Mar. 28, 2003

Charleston, SC - For Matt Matulia, there were no surprises lurking inside the gates of The Citadel.

As a boy, Matulia climbed atop the tanks on the parade deck on campus. His dad, former Bulldog catcher Mike Matulia, regaled his son with tales of his adventures at the military school, on the baseball field and in the barracks.

Perhaps that familiarity explains the younger Matulia's reaction when he received that first recruiting letter from The Citadel.

"I opened the letter and said, 'Dad, I'm not going there. You told me all about it, and I'm not going there,'" Matulia said Thursday.

Matulia grinned as he recalled those famous last words, because he was standing on the practice field with his fellow Bulldogs, preparing for this weekend's series with Southern Conference rival College of Charleston.

Obviously, the freshman shortstop changed his mind, and Citadel coach Fred Jordan is glad he did. The 5-11, 170-pounder from Eustis, Fla., could wind up starting at shortstop for four years and might well develop into a pro prospect.

"When you're competing against some of the people we were competing against in recruiting Matt, we were very fortunate to get him," Jordan said. "Our coaches did a great job recruiting him."

Mike Matulia played catcher for Chal Port at The Citadel from 1980-83 and led the '83 team with a .386 batting average. "He was one of the better catchers in Citadel history," Jordan said.

The elder Matulia, now the baseball coach at Lake Sumter Community College in Florida and author of an instructional book on catching, put a bat in his son's hands as soon as he could walk.

"I grew up on the baseball field," Matt said. "It's all I've ever done, really. It's what I love to do, and I can't seen myself doing anything else. It's my dream to play major-league baseball, and if I can't do that, I want to be a coach, just like my dad."

Mike Matulia steered his son to baseball, but he left the college decision up to Matt -- sort of.

"It was my choice and my decision," Matt said. "I came here to be the starting shortstop and to improve myself physically, to get bigger, stronger and faster, and I felt like this was the place to do it.

"Being a coach, my dad knows a lot about different programs, he knows the coaches here real well and knew it would be good for me. I took his advice. I had the opportunity to go to a lot of different schools, but when I came here, it just felt right. It seemed like the place to get my work in, and I knew it was a good team, with a history of winning the conference and going to the NCAA regionals."

His dad's advice also helped Matt cope with the stresses of knob year -- "The other freshmen didn't know anything, and I knew everything," he said -- and get his freshman season off to a solid start.

Matulia was batting over .300 earlier this year, and is now at .270 with nine runs-batted in and has committed only three errors in 24 games. He's one of four high school shortstops -- along with third baseman Chris Ard, second baseman Jon Aughey and first baseman Chip Cannon -- in the Bulldogs' infield, one reason The Citadel has committed only 20 errors, best in the SoCon.

"We consider Matt a true shortstop," Jordan said. "He's played the position his whole life, he runs great angles to the ball and he's got exceptionally soft hands."

One thing Mike Matulia didn't tell his son about was the Bulldogs' rivalry with College of Charleston -- when Mike Matulia played, there was no rivalry with College of Charleston, which revived its program in 1991.

"My teammates have told me about it," Matt said. "They tell me it's huge, like nothing I've experienced. I'm really looking forward to it."

-- The Citadel leads the series with College of Charleston by 21-10. The Cougars won two of three games last season.