All Matt Ertmer can remember is the black dot.

Sure, he can tell you it was a 3-2 count. A fall-league baseball game. A pitcher staring at his 5-foot-5 frame.

But, when thinking back to that Sunday last October, all the 16-year-old Ertmer can remember is hitting the ground.

And seeing nothing but that haunting black dot.

“I thought he was going to bring his fastball,” Ertmer said. “I guess he did bring his fastball.”

The pitch came high and inside quickly – so fast that Ertmer barely could turn away before it smashed into his left eye, shattering bones in three places.

Ertmer doesn’t remember much except for the darkness, but he was able to see one thing clearly.

Lawrence 16-year-old Matt Ertmer was hit in his left eye by a pitch in October during a fall-league baseball game. Ertmer broke bones in three places in his face but recovered to play this year for Free State High and the Lawrence Outlaws.

“I knew I was going to keep playing after everything healed up,” he said. “It’s what I’ve been doing all my life.”

Ertmer had suffered broken bones in his left eye, nose and cheek, but fortunately no damage to his vision.

Two days after the incident, Ertmer was wheeled in for surgery to place a plate and a pin just above his left eye in a procedure he admittedly wasn’t too thrilled about.

“It was pretty scary, because I didn’t know if I was going to look the same after I got all better,” he said.

“The only thing I was scared of was looking all ugly,” Ertmer said.

He missed nearly two weeks of school, but with every passing day Ertmer could see more of himself.

“Once it healed up, it was like nothing really happened,” he said. “Everything was back to normal.”

Ertmer never hesitated about returning to baseball. When conditioning started in January, he was there. And when Free State High’s baseball season began in the spring, he literally stepped up to the plate.

“I just tried to put my focus on baseball,” he said, “and put the past behind me.”

Brad Romme, who coached Ertmer last spring at Free State and again this summer with the Lawrence Outlaws, wasn’t surprised about his comeback.

Free State High baseball player Matt Ertmer is shown soon after he was hit in the left eye by a pitch during a game in October. Ertmer recovered from the injury to play for the Firebirds this spring and the Lawrence Outlaws this summer.

“It wasn’t if, it was when,” Romme said. “That’s just a testament to the kid he is.”

Added teammate Travis Ice, who was on deck when the beaning occurred: “I thought it was pretty motivating that he came back so quick.”

Ertmer is expected to battle for the starting third-base job on Free State High’s baseball team next spring after having a solid season with the Outlaws this summer.

“For a little guy, he takes a major-league hack,” Romme said. “And when he’s on the bases, he’s hell for pitchers and catchers because he’s going to steal bases and put pressure on the defense. He’s about as complete a player as we had.”