under an NCAA rule, spring-sport players will retain this past season’s class standing for another year. Baeza will be a fifth-year junior for the 2021 season.

Although UH’s fall semester begins on Aug. 24, Baeza said, “I wanted to get my quarantine done early. I wanted to have some time here before school started.”

Baeza said he ordered food from a supermarket’s delivery service. He said his girlfriend also dropped off meals.

Baeza said he kept active with push-ups and sit-ups. He then expanded his workouts to simulated “batting” practice using a broom stick while watching baseball telecasts.

“I’m a huge Dodger fan,” Baeza said. “I’ve been watching every game. … I’ve been standing in front of the TV in my stance, trying to mimic some timing if I’m ‘facing’ a pitcher. I grab a broomstick to work on my feel and timing. … When a pitcher is throwing, I try to get a couple ‘at-bats’ for the timing and approach. He’ll throw a sinker, and I’ll see if I’m timed to that. With a curveball, whether I’m out in front or not. It’s the same thing I used to do when I was 8 years old.”

He also threw tennis balls off the wall to work on fielding “ground balls.”

“I’m just trying to do what I can,” Baeza said.