The baseball team always takes batting practice together before a game. But one spring day last year, junior outfielder Matt Pollock decided to spice up the ritual.
While most of the team wore their batting practice jerseys, Pollock made a few modifications. With no shirt on underneath, he left his batting practice windbreaker completely unzipped with his gold chain hanging on the outside.
Pollock is one of the best players on the baseball team, among the leaders on his team and in the Mid-American Conference in batting average, homeruns, and RBI. But to his teammates, he is also a guy that can be relied on for a good joke. Whether the squad is looking for a leader at the plate or a punch line in the locker room, Pollock is never afraid to deliver.
"He's a funny guy," said senior outfielder Dan Scahill. "He is one of the guys that you can just kind of mess around with, make jokes with even in a serious situation. It's good to laugh sometimes and he's a good person to laugh about stuff with."
Whenever the team is in a practice situation or back home in the dorms, Pollock is willing to lighten the mood and show off his many different talents.
Recently while walking through the dorms with his teammates, his friends challenged him to sing at Open Mic Night at Perks. Pollock, who is always up for a good time, accepted their challenge. His humorous rendition of singer Joan Osborne's hit "What if God Was One of Us" delighted the audience and his teammates.
Pollock doesn't shy away from any singing escapades, admitting that he "enjoys singing," particularly for the emotional response it brings out of people - even if he doesn't believe that he is necessarily blessed with strong vocals.
Pollock enjoys getting the whole team involved and helping new members understand that everyone is open to a joke. The people that he met on his recruiting trip were a big part of the reason that he chose Buffalo, and he hopes to have done the same for others.
Pollock is almost always willing to kid around, but his antics reach a new level on road trips. Scahill recalled a road trip last year when the team was stuck in particularly bad traffic. Pollock, naturally, was the one to do something unexpected.
The team bus had not moved in nearly 20 minutes, so Pollock grabbed a few of his teammates and proceeded to the top of a hill next to the road where he led an impromptu tan session, laying out in the sun to catch some rays, getting his burn on while the traffic dissipated.
Pollock attributes a bit of his humorous persona to the work he had to put in as a child to receive attention from his family. Although he is not an attention seeker, he enjoys being put in the spotlight and giving others the opportunity to shine along with him.
Pollock's life away from Buffalo has largely been focused on family. He grew up in Sagamore Hills, Ohio, the middle child of five and the youngest of the three oldest boys. He spent much of his childhood trying to keep up with his older brothers.
Both of his older brothers, Brian and Nick, were always impressed at the lengths Pollock would go to keep up with them, whether it was in little league or just playing pick-up football in the back yard.
The constant competition athletically and the bid for attention with his older brothers has manifested itself over time, turning him into the person he is today: one with a thirst for humor and a determination to become the best baseball player he possibly can.
Although he has a rep for being silly at times, he has no problem being serious when the time calls for it - but he makes sure that the two never mix.
"I try to make the best out of both," Pollock said. "When I am serious, I am dead serious, and when I want to joke and it's time to have a good time, I will be right there with all the guys."
Pollock is an intense guy when it comes to his training.
"You see him in the weight room and you get a true sense for who the kid really is," Murphy said. "He puts all his time and energy into becoming a better athlete and it really shows on the field."
Pollock really got into weight training his junior year of high school. His older brother Brian recalls leaving Pollock at home as a "sophomore, just enjoying life." But when he returned home the next summer, his little brother wasn't so little anymore.
Pollock has continued training at an incredible pace, becoming one of the team's undisputed leaders in the weight room.
Scahill recalled a time during the offseason when the team was doing a particularly tough exercise. The coaches strapped the players onto a treadmill-like device and then had each player pull it along. The entire team had finished except for one player, but instead of watching his teammate struggle as the last participant in the coach's grueling drill, Pollock hopped on next to him and finished the workout with his teammate.
Head coach Ron Torgalski has noticed Pollock's work in the weight room and knows that his team responds positively to his ethic.
"Guys see the work that he has put in in the weight room and think: 'Hey, he made that commitment and if I make that commitment it's going to help me,'" Torgalski said.
Whether Pollock is singing his heart out at Perk's or screaming at his teammates in the weight room, his magnetic personality has brought him success at Buffalo.
As he moves forward as an athlete, student, and friend, Pollock will do all he can to sing and play his way into the hearts of the people around him.
Email: sports@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics
