Matt Corder just wants to beat you.
The Mississippi State center fielder is as competitive as they come, and not just on the baseball field. Whether it’s basketball, football, spades or something else, Corder wants to win. Badly.
“If we’re playing checkers, I want to beat you,” Corder said.
Would he?
“Yeah, absolutely,” Corder claimed.
That’s just who Matt Corder is: Ruthless enough to want to win — and talented enough to do it.
Both attributes have propelled the Bulldogs’ utility man to where he is right now: in his first season playing for his dream school.
But not even Corder’s unparalleled competitiveness could make it another easy win. It took two years in junior college and a significant shoulder injury before Corder could see the field for the Bulldogs.
Ever since then, though, he’s made the most of it.
“It’s been a long journey and a lot of ups and downs getting here,” Corder’s father Dickie said. “That probably has prepared him to take in the moment, relish the moment and enjoy his time here.”
Worth the wait
At Germantown High School, Corder tried out for the basketball team under unusual circumstances.
Aware that a friend of his wanted to try out for the squad but was nervous about making the cut, Corder decided to come along just to ease his friend’s mind. Ultimately, Corder made the team.
In addition to basketball and baseball, Corder also played football for the Mavericks — no easy feat.
“Going to a big high school like he did here at Germantown, it’s really hard to do all three sports because of the way the seasons overlap,” Germantown baseball coach Brian Hardy said.
It was nothing new for Corder, whose athleticism, speed and quickness allowed him to excel in all three sports. In baseball, he split shortstop duties with current Auburn junior Bryson Ware, playing second base if Ware was at short. Corder also starred outfield, had a “closer mentality” on the mound and even caught for the Mavericks.
“Matt’s ability to do things at a very high level is amazing,” Hinds Community College baseball coach Sam Temple said.
Lacking the bulky, powerful build many college coaches look for, Corder was passed over by Division I teams out of high school. But he found a place not far from home at Hinds, the first junior college to show interest in adding him to the roster.
“Hinds was the first one to recruit him, and Matt’s kind of a loyal guy,” Hardy said.
Playing both ways for the Eagles, Corder hit .267 in 11 games in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season. He pitched to a 2.84 ERA in 6.1 innings.
By the fall, the offers had begun to come in. Corder held firm as the schools recruiting him got bigger and bigger. Louisiana jumped into the fray, offering Corder a full athletic scholarship.
He knew what he was waiting for.
“I’ve always wanted to play in the SEC,” Corder said. “That’s what everybody wants to do.”
In particular, Corder wanted to play at Mississippi State. He went to watch the College World Series in Omaha with a friend in 2019, calling the trip an “awesome” experience. During his summer league stint in 2021, Corder continually pestered his coach to check the score of the Bulldogs’ CWS games.
And when MSU finally showed interest, Corder was ready. He called his father to tell him the news when Bulldogs hitting coach Jake Gautreau offered Corder a spot on the team; he could hear Dickie’s happiness through the joyous silence on the other end of the line.
Mostly silence, anyway.
“There might have been some hooting and hollering going on,” Corder’s stepmom, Jennifer Pope Corder, said.
Corder explained the Bulldogs’ offer was a partial scholarship. His family didn’t care.
“Here, it was going to cost us money, but I said, ‘Son, it doesn’t matter,’” Dickie said. “‘If there’s where you want to go, that’s where you go.’”
‘Everything they asked and more’
The game had dragged on long enough.
On May 19, 2021, Corder and Hinds were deadlocked 3-3 through 16 grueling innings with Itawamba Community College in the NJCAA Region 23 tournament. If the Eagles lost, their promising campaign was over.
“We’re all fighting for our season,” Corder said.
Corder stepped to the plate with a man on second in the bottom of the 17th, looking to hit the ball to the right side to advance the baserunner. He did that and more, blasting a walk-off, two-run homer over the right-field fence.
“It was a big moment for him and our team to advance in the regional and a big moment for him while he was at Hinds,” Temple said.
Indeed, it was Corder’s most memorable at-bat from a phenomenal season in which he batted .458, drove in 27 runs and stole 17 bases. He still pitched some, but only 13 innings; Temple and Corder both knew where the two-way standout’s future lay.
Pitching in the SEC, Corder acknowledged, is a formidable task, and he’s happy at the plate.
“I’ve always just pitched because I’ve been able to,” Corder said. “I’ve never really thought of myself as a pitcher; I’ve always wanted to swing the bat.”
He did so effectively in his second season at Hinds while playing through an injury he didn’t think much of. In a game against Pearl River, Corder dove for a ball and felt a small pop in his left shoulder.
Corder had partially torn his labrum. He had no idea.
Until the summer season in the Coastal Plain League in North Carolina, that is. Playing for the High Point-Thomasville HiToms, Corder dislocated the same shoulder on a headfirst slide. His labrum was completely torn and needed surgery.
Corder had the cartilage repaired on Sept. 16 at Capital Ortho in the Jackson area. The procedure kept him out all fall, missing valuable practice time with his new teammates in Starkville. He wore a sling everywhere, even to bed.
“It was just really uncomfortable,” Corder said.
He made progress seemingly every day, surprising the doctors who cared for him. Jennifer said he was “miles ahead” at every visit, able to extend his arm well past the expected range each time.
“He wanted to be on the field, so he did everything they asked and more,” Dickie said.
Corder returned to practice just two weeks before the team dispersed for winter break. Corder’s left arm had lost tons of muscle from inactivity, and he had to get it back over the holiday, using band exercises and slowly incorporating weights.
Before the break, Corder was able to take batting practice just twice. But when the Bulldogs returned, he was ready.
“It was really big for me to just go home and work out and just get my strength back and rehab my shoulder to where I could play when we got back,” Corder said.
‘Is this really happening right now?’
Laden with nerves, Dickie and Jennifer chewed their fingernails in the Dudy Noble Field stands as Corder made his debut for Mississippi State on Feb. 19.
They could only imagine Corder shared the same anxieties — or more.
“Were you nervous and crapping your pants or whatever?” Jennifer asked Corder after the game.
Corder told them the truth: He was fine.
“That’s just Matt,” Jennifer said. “He just for whatever reason doesn’t get unnerved by stuff.”
Apart from a few jitters early on, Corder really did seem unfazed. He went 1 for 4 in his first game at Mississippi State after coming to an epiphany early on amid a crowd of 13,351.
“The first couple innings, you’re a little shaky, you’re nervous, but then you realize that all these guys are here cheering for you,” Corder said. “It calms you down and kind of locks you in.”
The next day, Corder put Dudy Noble on its feet.
He opened the scoring with a 428-foot home run that cleared the left-field stands, passing by Dickie and Jennifer behind the third-base dugout in the process.
“Is this really happening right now?” Dickie asked himself.
“I think I gave myself a headache just from screaming,” Jennifer added.
Corder circled the bases, hearing the cheers from the crowd in what he called a “surreal” moment.
“I don’t even know the words to describe it,” he said. “Growing up wanting to be on the field here and just play for this team and then actually accomplishing that and hitting a ball like that here is just unreal.”
Going deep at Dudy Noble might have been a highlight for Corder, but he’s got plenty more he wants to accomplish in Starkville. With Corder’s recent struggles, that hasn’t been easy.
Since his home run, Corder has just one hit. He’s started five of the Bulldogs’ nine games since, failing to seize hold of the center field job just yet.
“It’s tough to stay locked in when you’re not playing, but it all works out if you just keep your head down and just keep grinding, man,” Corder said after his big game Feb. 20. “Everybody’s time comes.”
This year, Corder’s time came. Those who know him are not surprised.
“I’ve seen so many kids at the high school level give up on the dream,” Hardy said. “He just refused to believe that he couldn’t play at that level. I’m just so proud of him for that.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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