It was a night like many others for Matthew “Matty” Garrison, a left-handed pitcher for Point Loma High’s JV  baseball team. He sat on the living room couch doing homework while his mom cleaned up in the kitchen as Norman, their pit/lab mix dog rested nearby.

And then Matty’s phone rang.

The caller was Barrett Frost, head coach of the Pointer JV who began by saying the Pointer freshman team needed pitching help. Matty was confused since sophomores can’t play on the freshman team. But Frost quickly changed to his real message: “Matty, you are being called up to the varsity team.”

“I was really surprised,” Matty recalls. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Is this a joke?’ My mom and I were both in shock.”

Not only was the call not a joke but Matty was slated to be the starting pitcher in the Pointers’ next game, the first of a series against formidable Cathedral Catholic.

Matty lists his pitches as “a four-seam, two-seam, curveball, slider, and change-up.” His fastball has been clocked in the mid-80s.

As he prepared, “Many of my (varsity) coaches told me the players were the same but hit the ball harder and farther. Plus there would be a lot more people watching the game and cheering”

And so, on April 24 Matty took the mound at David Wells Field to face the Dons.

“On the day of the game, I was nervous, going through different situations in my head. But after the first inning, I settled in and just told myself it was like any other baseball game,” said the reserved 16-year-old. The results were amazing.

Matty pitched six innings (of seven), throwing 94 pitches and facing 24 hitters. He walked only one and struck out eight Dons. He yielded only four hits and gave up one run for an ERA of 1.17. The Dons hit .174 making Matty’s first start a resounding success. Unfortunately, his teammates only managed two hits and the Pointers absorbed a 1-0 loss.

Matty took the mound again this week in a series against St. Augustine and will face Madison next week as the league season concludes.

Baseball has been a big part of Matty’s young life.

“When I was 6 years old, I told my mom I wanted to play baseball and she signed me up,” he said. “I’ve played at Imperial Beach and Luckie Waller Little Leagues and for four travel ball teams. One of my travel ball coaches recommended Point Loma High for its good baseball program,” he added. He now lives in the Little Italy area with his mother and Norman.

Last year, Matty excelled on the Pointer freshman team and was called up mid-season to the junior varsity. He hopes to continue his ascent in the PLHS program.

“I hope to be an ace the coaches can count on and also develop my hitting to be a two-way player and produce some offense,” he says.

Standing “just under six feet tall,” Matty hopes to grow to a height of 6 feet 3 inches tall. Perhaps an indicator of his growth potential is the size 12 cleats he now wears.

“I’m hoping to play D-1 somewhere, maybe TCU, Alabama, or somewhere on the East Coast,” Matty says. “I watch a lot of college baseball highlights and like the ACC and SEC schools.” But he doesn’t rule out West Coast schools.

Matty is enjoying his time at Point Loma High where he has made many friends and carries “about a 3.85” GPA.

Hopefully, more good news calls will ring on Matty’s phone in the future.