Although he will no longer wear red and blue, graduating senior Peter Matt’s baseball career isn’t over just yet.
The outfielder will transfer to Duke University to complete his final year of eligibility with the Blue Devils in the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference. Although transferring wasn’t originally the plan, the change of scenery presents a good opportunity for Matt, who will be obtaining a Master of Management Studies degree at the prestigious Fuqua School of Business.
“When the season ended, there were just so many questions being thrown around, so I entered the transfer portal and just reached out to as many schools as I could, and Duke happened to have an opportunity for me,” Matt said. “They told me that they need some outfielders, and it’s obviously a great school, so I think the combination of baseball along with the academics, similar to Penn, made it a good choice for me.”
The Ivy league ruled that students who lost a year of eligibility due to the coronavirus could not return after graduating, so returning to Penn was not on the table for Matt.
Matt has been a key contributor for the Quakers since his freshman season, but he began to break out this year. He led the Ivy League with 16 hits and ranked 10th in the entire nation with a .457 batting average. As a junior, he led the Ancient Eight in runs and was named first team All-Ivy.
Matt will encounter a new challenge in playing for the Blue Devils, who have appeared in three of the last four NCAA Tournaments, making it to Super Regionals in each of the last two seasons.
However, the outfielder feels he can contribute to a team that went 12-4 before the season was canceled this year.
"It will definitely be a step up in competition," Matt said. "I’ll be going up against the best players week in and week out, so hopefully I can just go in and prove that I belong and help them win some games."
Matt hopes that his time in Durham will help set him up for his ultimate goal of becoming a professional baseball player. Duke has had 38 of its alumni play in the major leagues, so he will certainly get a look.
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