Kiwi baseball sensation Jason Matthews is at a top division college, with this upcoming season his best chance of being picked up by a professional Major League team.
With his Major League dream slowly becoming a reality, the 22-year-old swung by home to extend his US visa.
In 2016. Matthews took up a community college scholarship in Iowa, which led to a top NCAA division one programme at the University of South Carolina Upstate
Getting to this point hasn't been easy for the shortstop.
"I knew what hard work was when I met the coach in Iowa and he just drilled me every day ... and as a Kiwi kid you're like, I miss home now," Matthews told 1 NEWS.
Home is in Papakura where, like most Kiwi baseball stories, softball was the family's first love.
Jason's sister Sue has been there every step of the way as a mother figure after both their parents were taken by cancer when she was 18 and Matthews was just seven.
"I think our parents would be really proud of us and especially him," Sue Hicks told 1 NEWS.
"Yeah a lot of people always say like you'll be making your parents proud and I'm like yeah I know," Matthews said.
Caroline Matthews fought bowel cancer for four years. She's honoured in the community where her legacy is still talked about today.
"So if I like have a bad game and I'm like doubting myself, like I just want to come home now cause like it's been tough. Sometimes I don't know how to handle it but then I also think about my sister and my family," he said.
"I'm like damn if I give up now or if I just want to go home then it will be all for nothing, cause like she's done everything, so I have to like give her everything."
SHARE ME