(Editor’s Note: Matt Yip is a 2019 graduate of Herricks HS. He has an outstanding junior season in which he was among the Long Island leaders in home runs. He participated in our Home Run Derby in August at Baseball Heaven and recently committed to UNC-Wilmington. The following words are his own…)
The thought and desire of wanting to attend UNC-Wilmington had stayed with me since the beginning of my junior year. Coach Hood had watched me first play at the 16U Perfect Game WWBA tournament down in Georgia. Our first game was at the PG complex vs the East Cobb Astros 2020 team.
Mid game, a dear friend and teammate that had been flown in from Arizona to play with for most of the summer, Bryan McKinsey had came into the game as relief. Bryan became the star of the game as soon as he got up on that mound. After the game, Bryan and I had couple interests, one of them being UNC-WIlmington. Bryan of course was the one they wanted most. Within that summer with Bryan, him and I had become super close on and off the field, spending most of the trips with him right by my side. Bryan had a special talent, with a low three-quarters arm slot that slinged the ball in the mid- 80s with movement that I had never seen before and a wipe out slider he could throw anywhere he wanted. A couple players from Next Level Baseball had attended UNCW in the past such as, Terrence Connelly, and I knew our Coach Shaun Manning knew the coaches well and would put in a good word.
After the summer had ended, I had decided to take a quick look at UNCW in January with my parents and got a tour from the help of Terrence. As soon as I saw the field and the atmosphere, I fell in love right away. The baseball field had outdoor roofed batting cages and a huge new indoor facility being built in past center field. Playing in the South was something I always wanted to do and UNCW fit me perfectly. One thing that attracted me a lot about the school was that they were in the same conference as Hofstra, meaning I would have the pleasure of coming back home and playing some friends and old teammates. The program was very successful in recent years and what I love most is that baseball was the biggest sport at the school, having no football team.
Getting back home from that quick trip down South in January, I had contacted Bryan about the experience at UNCW. Right then, Bryan and I had set a goal for the summer that we would try and go there together. Sadly Bryan had passed on May 9th, 2018. From that point on going into my summer season, attending UNCW was in my heart.
