Skyline baseball knew it wasn’t really set up to win big this past spring.

The Falcons were coming off one of their best seasons in recent memory in 2024 but knew, well long before the spring 2025, that it was likely going to be an uphill battle. Not only did they need to reload the roster after graduating so much from last year’s postseason team. They’d have to do so with small numbers, mostly made up of young players who’d never played high school varsity baseball.

At the heart of it — and fittingly in the middle of its batting order — was 6-foot-4 senior Matt Lanier. As Skyline coach Travis Schlagel put it, he served in the “dude role.”

Though most any high school or club team would’ve loved to have the power-hitting left-hander in the spring, Lanier stayed put in his third year starting for the Falcons and shouldered the weight of a team that went through its share of growing pains, finishing just 6-16-1. Despite his team’s record, Lanier was named the 4A Granite Peaks League player of the year by a near unanimous vote.

“It was very important to play here,” Lanier, the Longmont Times-Call baseball player of the year, said of Skyline. “It’s a local school and they’ve made it feel like a family here. It’s so welcoming and such a good environment to be a part of. And I wouldn’t rather have it any other way.”

As a senior, Lanier hit .508, with 12 of his 33 hits going for extra bases, and had a .584 on-base percentage. Those numbers soared from what he considered a down junior season, where he hit just .312 and had three extra-base hits.

Asked about what changed, he described a more dialed-in and relaxed approach.

He said he’d made his college decision before back in the winter when he committed to Division-III power Webster (Mo.) University, and that alleviated some of the pressure he’d put on himself during the recruiting process. Adding, “I just had the mindset of, ‘This is one last ride with my boys. So just go and have some fun.’”

And though winning wasn’t consistent for the Falcons in the spring, Lanier said he was proud of some things they’d managed to accomplish.

Namely, wins over Niwot and Mead. And, yes, Lanier came up big in each.

In an 11-10 win over the Cougars in March, Lanier doubled, tripled, had three RBIs and tossed 2 1/3 shutout innings in relief to get the win. (On the mound in 2025, he had a 3.99 ERA in 33 1/3 innings.)

In April against the Mavericks, who went on to make the postseason, Lanier walked things off in the seventh for a 3-2 win. It was Skyline’s first win over Mead since 2019.

“He knew going in this year as the three-hole hitter ‘my job is to drive in runs,’” said Schlagel, who finished his 10th year ahead of the program. “He wasn’t intimidated by 88 mph or 90 mph. He knew what he had to do and he put the team on his shoulders. … He was dominant.”

Next, Lanier will study biology while playing baseball for the Gorloks (the mythical creature that is the school’s whacky mascot).

On the diamond, Lanier joins one of the better D-III baseball programs in the country. Last season, it went 37-9 and reached the regional round of the D-III Baseball Championships. In 2026, Lanier is expected to be a big part of what they do, saying he’s already been told that he’ll have the chance to compete for the starting job at first base and designated hitter.

“I’m going to have to work for it and probably beat out some guys for that spot,” Lanier said. “And that’s what I’m expecting. That’s what I’m ready to do.”