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Local kid boosts Bats
By Bobby Hart
Published:
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Media Credit: scott theisen
The play of freshman Gopher Matt Fornasiere is a big reason the River Bats won the first half regular season North division title.
Matt Fornasiere is used to being the youngster.
As a little kid, Matt could be seen at Siebert Field overlooking many of the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher practices. He sat and watched his father, long-time Gopher assistant coach Robert Fornasiere shout out directions and run drill after drill, dreaming of the day he'd get a chance to lace up his cleats and bear the golden "M" on his hat.
The Maple Grove graduate's dream came true last season when he started in 23 games and drove in 19 runs as a freshman left fielder for a Gopher team that won the Big Ten regular season championship, and qualified for the NCAA tournament. The experience was even sweeter under the guidance of his father, who's the longest tenured assistant baseball coach in the Big Ten Conference. Robert Fornasiere was hired on the Gopher staff in 1985 and was named assistant coach in 1992.
"I like to be around him and he likes to be around me," Matt said of his father. "He's always teaching, but when I'm on the field he's my coach and I'm just like any of the other guys. Off the field it's nice because there's always someone to talk to if I need help. He's been there to teach me but I've also observed constantly by going to practice with him everyday since I've been young. Ever since then, it has always been in the back of my head that I've wanted to be a Gopher."
Fornasiere was a sought after by the River Bats last summer after his senior year in high school where he was a First Team All State pick at Maple Grove Senior High. He received a call from General Manager Scott Schreiner to fill in for a couple weeks do to some injuries, but things didn't pan out.
"I didn't take advantage of that, but I knew that we had a scout day at the University and he was there," Fornasiere said. "I've always known about it, and he asked me to play again. I took the opportunity this time around."
The opportunity has worked out well for Fornasiere, who's gotten a chance to start in an every day league lineup, while helping the River Bats clinch the first half regular season division championship. Although he started the season with a two-week slump, the left- handed hitting infielder has started to come around at the plate and has filled numerous gaps in the defense, including left field, right field, center field, third base, and second base.
"At first, (his presence) was good for everybody because we only had a limited amount of players and some guys struggled a little bit," said field manager Tom Fleenor. "Now it's paying some dividends and hopefully as the summer goes on it will keep paying off. It was almost like - I wouldn't say by default - but somebody had to play and he played himself into a very prominent role on this team over the first three weeks of this season."
Fornasiere struggled to make the transition from aluminum to a wooden bat and carried only a .132 batting average throughout the first two weeks of the season. Since then he found himself on a 12 game hitting streak June 13-26 and watched his average skyrocket to .244. He is now batting .231 with 28 hits, 10 RBIs, from 121 at bats (tied for third most on the team), while missing only one game this season.
"He started off really slow, as a few of our guys did, and his average the first two weeks of the year was pretty bad, but if you take those two weeks out, he's probably hitting about .280," Fleenor said. "That's pretty good in this league, especially for a young kid like him. I think he has a chance to be a really good hitter and he's doing some really positive things for us."
Fornasiere, who lives with his Gopher teammate and former St. Cloud Apollo star Josh Krogman's family, is one of two (along with Jason Schlangen) Minnesota natives on the River Bats roster this season. Fornasiere is also the only U of M player on the roster since 2001.
"You'd like to have some home state guys on the team but when you're going out to make a team up, its not really one of your goals," Fleenor said. "But you do want to have two or three guys from the state that have some ties here because it makes things a little more enjoyable for the fans."
The U of M has been a gold mine for talent for the River Bats in the past. Josh Holthaus (2000) and Robb Quinlan (1998, Anaheim AAA) were both league MVPs, while Matt Scanlon (97-98, Twins AA) and Jason Kennedy (2000, Detroit A) were also standouts that moved on to Farm clubs.
"The University of Minnesota, hands down, has been the best program for us," said River Bat general manager Scott Schreiner. "Rob (Fornasiere) does the placement for the U of M, but Matt Fornasiere is here because he's a great baseball player.
"There are a lot of coaches out there that have kids. Matt's here because he can help us win and he can play a lot of different positions. When you play 64 games in 68 days you have guys that go down. You need a guy that can play more that one spot, so he's a huge asset to our program."
Although the River Bat rookie has meshed into an extremely talented lineup, he has yet to get a chance to play his natural position at shortstop. Although he was recruited to the Gophers as a shortstop, Fornasiere found himself behind three year starter and two time All Big Ten senior Scott Welch. He found himself in the same situation on the River Bats roster thanks to three year starter Wes Long.
"In baseball, generally speaking, if you have a guy that can play short he can play a lot of different positions," Schreiner said. "So we brought in more than one shortstop for the fact that we know that they can play more than one spot. If you bring in four right fielders or first basemen, you're in a jam."
Many would say that the boy who once spent his childhood observing the game of college baseball at Siebert field has already accomplished his dream. At nineteen years of age and three years of collage eligibility left, Matt Fornasiere still has a lifetime of dreams to come.
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