Persistence pays off for Cooker
Cape Coral’s Matt Cooker didn’t want his senior season at Mariner High School to be the end of his baseball career.
With a lack of options at the start of the summer, Cooker, a 6-foot-4 right-hander, had to make a decision. He chose to continue pitching and pursuing his goal, hoping to impress the scouts.
His fortune began to turn around with a string of good performances in showcase, travel tournaments and that led to an offer from Division II Dominican College in Orangeburg, N.Y., about 12 miles north of Manhattan.
Just a couple months after having no offers on the table, Cooker landed a full baseball scholarship from Dominican.
“I didn’t think I had a chance of getting any kind of money,” he said. “I was just going to bite the bullet and try to walk-on someplace.”
At first, Cooker was considering attending community college. He checked out Southwest Florida Community College, among others, and pitched for the Fort Myers Tarpons 18U travel team.
That team, which also included Mariner graduates Chris Ford and Ryan Patton, played in showcase tournaments in the Boca Raton/Miami area.
On one occasion, Cooker pitched five strong innings in the first game of a doubleheader, and with the temperature exceeding 100 degrees, he returned to pitch three innings in the second game.
Cooker thought that effort garnered some added attention.
“I think it showed them that I like to pitch and have the stamina,” he said.
Dominican was the first of about four schools to show significant interest. Cooker said he went there for a visit in late July and confirmed that it was the right place.
“Of course, the main thing is I wanted a chance to play,” he said, “but they all welcomed me and took three hours out of their day to take me around the campus. It’s nice and small, in between two mountains, I liked it.”
Cooker grew up in Cape Coral and played junior baseball at both Jason Verdow Park and the Cape Coral Sports Complex.
After not playing his freshman and sophomore year of high school, he pitched for Cape High as a junior.
He had a strong fastball, but learned a lot more about pitching from former Major League pitcher and Fort Myers Miracle pitching coach Eric Rasmussen. Cooker and Rasmussen’s son, Brock, were teammates at Cape.
“He taught me how to throw a change-up and really just taught me how to pitch,” Cooker said. “I didn’t know anything and he took me under his wings and taught me everything I know.”
Cooker transferred to Mariner for his senior year and was part of the Tritons’ team that went 24-5 and captured a district title for the second year in a row.