CHATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Hustling is what Chatham Panther Matt Thorsen does. It helped Chatham win a state baseball championship last year and bring home the school’s first-ever basketball title this past season.

“We’ve never won anything past the patroon conference in basketball,” said Thorsen. “It was a great feeling with all of my best friends since fourth and fifth grade. It’s almost a better feeling than baseball just because we’ve never done it before. Baseball, basketball, wherever it may be, winning is always fun, and breaking school history is a feeling of its own.”

Thorsen and the Panthers want that feeling again. The team is currently on the prowl for back-to-back Class C baseball state titles. Thorsen believes running the table would be a storybook ending his high school career.

“We really talked about how winning it two times in a row would be something legendary and something that is almost unbeatable in Columbia County,” said Thorsen. “It’s something that we strive for, but we’re taking it every day, one practice at a time, one pitch at a time, whatever it may be, and every time that we play and step on the field, we feel like, we’re the best on the field.”

In addition to winning state titles, Thorsen also breaks records. As of this season, Thorsen became the new home run king of Section II, but didn’t know until recently.

“It’s actually funny; me and Coach Steltz never even knew that I broke it,” said Thorsen. “Junior year, I broke the school record for career and in-season, but I never looked into the Sec. II home run record. It’s definitely a cool thing to have and a cool thing to break, but I never go up to the plate looking for a home run, I never go into a game thinking I’m going to hit a home run. So, I go up there, have fun, swing the bat try to catch a barrel, and wherever it goes it goes.”

After high school, Thorsen will take his talent and hustle to Northeastern University to play college baseball for the Huskies.

“The thing I like most about the Northeastern program is obviously the winning mentality, also why I picked that over other colleges would probably just be the family connection of the coaches and the players or whatever it may be. It just felt like when I was on campus, it was like home,” said Thorsen.