Mixing poise with emotion, Bishop Eustace grad Matt Augustin is giving Virginia his ‘best self’ on the mound

When the lights are at their brightest, Matt Augustin delivers.

With a man on first, no outs, and a 4-2 deficit in a winner’s bracket game against Mississippi State in the NCAA Charlottesville Regional, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor called on his freshman reliever.

Augustin, 18, was thrown into the fire for his postseason debut.

Despite the stakes, Augustin retired his first postseason batter on a fielder’s choice, issued a walk, and induced a flyout, setting up a showdown against Dakota Jordan with two on and two out.

Jordan, the Bulldogs’ three-hole hitter, totaled 10 hits in four games at the Charlottesville Regional and had smashed 18 homers on the season (he finished with 20). Standing 60 feet away, Augustin didn’t care.

“I treat every batter faceless,” Augustin said. “I try to give them my best self no matter who it is. I just went on the attack with him.”

That much was clear. With the count 0-2, Augustin pumped a 95 mph fastball up in the zone and watched Jordan swing right through it. As the crowd inside Virginia’s Disharoon Park erupted, the freshman turned 180 degrees toward center field, flexing his arms and yelling at the top of his lungs. He turned back around to head toward the dugout, still flexing and screaming, emphatically fist-bumping Cavaliers catcher Jacob Ference with his glove on the way in.

Augustin worked out of a jam again in the eighth inning and tossed 2⅔ shutout frames as Virginia came from behind to win, 5-4, in walk-off fashion. As he glided off the mound in the final two innings, Augustin’s emotion was palpable. It also was completely unlike him.

“Honestly, the screaming didn’t really start until this year,” he said. “I kind of just black out when I pitch now. When I see the emotion after the game or I notice I don’t have a voice, I know I was doing something right.”

While college baseball viewers may have viewed that level of raw emotion as natural for Augustin on the field, he was an even-keeled hurler during his four years at Bishop Eustace in Pennsauken. According to Bishop Eustace coach Sam Tropiano, Augustin took after his MLB predecessor in that regard.

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“He was around Anthony Solometo. … Solly was just so stoic out there, in total control,” Tropiano said.

Solometo, a second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2021 MLB draft, was two years ahead of Augustin at Bishop Eustace. Augustin took everything in during the two years they overlapped.

“[Solometo] had pro composure in high school,” Tropiano said. “I think Matthew was very much influenced by Anthony, so he tried to be a little stoic at times and not get [rattled] by anything.”

In fact, aside from that Mississippi State game, Augustin mentioned his sophomore year at Bishop Eustace, in the championship game of the Diamond Classic as one of the biggest moments he’d appeared in. He only hit in the game, but Solometo pitched in the 8-1 win over Williamstown.

Two years later, as a senior, it was Augustin who took the ball for Bishop Eustace in a pivotal NJSIAA state quarterfinal playoff game against Doane Academy. Following in Solometo’s footsteps, Augustin tossed a perfect game and totaled 11 strikeouts. It’s moments like that one, as well as moments early in his freshman year at Virginia, that leave Tropiano and Cavaliers pitching coach Drew Dickinson hardly surprised at what Augustin is doing now in the postseason.

“This is no shock to us,” Tropiano said. “He’s been in big moments before. You know, it’s not like he was totally out of left field with that.”

Dickinson added that Augustin carries himself in a way that emanates confidence, even when he’s under immense pressure.

“He’s always had this way of him, and then you got to see it when we got into real games,” Dickinson said. “He stepped up in a big way.”

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Dickinson noted two outings early in the season that indicated Augustin had what it took to pitch in big spots — a road game against Miami in March and the other versus North Carolina in April. Augustin was inserted in the seventh inning with Virginia trailing by one run against the Hurricanes, and threw 1 ⅔ innings without allowing a run to lead the comeback charge and earn his first career win on March 10. A few weeks later, he recorded a flawless four-out appearance to close out the Tar Heels for a series-opening win.

“I honestly just kinda go out there and I’m telling myself, like, ‘I’m the best player on the field,’” Augustin said. “It’s always been that way for me my whole entire life.”

Where does that kind of confidence come from? Augustin credits his coaching staff.

“It’s honestly been awesome that Coach O’Connor has been giving [these moments] to me and allowing me to step in at those big times,” Augustin said. “It’s definitely helped me grow as a person and as a baseball player.”

The other moment Augustin is referencing, in addition to the one against Mississippi State, was Game 1 of the super regional against Kansas State. Virginia held a three-run lead against the Wildcats with just two more outs to record, and O’Connor decided Augustin was the guy to get them.

With the same composure as always, Augustin only needed eight pitches to sit down the last two Kansas State batters and seal the 7-4 win. After striking out Kansas State right fielder Nick English with a wicked 78 mph curveball to end the game, he did the same celebratory 180-degree turn he’d executed against Mississippi State.

Augustin’s performance put the Cavaliers a win away from a spot in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., which they booked the following night. The lights will only be getting brighter, but Augustin’s approach won’t change. Mentally, he’s been playing in Omaha all season.

“I’m going to treat every game like the way I’ve been training all year,” Augustin said. “I’ve been treating them all like I’m in Omaha already.”

As Augustin prepares for the biggest games of his career once again — Virginia opens the College World Series on Friday against North Carolina — not much is different. Sure, he’ll throw from a different mound, in a different state, against a different team. But his mentality won’t change.

“I’ve been trying to go out there and absolutely dominate,” Augustin said. “I’m just going to go in there and do the exact same thing that I’ve been doing, and hopefully it all pans out.”

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