A Wetaskiwin man is moving on and up in both his baseball and college careers at the same time.
Matt Coutney, 20, has been playing baseball around Wetaskiwin since he was 3, 4 and 5 years old. Coutney said when he really began to develop as a baseball player, he went up to the Edmonton leagues to test his skills against the highest level around.
After graduating high school at 18, Coutney decided on not only college but a baseball career as well. To that end he enrolled at a junior college program, Colby Community College located in Colby, Kansas.
Coutney spent the past two years attending classes at Colby, and also playing baseball as a Colby Trojan. The Trojans belong to the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and the Trojans are a Division I program.
He said it was quite an experience to move away from home to college and another country while learning to take care of yourself.
The young player obviously knows what he’s doing at the plate; in his two years at Colby, Coutney has a batting average of .426, an on-base percentage of .520, 26 home runs and 116 RBI’s.
See Matt Coutney’s Colby Trojans stats here: https://www.colbytrojans.com/sports/bsb/2017-18/bios/coutney-matt?view=career&pos=h
Taking the summer off to visit Wetaskiwin and instruct some clinics here, Coutney said on July 22 at Knights of Columbus field he has transferred to Old Dominion University in the naval town of Norfolk, Virginia for the next two years. It’s a large university, with over 24,000 students enrolled for the coming year.
He said he talked to lots of different schools and said he liked Old Dominion as it plays in a good conference with lots of travel to other states.
Coutney said moving on to Old Dominion in one of the southern states is going to be a lot of fun: bigger town, bigger school, bigger baseball conference. “It’s going to be a change,” he said, noting Old Dominion’s baseball team, the Monarchs, have a reputation for good-hitting infielders, which is what he wants to be.
Last year the Monarchs had two players drafted into minor league baseball.
This summer Coutney has been running a summer baseball camp for 13 to 15 year olds, and has been having fun. He said it’s a different experience to teach but is still learning and the kids are doing well.
“They’re working hard,” he added.