FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Thursday, April 7, 2016 By: Rio Frame, MSUB Media Relations Intern New Faces: MSUB baseball freshman Matt Dillon
MSUB freshman Matt Dillon has hit the ground running with his hometown team, as the Billings native is part of the next generation of local talent the Yellowjackets will rely on for years to come. MSUB SPORTS – In his first year at Montana State University Billings, freshman baseball player Matt Dillon saw action running down balls during Great Northwest Athletic Conference games at Dehler Park. “I got to shag foul balls,” Dillon remembered with a laugh. “Some went pretty far down 27th Street.” Now after redshirting for a season, the only balls Dillon runs down during games are off the bats of the Yellowjackets’ opponents. Trotting out to left field in his team’s home stadium on March 20 against Concordia University, Dillon entered the game in the final inning of a four-game series as a defensive replacement. Glancing to his left and receiving instructions from MSUB center fielder Luke Reinschmidt, Dillon carefully inched his way into the left-center field gap and took an extra step or two back towards the warning track. When the ball left the bat of Cavalier third baseman Christian Heideger, Dillon heard one sound and knew he had to make the catch.
“Matt!” cried Reinschmidt from center, signaling that it was the freshman’s ball all the way. Dillon took a strong first step back and to his left, and took off at an angle towards the gap Reinschmidt had beckoned him towards moments earlier. Reaching up onto the warning track, Dillon snagged the ball as it descended towards the dirt and made a soft connection with the padded wall as he recorded the second out of the inning. His days of shagging foul balls from the bleachers officially behind him, Dillon has cemented himself into a reliable player the ‘Jackets will count on in a dual role as catcher and outfielder over the next four seasons. Dillon’s first big catch came two days after his debut at bat as a college player at home, when he drove in a run with his first career hit into center field. The Billings native’s walk to the plate is propelled by his own personal fan base’s cheers, the loudest coming from his grandmother. Dillon’s parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and grandparents have been his biggest supporters all through his career as a baseball player.
Dillon handles the dual role of playing outfield and handling MSUB’s pitching staff behind the plate.
“I think my coach has noticed my family because of my grandma,” laughed Dillon as he thought about his grandmother in her normal position near the third-base dugout. “She can be pretty loud whenever something good happens.” Dillon is one of the middle children in his family, with two older brothers named Jake, who is at law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., and Trey, who works in Billings. His younger brother, Trevor, still attends high school at Skyview, while also competing in tennis year round, and aspires to attend aviation school upon graduating in a couple years.
Dillon attended Skyview High School, and played baseball with the Billings Royals American Legion team in the summer. His connection with Reinschmidt spans back to their time together on the Royals, and Dillon has always looked up to the team’s leader in center. “I played on a younger team, so I didn’t really get to play alongside him, but now that we are playing together I get to grow and be better friends with him. It is a good experience,” noted Dillon on his first-team allGNAC role model. Dillon notes that all the seniors, including Reinschmidt, have been a big inspiration and help to him during his two years as part of the Yellowjacket family. “I look up to a lot of the older guys, like Luke. Basically all the seniors that will be graduating after this year,” said Dillon. “I try to learn from them and talk to them when I have a bad practice or game.” Along with his teammates, his parents, Michelle and Jerry, are very important parts of his life. “They are definitely the most influential people in my life. They have taught me how to be a good person and how to be respectful. I am who I am because of them,” said Dillon on his parents. Dillon and his head coach Rob Bishop decided that redshirting his first year at the collegiate level would be a good idea. “I think redshirting my freshman year helped me develop some more skills,” commented Dillon on the 2015 season.
During Dillon’s redshirt year he spent a lot of his time in practices doing the same things that he does now. “As a redshirt I was spending the year trying to enhance my playing skills,” Dillon said. “This year I am taking everything that I learned from last year and incorporating it into the game.” Many athletes opt not to take a redshirt season for various reasons, but for those who do they are choosing to give themselves an extra year, like Dillon did, to hone in on skills and develop a sense of absolute belonging among new teammates. There is a big adjustment from high school to college athletics so taking the time to fully adapt to the new surroundings can be a smart idea for athletes, especially when there is an opportunity to learn from the depth already within the team. “I get to be more of a leader this year to the incoming freshmen and redshirt freshmen,” Dillon commented on the year of experience under his belt. Now that he is not redshirting, Dillon gets to travel everywhere with his teammates. “I’ve never been to Ellensburg, which is where Central Washington’s team is from,” commented Dillon on one of the team’s road trips in early March. “I’ve also never been anywhere in western Washington. I’m honestly excited to visit all the places that we have the opportunity to play.” The baseball team regularly boards the bus to travel up to around 17 hours to take on its conference opponents. “My biggest accomplishment is probably being able to actually play baseball as a redshirt freshman,” said Dillon excitedly. “My role is to play wherever and whenever I am needed.” Not only is playing on the team an accomplishment, but so is being able to balance practice, games, classes, and social life. “Last year during the fall was probably the hardest balancing and maintaining everything, but this year is a lot better.” With the sun peeking above the horizon, Dillon and his teammates are sweating, hard at work in the gym lifting weights. After weights, the players then must attend their classes and be ready for their second practice starting around 1 p.m. in the afternoon and lasting 2-3 hours. “The season started out a little rough, but it is getting better the more that we play, especially with our last games,” said Dillon referring to MSUB’s current stretch of five wins in its last six games. “I just want to help the team out this year, and I know that I need to be ready when I get out there.” Before even deciding to join MSUB’s baseball team, Dillon talked to his legion coach, David Swecker, about the program. “David was a pitcher at MSUB a while ago,” said Dillon referring to the 2015 graduate. The freshman player also viewed a few other schools before committing to the Yellowjackets. “I looked at a couple NAIA and division three schools out on the West Coast, but I decided that MSUB was the best fit for me,” Dillon noted on his choice on where to continue his education and baseball career. “I liked Coach Bishop and what he had to offer me with the program. He has a good philosophy for baseball,” said Dillon. Bishop’s philosophy seems to be working for Dillon, since he continues to improve in both catching
Dillon has an on-base percentage of .360 through the first 26 plate appearances of his collegiate career.
and in the outfield, where he also gets to work closely with Reinschmidt. “Bishop goes in-depth, showing us how to win, philosophies of hitting, and all that kind of stuff that is important in baseball and coaching,” mentioned Dillon. Dillon is working towards earning a degree in healthcare administration. “Originally I wanted to be a physical therapist or chiropractor, something that was hands-on. After a little while I decided I wanted to be in the healthcare field, but I started to like the idea of healthcare administration more after looking into the degree,” said Dillon. He is looking forward to getting into the upper division classes that are offered for his degree in the next couple years. “My parents got me into playing baseball when I was younger,” remembered Dillon. “I started playing baseball in Shepherd, then moved into the Heights, then from there I joined a travel ball team called the Regulators, and from there into legion.” It has been a long road for Dillon from playing ball as a child, to listening to his grandmother’s cheers at Dehler Park playing for the Yellowjackets.
Dillon crosses home plate as the winning run in MSUB’s dramatic, 8-7 win over Western Oregon on March 26 at Dehler Park.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the final inning in a night game against Western Oregon on March 26, Dillon stood anxiously at third base representing the winning run in a 7-7 ballgame. He looked on as senior Kyle Durbin worked a 3-0 count, and began his trot home when ball four missed low. As Dillon tapped home plate, it signaled the end of the game and a win for the ‘Jackets, one of many runs Dillon is certain to score in the next four years for MSUB. --@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--