Archibald finishes final season with a bang

Gabby Albright, Staff Writer

Matthew Archibald was a senior on the John Carroll baseball team this past season and has been playing since he was six-years-old.

After receiving offers from many colleges, he decided to commit to the Naval Academy. He has played all four years of high school and also plays for Canes Baseball outside of school.
Matt is a first baseman and pitcher; however, he has also played as a DH and third baseman. Matthew is also a captain along with his teammate Frank Adamski.
As a captain, Matt shows his leadership on the field all the time. Teammate Austin Mezan said that Matt “leads the team by example, and everyone respects him.”
Coach Darrion Siler, said, “He is the kind of leader who shows leadership in the doing of things rather than the speaking. He picks up at the end of practice, helps his teammates by making sure they have their equipment if they are left on base, helps our team get advantages by finding rhythms/patterns in the opposition’s pitching/catching. He looks out for the team, lifts up the guys and is a young man of action.”
What inspired him to play was support from his family, especially his dad and brother. Matt said that baseball is a “fun time and a way to learn how to perform under pressure.”
Although baseball takes up a lot of time, Matt likes to play golf, lift, and hang out with friends outside of the field.
The advice he would give to students interested in playing is “baseball is a game of failure, and you just have to learn how to overcome and at the end of the day let go because it will get better.”
He thinks is the most challenging part is not only being consistent when playing, but also being able to stay consistent. Especially in baseball rather than other sports, it is important for players to keep their statistics steady.
After playing for four years, he said his favorite memory is hitting two home runs against Calvert Hall.
Austin added that Matt “hits nukes” all of the time and acts as a “main leader” of the team.
Coach Siler’s favorite memories from coaching Matt are either the closing of the memorial game for Josh Hamer or “his bomb against Gilman that ended up on the highway; he hit it so far/hard; it was a Monster Mash/Hacksimus Maximus.”