COTUIT, Mass. — Luke Matthews (Kent State) played his last game of the regular season in Hyannis on July 29.
He was the tying score in the eventual 3-3 draw. That run in the fourth would be the last Kettleers fans would see of the infielder for a few days.
Matthews was sidelined for four of the last five regular-season games with a wrist injury.
He was forced to watch the team battle out the last stretch of the season from the dugout.
“I try to stay locked in on the game,” Matthews said of how he handled being on the sideline. “I trust in the Lord and I keep competing every day.”
The injury very well could have sent him home before the school year began. Injuries in summer play are taken very seriously by coaches, and most players are pulled from their teams to avoid worsening them.
Not Matthews.
“He could’ve said, ‘Hey, I’m good,’” Cotuit manager Loren Hibbs said. “He didn’t. He stayed.”
The infielder spent the days before the season finale working with the team’s athletic trainer, Caitlin Victor, to be ready when the Kettleers needed him most.
“I got with Caitlin, did a little ice and did everything to play in the playoffs,” Matthews said. “It’s paying off so far.”
After a single in the regular-season finale in Falmouth, Matthews had Monday to be fully ready for playoffs.
And boy, did he deliver.
In Game 1 of the first round of playoffs in Wareham, Matthews went 2-for-4, including the Ketts’ go-ahead single in the fourth inning, and the eventual winning RBI single in the top of the 10th.
He flashed his leather in the bottom of the 10th with two spectacular defensive plays to keep Cotuit in the lead and give them a 1-0 series lead.
“You are not going to see two any better defensive plays than what Matthews made,” Hibbs said. "The ball was left and then it was right. Seriously. You will not see any two better defensive plays by anybody in baseball right now.”
An extra-inning battle can be exhausting. With an earlier game at Lowell on Wednesday, many could have showed up tired and lacking energy.
The Kettleers, however, came in with high energy, and Matthews played a large part in another extra-inning win.
In the 11-inning thriller, Matthews once again went 2-for-4, this time with an RBI single in the second to put Cotuit up 1-0.
The Kettleers ended up walking off the Gatemen with a Landon Beaver two-run home run in the 11th inning, sending the once 1-7 team to the West Division Finals.
“We got a good group of guys, it’s fun,” Matthews said. “It’s fun to play with these guys every day and compete, and we’re not done yet. Let’s go.”
