Lee Trawick
Reporter2@riverbendnews.org
Lafayette High School graduate Matthew Jenkins was a member of the 2023 Hornets baseball team. In his senior season, Jenkins led the Hornets on the mound with an impressive 9-0 record, an earned run average of 1.51, 85 strikeouts and one no-hitter on the season. He will continue his baseball career at Santa Fe College. Standing at 6 feet and 6 inches, he possesses a fastball that radars at 93 miles per hour. It is easy to see the appeal for college coaches and the coaches beyond.
Jenkins began this season by throwing a no- hitter in his first outing as a Hornet. In his 10 starts on the mound for the Hornets, including a win in the Regional and State Championship semifinals, Jenkins did not allow more than two runs in a single outing all season. Along with a no-hitter against the Fort White Indians, he gave zero hits in two other outings before passing the ball off to the team’s closer. Against the Chiefland Indians, he pitched five innings, allowing zero hits. Then, in his next appearance on Senior Night, Jenkins pitched two innings, allowing zero hits and striking out all six batters he faced.
In a matchup between two top-five ranked teams in FHSAA Class 1A, Jenkins led his Hornets to take down the then-undefeated Trenton Tigers, propelling the Hornets to the top of the Class 1A ranking. Then, in the Regional semifinals against the Wakulla Christian Saints, Jenkins gave up one earned run while striking out 10 to secure the win. He followed that performance up with a State semifinals appearance, where he dominated the Holmes County Blue Devils byallowing just one hit on the day. By the time he walked off the mound for the last time in high school, he had built a resume of a nearly perfect record.
However, Jenkins was not only a pitcher for the Hornets, as he also batted third in the lineup. Jenkins batted .358 with 29 hits, five doubles, one triple and four home runs, with 28 runs batted in. Jenkins homered for the first time against their district rival, the Hamilton County Trojans; the Hornets knew they would be facing one of the best duo pitching staffs in 1A baseball. Jenkins helped his team get on the scoreboard in the first inning on the road when he hit a home run to left field to give his team an early 2-0 lead. He would earn his fifth win of the season on the mound by defeating the Trojans, 4-3. He would homer again on Senior Night to help close out the St. Francis Catholic Wolves, 12-1.
His third home run of the season came in the District Championship, where his team trailed 8-3. Jenkins was playing right field when he ended the Tigers' scoring streak on a throw home in time for catcher Hunter Vann to tag the base runner, holding the Tigers to eight runs. He came up in the next inning and hit a two-run home run to straight away center field to steal the momentum once and for all. The Tigers would not score another run, while the Hornets scored six unanswered runs to win the District Championship, 9-8. Then, in the Regional Championship game, he homered for the fourth time in the season, and drove in three runs on two hits to help his team advance to the State Championship series in Fort Myers. There, Jenkins would get the start for the Hornets with the hopes of sending his team to the State Championship game. He would not disappoint, striking out the first three batters he faced, then hitting a triple and driving in the Hornets' first run of the game in the Hornets half of the first inning. He would go on to drive in a second run on the way to a Hornets victory, where he picked up his ninth win of the season and the final win of his high school career.
Therefore, as Jenkins concludes his high school career, he was named as the runner-up for the 2023 Florida Dairy Farmers Baseball Player of the Year.