An Arkansas signee turned in one of the best performances of his career last Thursday.
Left-hander Matt Cronin tossed a seven-inning perfect game in Navarre (Fla.) High’s 7-0 win over rival Niceville.
“It was just surreal,” Cronin said. “It’s hard to wrap my mind around what I did. It was my first (perfect game) and hopefully not my last one.”
Making the outing even more impressive, he needed only 78 pitches to retire all 21 batters he faced. Just 20 of his pitches were called balls.
It was also the first high school perfect game Navarre head coach Scott Murphy has witnessed in 33 years of coaching.
“He was in total control of his pitches,” Murphy said. “When we called it low and away (or) up and in, he didn’t miss by much if he missed. It was a pleasure to watch and coach.”
Cronin said he knew in the first inning that he had good stuff, but it wasn’t until the third that he realized he had a perfect game going and the sixth that he knew he had a shot at pulling it off.
He was throwing his fastball, which touches 92 miles per hour, and his 12-6 curveball for strikes, as well as his slider, which he has developed in recent months.
All three pitches came together on a night when seemingly nothing could go wrong for the Navarre ace.
“We even had a mix-up on pitch calls,” Cronin said. “I accidentally threw a changeup, which I’m still developing and don’t really throw, and it worked well the one time I threw it.”
The matchup with Niceville was set up to be an SEC pitcher’s duel, as the Eagles started Vanderbilt commit Chance Huff, a sophomore. Cronin wasn’t concerned with who was starting opposite of him, though.
“It wasn’t so much the pitcher that I was thinking about, just because he’s a younger guy,” Cronin said. “Their third batter, Brady Smith, is a Florida commit. That’s who I thought more of my face-off was, me vs. him.”
Instead, Navarre piled up seven runs behind Cronin, who shut down the SEC commits and their teammates. He finished the game with 12 strikeouts, well short of his career-high 18.
The game clinched Navarre at least a share of its district’s regular-season title.
“He wanted to pitch there against a real good team from Niceville,” Murphy said. “I could see he was going to be on that night. I just hoped we could get one run.”
Despite the uniqueness of the game, the performance didn’t surprise Murphy too much because Cronin “has that stuff all the time.”
Murphy has coached Cronin for only a couple of years, but has known he was talented for longer than that.
The first time he saw the lefty throw, it reminded him of Brad Wilkerson, who starred at Florida before being a first-round pick in the 1998 MLB Draft.
“I saw him pitch as a freshman and I said, ‘I think he’s going to be pretty good,’” Murphy said. “His 10th grade year, he grew a little bit, picked up a little velocity on his fastball and worked and worked and worked in the offseason.”
That work resulted in a junior season in which he led the state of Florida with 143 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings.
While his strikeout and innings totals are down in 2016 because of several rainouts, Cronin is still averaging about two strikeouts per inning of work.
With the playoffs scheduled to begin next week, he is still focused on his last few starts at Navarre, but he has made time to watch his future teammates play on the SEC Network and said he can’t wait to get to Fayetteville.
“I’m hoping I can come in and either take up one of their three starting spots or maybe come in and be like last year’s Zach Jackson and be a closer,” Cronin said. “I’ve started all my life, but I think with the right coaching, I’d be fine to come out of the pen and be that guy.”
However, there’s a chance he might never make it to campus. Murphy said there have been several MLB scouts at Cronin’s games and he believes he’ll be selected in June’s draft.
“He’s excited about going to Arkansas,” Murphy said. “He wants to go to school there and he wants to pitch in the SEC.
“If pro ball comes knocking and offers him the right stuff, then he’ll really consider it, but he’s looking forward to getting up there and playing for the Razorbacks.”