"Yeah, it looks pretty bad. Matkovich said. "I guess I sweat etha- nol or something," Matkovich said. "Every- body gives me a hard time. "

Winthrop head coach Joe Hudak isn't among that group. He sees Matkovich's faded cap as a testament of all the sweat, dedication and work the junior has put in following a less than stellar freshman season in Rock Hill.

"When we recruited him out of high school, we all thought that he was the best hitter in the state of West Virginia," Hudak said. "He came in and was the opening-day designated hitter as a freshman, but he really struggled."

Struggle is an understatement for Matkovich, who was an all-state selection at John Marshall High School in Glen Dale, W.Va. He appeared in 21 games, had four hits in 36 at-bats -- that's a .111 average -- and struck out seven times.

"I wasn't ready for the college game," Matkovich said. "I had a real bad first week, and it all went down hill from there."

Hudak agreed.

"Matt let himself get out of shape and lost confidence," Hudak said. "I have a meeting with every player after the season, and I remember telling him after his freshman year that if he wanted to play here he needed to work hard over the summer and come back in much better shape or he was going to have trouble playing here."

Matkovich remembers the meeting with Hudak as one of those life-changers.

"It inspired me because I wanted to play baseball at Winthrop and contribute," Matkovich said. "I pretty much spent my freshman year sitting and eating. I worked very hard over the summer to get back in shape."

The effort didn't go unnoticed by Hudak.

"I threw down the gauntlet and Matt accepted that challenge, and when he came back he had lost about 20 pounds and was in the best shape that we had seen him. He has worked hard ever since. Now he's become the type hitter we knew he could be."

A look at his numbers proves that.

Matkovich came back ready to go last year and hit .294 as a sophomore, but that was just a sign of things to come this season.

The 5-foot-10 chemistry and biology major leads the Big South Conference in hitting (.388) and on-base percentage (.559).

Matkovich tuned up for this week's BSC Tournament, which starts at The Winthrop Ballpark on Wednesday, with a 6-for-10 weekend in the Eagles' two wins over Radford. That performance increased his league-leading average by 11 points and helped Winthrop earn the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

The Eagles (34-20) will open play against Liberty on Wednesday night at 8 o'clock.

Although Matkovich considers himself a line-drive hitter, he's shown a little punch in his bat and is third on the team with eight home runs. He had two of those -- one to left and one to right -- in one game against Coastal Carolina and almost had a third.

"Matt's not a home run hitter," Hudak said. "The fact is, he gets in trouble a little bit when he tries to hit home runs. I told him in the fall that if he tried to hit the ball hard in the middle of the field, he could be a .400 hitter. I was very serious.

"He's got some power, and the home runs will come. Matt's been our most consistent hitter all year."

Hudak said he looks to Kevin Roberson and Matkovich, the Eagles one and two hitters, to get on base and let the middle of the lineup -- Daniel Carte and David Scoggin -- provide the power.

"He's the catalyst," Hudak said. "His on-base average is phenomenal.

"Roby and Matt set the table for us," Hudak said. "Somebody has to have been on base for Carte and Scoggin to drive in all the runs they have."

Carte also comes from West Virginia and hit a state-record 51 home runs for Hurricane High School, has 12 homers and 53 RBI. Scoggin, a junior third baseman who transferred from Collin County Community College in Texas, needs just three RBI to eclipse Rick Kobsik's single-season record of 66 set back in 1998.

"I know I'm a gap-to-gap, line-drive hitter," Matkovich said. "During that stretch I got a couple of good pitches to lift and they went out."

Matkovich played shortstop at John Marshall High School and was recruited for the 2001 season to take over for senior Jason Colson at third base. Matkovich was moved to second, however, when Fort Mill's Jon Gore, the 2001 Big South Conference freshman of the year, elected to give up baseball.

According to Hudak, Matkovich was a natural who turns the double play as well as anybody he's had.

"You still field ground balls and make throws," Matkovich said. "The throw from third is longer, and it took a little time adjusting to second base. "(Shortstop Matt Repec) and I have worked very hard, and I think it shows."

Especially on his baseball cap.

Asked if he ever thought about getting a replacement cap this year, Matkovich, who claims not to be superstitious, paused and then laughed.

"I thought about it, but I got to thinking they'd charge me and I can't afford it."