Hudsonville, MI – The Grace Christian University baseball program is thrilled to announce the signing of Matthew Hoonhorst, a product of Unity Christian High School and the Grand Rapids Flames travel team. Matthew, a 6'1" pitcher, is the son of Darl and Judy and step-parents Beth and Chad, and a brother to Marissa, Audrey, and Nick.

Under Head Coach Josh Sepanik at Unity Christian, Hoonhorst was an academic All-State nominee and batted .306 as a junior. For the Flames, he hit .289 and had a 1.325 WHIP and held opposing batters to a .222 average. In addition to his work on the baseball diamond, Hoonhorst was a three-year varsity player on the Crusaders' powerhouse football team and received All-Conference HM, All-Region, and Academic All-State on a team that set the MHSAAA single season scoring record with over 800 points scored.

"We are super excited to get Matt on board with us for the years to come," commented Grace Head Coach Colton Wolfe. "Matt will surely help us out on the mound, and he is the type of guy to be a leader in the locker room. Can't wait to see what God has in store for him over the next 4 years."

Hoonhorst spoke on what tipped the scales for him to choose Grace for his next steps:

"I chose Grace because the people there treat you like a person. Bigger colleges only see the kids as numbers. From just one visit at Grace, the administrators try to form a relationship with you. They talk about your life, how you got where you are, and cool things that you've done. You can talk to them about anything. I chose Grace for athletics because of the welcoming, and Coach Wolfe is a nice, caring, and very smart guy. From one hitting session with him, I learned a lot in a short amount of time. From seeing some of the kids on the team once, even though I know a couple of them from travel ball, they also want to make a relationship with you asking how you're doing and asking about life. Teammates need to be able to talk to each other freely and get along, that is what I see with the members of Grace's team."

Hoonhorst, who will pursue a degree in accounting, is the first of a handful of recruits slated to join the Tigers in the fall of 2022, which will follow their first official season this upcoming Spring.