Duffy in a Year of Transition

Here is another article I wrote for the company I work for - MVPScout

CHATHAM, MA – Matt Duffy suffered some bad news at the beginning of his 2009 season with the University of Vermont. Just two weeks before opening day Duffy and his team were informed that the baseball and softball programs at UVM would be cut due to lack of funding. “It was crazy,” Duffy said. Duffy and his teammates were shocked by the news and immediately started to think of what was going to happen to them and their baseball future the following spring. “It was definitely a blow to everyone on the team. I guess we just had to deal with it,” Duffy said.
Duffy is one of the lucky ones. He has committed to playing with the University of Tennessee and should be an asset to their team next spring. “I don’t know what completely to expect but I know that it will be very good baseball,” said Duffy. In Duffy’s final season with UVM he set two UVM baseball program records by scoring 57 runs and hitting 57 RBIs. “I had a good season. The coaches were really helpful and I worked hard,” Duffy said. “When I found out [our program] got cut it actually made me work even harder.” All his hard work paid off. He led his team and the America East conference in batting (first time a UVM player to lead the America East in batting since 2002) with a .388 average and was named the America East Player of the Year.
This summer Duffy is the third basemen for the Chatham Anglers. The upcoming Tennessee junior grew up in Milton, MA so going to Cape Cod League games was something familiar to him as a kid. “When I was about 12 or 13 I came to a couple games with my friends who lived down at the Cape,” said Duffy. “I was playing baseball and [the Cape] was always a place that I wanted to play. It is cool that I got the opportunity to come down here and play,” he said. Now Duffy’s childhood dreams are coming true and has a .211 batting average with Chatham and plays the hot corner very well currently having an errorless season. “My goals are just to get better and do well. Hopefully we can win, that would be a good bonus,” he said. Duffy stands at 6’3” and weighs 210 lbs. Duffy also pitches but does not think he will for Chatham or Tennessee in the 2010 season.
Chatham, having the best record at the Cape (9 – 4), seems to have had a bit of luck in a lot of their come-from-behind wins this season. Rumor has it that Duffy is the team’s lucky charm. When he is on the field Chatham’s luck seems to turn around. “I wouldn’t call myself a lucky charm, it was just something crazy that happened,” said Duffy. “It is pretty funny a couple of the guys on the team made a few jokes about it but I am definitely not the only one making it happen.”
Duffy says he is currently not being looked at by any professional teams but if he keeps the same drive and determination as he did in his final season with UVM, Duffy should bring Chatham and Tennessee a lot of runs and maybe even some luck.