Former Southside, UAFS baseball player now with the Fort Smith Marshals

With his distinctive handlebar mustache, Fort Smith Marshals’ baseball player Matt Schilling largely resembles a human incarnation of the team’s mascot, Marshal Smitty.

Especially when Schilling is wearing his cap emblazoned with the team’s logo, the face of a United States Marshal with a bushy handlebar mustache.

But truth be told, Schilling started growing his mustache out a year before the Marshals fielded a team. Strictly a mere coincidence, then, for Schilling, who played at both Southside High School in Fort Smith and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

“I’ve had it for probably three years,” Schilling said. “I probably got through where I wanted it to be about a year and a half, but I’ve been trimming it ever since, really just keeping up with it, trying to make it look good.

“Total coincidence. You know, when I saw the logo. I was like, ‘Well, you know, I kind of looked like that.’ Usually, you don’t get a person (mascot) right or it’s an animal, so I think it’s pretty cool with the team having started last year.”

Schilling was part of the Marshals’ inaugural campaign last summer and he is back again, primarily playing shortstop. He said it’s still surreal that he is continuing to play baseball after Southside and after UAFS, where the Marshals play their home games at the Lions’ Crowder Field.

“It was like, you’ve got the (Arkansas) Travelers, and you’ve got the (Northwest Arkansas) Naturals up there (in Springdale); you don’t expect Fort Smith to have a professional sports team, but it’s cool, it’s really cool,” Schilling said. “Fort Smith needs this for people to come out and enjoy. So, yeah, I think it’s good for Fort Smith to have it.”

Though the Marshals have gotten off to a slow start this season, Schilling remains optimistic the team can turn things around.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit, but I think it’s a good learning experience for everybody,” he said. “You know, a lot of us are going back to school, and need to learn how to deal with failure and get through it, right?”

The team was able to garner some momentum in late June when they began a home-stand by winning two of three games against Sherman (Texas), one of the top teams in the Mid-America League.

As for Schilling personally, he’s been through some ups and downs, but as far as he’s concerned, he’s been able to keep working and keep grinding.

“I personally think I’ve played good defense, and I’ve hit the ball hard,” Schilling said. “Now the results aren’t necessarily what I’m not getting. My average doesn’t represent what I think I’ve done at the plate this year; I think I’ve barreled a lot of balls and had some pretty good at-bats. It’s not necessarily showing it in the stats, but it’s just sticking to the process for me right now; just keep playing every day and the ball will fall (for hits).”

Plus, Schilling is just grateful to continue playing baseball. Especially after his senior year at Southside was cut short in 2020 because of COVID-19.

“That was pretty rough for me,” Schilling said of his senior year at Southside. “But then I get two years in college back, so I got to play five years of college baseball.

“So I can’t complain to anybody, right? … I’m more grateful where I was at, where I had a place to go, and I had coaches already talking to me, and some of us got to play some summer ball late, which is good, and got some looks. (Then) I got extra years and I got to play extra.”

Schilling wants to stay in baseball beyond this season, whether it’s hooking on with another independent-league team or getting into coaching. Schilling also believes he’s taken a larger role with the Marshals this season as more of a team leader.

“I’m just kind of staying in the role I’m at as a leader, staying in the role where people look up to me and instead of having to go to coach about everything, they can come to me and ask me some questions,” Schilling said. “I like where I’m at, so hopefully, I get the opportunity to keep playing.”