A funny thing happened on the way to the 2007 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season baseball championship. Needing two wins against middle-of-the-pack Eastern Kentucky, league-leading Austin Peay watched its pitching ace Shawn Kelley lose his season's first conference decision in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader in the league's final weekend.
Now the Govs had to face EKU left-handed ace and consensus projected 2008 first-round major league baseball pick Christian Friedrich in the nightcap. The league title seemingly was slipping away with Jacksonville State nipping at the Govs heels.
As good as Kelley was as a senior Gov and as talented as the sophomore Friedrich was in the opposing dugout, the Governors had another ace up their sleeve…Matt Reynolds, who went out that night and proved it. A tall lefthander, Reynolds scattered three hits, pitched around two fourth-inning errors, utilized a two-out two-run Jake Lane fourth-inning homer as the Govs defeated EKU, 2-0, to clinch a share of the OVC title. APSU utilized Saturday night's exhilarating win to propel itself to a 9-2 Sunday win to claim the outright title.
Reynolds backed up his regular-season finale start with an equally impressive performance against second-seed Jacksonville State in the OVC tourney semifinals. After permitting a first-inning run to the OVC's best-hitting team, Reynolds held the Gamecocks scoreless over the next seven innings-plus, scattering four hits along the way in 8.1 innings, as Austin Peay won, 2-1. After the Govs defeated JSU again on Sunday for only its third OVC tourney title, Reynolds, who quietly worked his pitching magic in Kelley's long pitching shadow, was named tourney MVP for his performance against the Gamecocks.
Although most remember the Nashville Regional for the epic pitching duel between Shawn Kelley and David Price—a game that ended in a Govs' 2-1 extra-inning loss—it was Reynolds, who actually started the contest the Governors won the next day, 18-7—APSU's first NCAA tourney victory in history. However, a 3-hour, 28-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fourth inning kept Reynolds from garnering his season's 11th win. His 10 wins (three losses), five coming in league play, left him ranked tied for 37th nationally in 2007 and only behind Kelley among OVC pitchers. He also posted an impressive 3.26 ERA with 77 strikeouts and only 26 walks in 102 innings pitched—throwing strikes was a hallmark of the 2007 staff.
In fact, Reynolds' ascension in 2007 not only gave the Govs the best one-two pitching punch in the OVC, but one of the nation's tops as well. They combined for 21 victories (out of APSU's 40 that season), 229.2 innings, 159 strikeouts and only 37 walks. And now the lanky 6-5 lefty will join his pitching cohort, Kelley, as a member of Austin Peay's Athletics Hall of Fame, Friday, Jan. 26. Â
As a junior, the Illinois native and junior college transfer (Kishwaukee College) pitched out of the bullpen early in the season before finally finding his niche in the rotation midway through the campaign, making 10 starts. A strike thrower, Reynolds still ranks in the Top 5 in Austin Peay history in fewest walks allowed per nine innings and his overall ERA (3.63) rates at 15th.
His outstanding senior season, his ability to throw strikes and being a tall projectable lefthander whose velocity improved with his mechanics in college, led Reynolds to being drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 20th round, a year before Friedrich would go in the first round to the same team—the two OVC foes would become fast friends with Reynolds not allowing Friedrich to forget about their late 2007 April showdown.
And Reynolds remained close to his former pitching teammate, Kelley. It is no coincidence that both former college starters ended up as relief pitchers because of their ability to attack hitters and throw strikes. They challenged each other during the senior year and they did the same as set-up relief pitchers, with constant texts and phone calls the centerpieces of their relationship.
In fact, Reynolds' ability to throw strikes vaulted him through the minor leagues. In his first professional season he had 27 strikeouts to only four walks. At Class A Asheville in 2008, Reynolds was one of three regular relievers to post a sub-3.00 ERA, and at Advanced-A Modesto in 2009, he struck out 58 in 49.0 innings pitched. That earned a mid-season promotion to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers where he collected 29 strikeouts in 25.2 innings.
He started 2010 at Triple-A Colorado Springs and was named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team. His remarkable start - no runs allowed in his first 18.2 innings - led to an August call up to the big leagues.
Reynolds made his major league debut Aug. 19 that season against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was an auspicious start for his career, as he threw six pitches for a strikeout and a ground out to get out of an inning.
He finished 2010 with a 2.00 ERA in 21 appearances, allowing only four earned runs, striking out 17 and walking five. Those numbers helped land him the opening day roster for 2011.
In the thin air of Denver, he forged an effective relief role for the Rockies, in fact, compiling back-to-back 70-appearance seasons before being traded to Arizona after the 2012 season. He got off to a terrific start for the Diamondbacks, collecting his first two major league saves while posting a 1.98 ERA, but an elbow injury suffered in June sidelined him for the season's remainder.
That same elbow injury resulted in Tommy John surgery that September, an injury and surgery that forced him to miss the entire 2014 season. But that injury also was the beginning of the end for Reynolds and his major league career. He still was the strike thrower Reynolds had been his entire career, but the speed and ball movement started to taper. He returned to the D-backs in 2015 but spent much of the season at Class AAA. He was released after the season.
In 2016, he began the season with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent baseball Atlantic League. He pitched well enough to earn his way to a major league affiliation with San Francisco, earning an invite to the major league club in September. Although he played the early part of 2017 in the Giants organization, he returned to the Barnstormers, where he also played one final season in 2018 before announcing his retirement at season's end.
Now and he his wife, the former Laura Wussow, have settled down in Mt. Juliet with son Everett as the Reynolds are beginning the next phase of their lives. But APSU baseball fans always will remember Matt for his magical late-season performances during the 2007 season, a season that will live forever in Governors baseball lore.
