NORFOLK (WAVY) – After one of the greatest single seasons in ODU baseball history, Matt Coutney has his sights set on turning pro. The MLB draft runs Sunday-Tuesday and the single season homerun record holder for the Monarchs is hoping he’ll get the call from 1 of 30 teams.
“I just turned 23 not long ago, I’ve been doing this for a long time, put in a lot of hard work, failed a lot, had some success,” Coutney said. “If that call does come it just puts it all in perspective that the hard work you do pays off one day.”
Coutney’s baseball journey isn’t typical. An Edmonton, Alberta Canada native, he spent his first two seasons at Colby Community College in Colby, Kansas.
“It was flat, corn fields, I remember rolling in my first day and telling myself ‘what in the world did I get myself into’.”
After two seasons in Kansas, Coutney made his way to Norfolk. In his third season with the Monarchs he won Conference USA player of the year as he had a .376 batting average, .808 slugging percentage, 70 RBI and 27 homeruns.
“It just kind of happened. Halfway through the year I felt myself gaining confidence, started having a lot of fun and that’s the way I looked at it. I had a couple months left here and I wanted to go out on top and just enjoy the process.”
