Matt Gorski’s high school baseball career ended with a thud.
His team, the Hamilton Southeastern Royals, lost to Westfield High School 4-1 in sectionals in May.
For the IU baseball signee, the summer would not end there, as Gorski would be named to the Indiana All-Star team and competed in the North-South All-Star game last weekend.
Though Gorski starred on the HSE diamond, he also had great success playing soccer. Balancing the two sports was difficult, but he said he made it work.
“It was hard because I had baseball in the summer and soccer training in the summer,” Gorski said. “I would have soccer in the morning and baseball games in the afternoon. It was a lot to handle, but I had good time management so it wasn’t too hard.”
Gorski played both soccer and baseball throughout his childhood. He says a lot of skills from soccer help him while playing baseball, especially the movements and athleticism he said he has picked up from soccer.
Gorski would start varsity for the Royals his sophomore year and would hit .271 and had 7 RBI. After getting his feet wet, he improved significantly during the next two years. His junior year, he hit .347 and would go on to hit .344 his senior season. Over those last two years, he had 56 RBI and 9 home runs, powering the Royals’ offense.
Gorski said he spent his first varsity season getting used to what playing at that level was like.
“It was just the recognition that you are the young guy and getting used to the atmosphere and the experience of playing sectionals,” Gorski said. “I’ve gotten used to the pitching. It helped a lot that I played sophomore year so that I can be better now.”
Gorski said he knows there are things he can improve on and he said he needs to work on hitting and the mental aspect of fielding.
Gorski said he chose to come to IU because of his relationship with the coaches and the history of the program.
Ball State was the first school to recruit Gorski, and after IU got involved, Purdue showed interest, but Gorski said it was clear he wanted to be a Hoosier.
IU came to the first game of his junior season.
“It was like this is real,” Gorski said. “This isn’t just something that I’m going to play in high school and be done with it. It’s going to be something that I can pursue and enjoy for a long time.”
The process went smoothly for Gorski as he committed prior to his senior season.
“It was really awesome,” Gorski said. “All the seniors this year had worry about where they were going to college, and I have already picked. It was really relieving that I didn’t have to go through all that process.”
Gorski was happy to continue his playing career at an in-state school.
“It’s cool because a lot of people from my school go to IU,” Gorski said. “I’m going to have people I know come to games and they have been supporting me for awhile. It’s cool that they can follow me there.”
Playing summer ball with the Indiana Nitro, Gorski continued to develop before coming to start classes at IU in July.
“I’m really excited,” Gorski said prior to starting class. “It’s right there so I’m anxious to get there.”
