Gregori junior Dallas named Modesto Metro Conference MVP

Gregori High School baseball coach Jim Davis was intrigued by the ballplayer and then captivated by his moment of perfection.

Turns out the rest of the Modesto Metro Conference was just as impressed with Matt Dallas.

The Gregori junior was named the conference MVP in a vote of its coaches.

Dallas follows in the footsteps of Beyer senior Jack Large, who also won the award as a junior. Large was named to the all-conference first team this spring after the Patriots cruised to the conference championship, their second in a row, and swept Gregori in their opening series.

However, the top individual award went to a Jaguar that did it all in his first varsity season. Dallas played outfield, three of the four infield positions and, of course, he pitched for Gregori, which finished second and hosted a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I outbracket game against Buhach Colony.

“He was our best baseball player, and as it turned out, the best baseball player in our league this season,” Davis said. “What made him so valuable was how we utilized him. He started in the outfield. He started at third base and second base. And he started on the mound. Believe it or not, he can catch, too. We think he’ll be a great catcher next year.”

Beyer coach Dom Duran was named Coach of the Year after guiding the Patriots to a 17-1 mark. Beyer finished the regular season atop The Bee’s large-school poll.

The Patriots celebrated two major award winners. Junior Josh Escobar was named Pitcher of the Year, while senior Jordan Walls was Offensive Player of the Year.

Enochs sophomore center fielder Chris Butterfield Jr. was the Defensive Player of the Year.

Escobar was 6-0 with six complete games in league and allowed three earned runs in 37 innings. Walls, a three-year varsity player, hit .522 (24 for 46) in league with six doubles and seven multi-hit games.

Butterfield had three errors in 50 chances and three assists while playing center in the wide-open and often windy outfields of the MMC. His speed and fearless style shrunk the gaps for the Eagles, who were knocked out of the D-I playoffs by Tracy, the South champion and section runner-up.

Dallas went 5-1 with a 1.29 ERA in six league starts. He was tied for second in wins and ranked fifth in ERA. Dallas had 29 strikeouts, and the opposition hit .198 against him.

On April 29, he tossed the school’s first perfect game in a five-inning, 10-0 victory over Enochs. The win helped the Jaguars avoid a sweep and kept the Eagles from clinching the No. 2 playoff seed.

While Dallas controlled games once a week with his arm, he was a menace every game with a bat.

“There was a point when he was hitting close to .500 in league,” Davis said.

Dallas led the MMC in RBIs with 21 and finished in the top six in average (.475, third), runs (20, second), slugging percentage (.655, fourth) and on-base percentage (.529, sixth). He had 29 hits, including five doubles and three triples.

Davis learned a lot about Dallas’ grit and potential in back-to-back defeats early in the season. In both games, Dallas went the distance against perennial Division I south powers, keeping his team in the game when the Jaguars’ weren’t at their best. Dallas gave up one run on eight hits in a 1-0 defeat to Merced on March 18 and then limited Beyer to two earned runs in a 3-1 loss one week later.

During Gregori’s roughest stretch of the season, Dallas was the beacon of hope, the competitive edge, a budding star.

“Down in Merced, in a 1-0 loss to a very good team, he goes out and throws a complete game. He kept us in that game,” Davis said. “Matt was as tough on the mound as you could find. I looked at the other coach and said, ‘We got a ballplayer.’ It’s been fun to see (him) develop.”

“Matt was a huge pick-me-up,” he added. “Even though he took the loss, you could tell that he loved to compete.”

Dallas was joined on the all-conference first team by teammates Andrew Urrutia (catcher), Roberto Flores (infielder), Tyler Vandemark (outfielder) and Michael Olivarez (outfielder).

Rounding out the first team were pitcher Kevin Duffy and outfielder Trevor Ravelli of Beyer, shortstop Eli Martinez and utility player Jordan Davidson of Enochs and infielder Dylon Jackson of Modesto.

This story was originally published June 7, 2016 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Gregori junior Dallas named Modesto Metro Conference MVP."