Senior Matt Ogrzewalla has been playing baseball his entire life. There has not been a point in it, up to now, when it was not at the top of his mind. A pitcher for the Wando team, he has become a staple of their roster throughout his three years of membership on it. However, that all changed when he found out he would not be participating in his senior season, getting “Tommy John” surgery this past fall.
“[I have] either [a] partial tear … or full tear of the UCL (Ulnar Collateral Ligament), which is the inside ligament that stabilizes the elbow during the throw,” Ogrzewalla said. “It’s about a 18-month recovery period … Spring 2026 is when I should be back.”
This diagnosis did not come out of nowhere, despite the shocking finality of its outcome. Ogrzewalla had known something was off for weeks.
“It wasn’t, like, an immediate, like, I threw a pitch and was like, ‘that’s not good.’ It was over the course of a few weeks,” Ogrzewalla said. “I pitched in a game in the tournament and was sore afterward, but that’s usually normal when you throw 70, 80 pitches. And then over the next few weeks, I would throw, it hurt, and it just got to a point where I felt … a pulling sensation, [and] it got worse and worse over time until it started to be almost unbearable.”
One visit to his pitching coach and several doctors’ offices later, Ogrzewalla received the devastating diagnosis that ended his final high school season before it started.
“My heart dropped … It was shocking. I’ve already had elbow surgery once in eighth grade. So another one with an 18-month recovery was, I didn’t really know what to think,” Ogrzewalla said. “I was depressed. The one thing I do every day and love to do the most was taken away from me.”
The surgery happened a few weeks later, with the road to recovery starting from there. While he is still new to the recovery process, having a long way to go to be back at 100%, a brace and physical therapy have been early indications of things to come.
“[It’s been] slow. Slow and kind of scary,” Ogrzewalla said. “I’m lifting five-pound weights, and my other arm is much stronger than that … It’s tough not knowing about what’s going on inside my arm because it’s scary to think, ‘what if it’s not working? What if it’s tearing again?’”
However, Ogrzewalla will not let this sever his connection to his team and the people on it. Despite the feeling of helplessness without being able to participate, it is not enough to abandon his squad of three years.
“I go to practice, go to games, I’ll be at tryouts. Do everything I can to help this team win,” Ogrzewalla said. ”They’re still my team, regardless of if I’ll be able to be on the field or not.”
This fall, Ogrzewalla will be attending the University of South Carolina Union. There, a place on the baseball team awaits him. So does the sport he loves, and the rush that comes with it.
“[I can’t wait to be] able to feel the rush of throwing a pitch. [It] is satisfying for me,” Ogrzewalla said. “I like the feeling of pitching, like the feeling of throwing the ball almost as hard as I can, and blowing it by somebody.”
