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Suwannee pitcher/outfielder Matthew Gill is the LCR's Baseball Player of the Year. (COURTESY)
LIVE OAK — Every game Suwannee plays ends in a ritual. Win or lose, the baseball team gathers around the right-field line as coaches list off accomplishments by each player through that day’s practice and game performances. It can be as small as hustling to first base or as big as striking out the side in an inning. For every accolade a player earns, they get to punch a physical time card, usually to everyone else’s delight.
For Matthew Gill, his most memorable time card punch might’ve been his masterpiece.
After a subpar relief appearance three days earlier in a 10-7 loss to Santa Fe, Gill decided to switch things up. Not just on the field or at practice, but in his own life.
Matthew was no longer available to talk. Matthew was no longer available to pitch or hit or perform anything. Instead, there was Chad.
“This is the most frat boy name, and I’m just going to be a dude on the field,” Gill said of his temporary midseason name change. “I’m just gonna have grit. And I pitched one of the better games of my life.
“I got to punch my time card like, three times because (my coach) was like, ‘You gotta punch your time card for being Chad. You gotta punch your time card for allowing no earned runs. You gotta punch your time card for just being a dude.’”
Gill — or Chad — can add another reason to punch his time card now after earning the title of the Lake City Reporter’s Baseball Player of the Year.
Gill, who just completed his first year with the varsity squad, was relentless on the mound for the Bulldogs, compiling a 4-1 record through 10 appearances with a 2.14 ERA while striking out 38 over 36 innings pitched. He was also one of the team’s most prolific hitters, finishing the season with a team-best 47 runs accounted for (24 runs scored and 23 RBIs) while hitting .413, just shy of graduating senior Calvin Palmer’s team-high .415 average.
Gill’s masterpiece on the mound might well be the 3-1 win over Leon, the very same game Chad made his debut. While neither of them picked up a hit, the fused Matthew-Chad hybrid rocked the Lions to sleep throughout the night, allowing just one unearned run, four hits and a walk while striking out six batters through six innings.
Still, that unearned run sat on the board, just below a zero for Suwannee, heading into the seventh inning. But after his teammates helped him out with three runs in the top half of the frame, Matthew and/or Chad knew what they had to do.
“I shut them out,” Gill said. “I struck out the last three guys. Actually, the last guy I knew from travel ball, so I got to strike out my friend on the last one.
“I think that was my favorite experience of punching my time card.”
Whether he’s Matthew or Chad, or whether he’s pitching or hitting, head coach Justin Bruce said he’d take more of him based on personality alone.
“He’s just a great person,” Bruce said. “He’s the type of kid that you want on your team. He won our all-academic award for this season, he takes care of his business in the classroom and on the field. He just brings a lot to the table as a person and as a baseball player.
“Everyone that’s around that kid doesn’t take very long to be around him to realize the type of quality kid he is. He just has a good nature about him. He’s always smiling, he’s always uplifting everybody else. He’s just a really good teammate.”
What he brought contributed to a great season for the Suwannee record books. He helped the then-Class 4A No. 3 Bulldogs to a 19-6 record before losing a heartbreaking district semifinals matchup against then-Class 4A No. 2 Santa Fe, the team that dealt Gill his lone loss of the year and the team that had bested Suwannee twice during the regular season on back-to-back nights in March.
Those two games finished with a combined score of 19-9 in favor of the Raiders. The final game wasn’t quite as clear cut. While Gill had one of the three hits Suwannee managed that day, he and his teammates couldn’t overcome a two-run Santa Fe fourth inning on the way to a 2-0 final. Though it wasn’t for lack of preparation. The Bulldogs hitters spent five days leading up to the semifinal facing the left arm of coach Matt Pennington in anticipation of Santa Fe pitcher Ryan Brown, who came into the matchup with an ERA of 0.20.
“We saw lefties in the previous games we already faced. I think it was about three lefties before,” Gill said. “We were focused. We knew it was gonna be a lefty that’s just been dominant all year. So we definitely practiced for them.”
That kind of preparation may entice some colleges that come looking Gill’s way. While he hasn’t received any official scholarship offers, he has an idea of where he’d like to go to further his education and baseball career, with Santa Fe College and Sanford leading his personal wishlist. But with a year of high school left on his plate, Gill said he wants to spend it with the group that has been closest to him throughout the year.
“We have this core group that, we’re all best friends,” he said. “I’d say myself, Coby Campbell, Tyson Greene and Payton Waters, we’re all best friends. I think that us as a group, we’ve influenced each other. We’ve played all the way up from Legacy. I think that has motivated me to always do better.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
P/OF: Matthew Gill
Suwannee, junior
The LCR’s Baseball Player of the Year was a threat with his bat and his arm. Gill accounted for a team-high 47 runs, finishing second on the Bulldogs in several offensive categories that included a .413 average, a .540 on-base percentage, 23 RBIs and 24 runs scored. He also went 4-1 on the mound with a 2.14 ERA, striking out 38 batters in 36 innings. Between playing outfield and pitcher, he had a .966 fielding percentage.
C: Easton Kirby
Suwannee, sophomore
Committed just one error in 184 total chances for a .995 fielding percentage. He also had 18 RBIs and scored 19 runs at the plate with a .451 on-base percentage.
1B/P: Hunter Corbin
Suwannee, senior
Went 6-2 with an area-best 1.29 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings along with a .934 fielding percentage. Performed with his bat too, leading the area with 24 RBIs while hitting .328 with one home run and 18 runs scored to go with a .450 on-base percentage.
2B: Tyson Greene
Suwannee, junior
Scored a team-high 25 runs while hitting .342 with 13 RBIs and a .463 on-base percentage. Finished the season with a .923 fielding percentage
SS: Ryan LeNeave
Suwannee, senior
Hit .407 with a .447 on-base percentage, finishing the season with 15 RBIs and 23 runs scored. Also had a .901 fielding percentage.
3B/P: JJ Chaillou
Branford, senior
Scored an area-best 28 runs with a .419 batting average and a .538 on-base percentage, finishing the season with 22 RBIs. Also had 70 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings pitched, finishing with a 3.85 ERA and a .913 fielding percentage.
OF: Bryant Green
Columbia, senior
Finished tied for team-highs with 10 RBIs and 13 runs scored while hitting .300 with a .391 on-base percentage. Had a .962 fielding percentage and signed to play at Trinity Baptist.
OF/P: Josh Fernald
Suwannee, sophomore
When he wasn’t in the outfield he was pitching for the Bulldogs, posting a 1.58 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 31 innings. Offensively, he had a .571 on-base percentage and a .400 batting average, scoring 23 runs with 12 RBIs and one home run.
UTIL: Hayden Gustavson
Fort White, sophomore
The Indians’ top player hit .370 and had a .482 on-base percentage with two home runs, 15 RBIs and 15 runs scored. Posted a 1.45 ERA and a 3-2 record with 59 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings, while finishing with a .957 fielding percentage between his time at shortstop and pitcher.
UTIL: Mason Gray
Columbia, senior
Had a team-best .373 average and a team-best .429 on-base percentage while scoring a team-high 18 runs playing shortstop. Finished the season with seven RBIs before signing with Flagler.
DH: Seth Heiderman
Branford, senior
The Buccaneer’s top hitter hit .447 and had a .527 on-base percentage. He finished the season with 20 RBIs and 15 runs scored while playing shortstop.
Justin Bruce
Coach of the Year, Suwannee
Bruce led the Bulldogs to an area-best 19-6 record and the No. 3 ranking in all of Class 4A. Suwannee just happened to beat in the same district as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Santa Fe and Clay, and Santa Fe ultimately ended Suwannee’s season in the district semis. Otherwise, the Bulldogs likely would have made the playoffs in a season where they run-ruled 10 teams and had seven shutouts.