Focus, control and determination: UTRGV Baseball Team aims for championship

With the UTRGV baseball season starting Friday, the team’s goal is not only to get back to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament but to win it this time.

The Vaqueros start the season with a three-game series against The George Washington University at 7 p.m. Friday at the UTRGV Baseball Stadium as part of the Al Ogletree Classic. They face the Colonials at 1 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. 

UTRGV head coach Derek Matlock told The Rider the Vaqueros are excited to finally play another team as they have been practicing and scrimmaging against each other since August.

“I feel really good about our guys,” Matlock said. “I can trust that they’re really trying to get themselves better. That’s the culture part of the program that we have now.”

Last season, UTRGV finished with a 32-26 overall record, including a program record 20 conference wins. 

The Vaqueros not only notched their first win at the WAC tournament last year, but made a run to reach the championship and finished as runners-up.

UTRGV lost the championship game against Grand Canyon University 5-4.

Matlock said getting so close to winning the tournament championship left a bad taste in the team’s mouth, but was necessary. 

“To get to where you want to go, you got to get to certain places first,” the head coach said. “We know what it’s like to play in that tournament now, but we got to get ourselves back there and it ain’t easy getting there.”

In Matlock’s fifth year at the helm, he said a winning culture has been established and the team improved mentally and physically in the offseason.

Graduate outfielder and third-year veteran Freddy Rojas Jr. told The Rider that the team has a lot to prove after reaching the conference championship and the team’s priority is to win it this time and make regionals.

Rojas described his season as having many highs and lows, but the highs did get him a WAC Honorable Mention and two Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week awards. The Brooklyn native said it was a blessing to be recognized for his season, in which he finished with nine home runs and 30 RBI, while slashing a .298 batting average, .407 on-base percentage and .522 slugging percentage.

Asked what the biggest thing the team has worked on in the offseason is, Rojas replied, “focus.”

“We’ve come to find out that once the whole team is focused, the way we play is totally different,” he said. “Everybody’s locked in and we’re making the plays.”

Rojas said individually, he is working on his defense and becoming a more consistent hitter.

First-year redshirt sophomore infielder Alex Kelch, who transferred from Pima Community College, also told The Rider that focus, especially attention to detail, was something the whole team worked on in the offseason.

“You know, small things and, like, knowing your role,” the Tucson native said. “There’s people that can do certain things better than other people and just knowing that, like, we got to fit it all together like a puzzle.”

Kelch said  he has worked on being more positive within the team and stepping up as a leader.

“Just being able to give people that energy that maybe they’re lacking on a specific day, or when they have a bad at bat or something, just being able to be a leader and give others energy that they need,” he said.

Matlock said having players with prior experience playing at schools like Texas A&M University, Kansas State University or having been with UTRGV will help a lot this season.

Redshirt senior pitcher Kevin Stevens is one of those experienced players and was named Preseason WAC Pitcher of the Year. Last season, Stevens had a 3.17 ERA. He pitched 93.2 innings in 15 starts while striking out 97 and allowing just 78 hits and 20 walks.

The WAC Southwest Division coaches picked UTRGV to finish tied for second in the division with Sam Houston State University and Abilene Christian University finishing first. In the West Division, GCU was voted to finish first.

The Vaqueros start conference play against ACU, who received votes to be nationally ranked, at 7 p.m. March 11 at the UTRGV Baseball Stadium.

“We got to focus on us and we got to focus on what we can control and our players have to play to their ability,” Matlock said. “And if they do that, we don’t care about the schedule.”

By controlling what they can control, Matlock hopes to win the regular season, the WAC tournament and advance to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 1986.

Leading up to the WAC Tournament, UTRGV faces other notable teams that received votes to be ranked like Sam Houston State University, South Texas Showdown rival Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and No.1 ranked University of Texas at Austin.

Kelch said to be the best you have to beat the best and the team’s attitude toward Texas is the same as for every team they will face.

“If you play hard, play fundamentally sound, no one can beat you,” he said. “You don’t play the other opponent in the dugout.  You play the game. You beat the game and the game will reward you … [Texas] is ranked No. 1 right now, but they’ll come here and they don’t know what’s gonna come get them.”

The Vaqueros play the Longhorns first in Austin at 6:30 p.m. April 5 and then at home at 6:30 p.m. April 26.

“Come have a good time at the ballpark,” Kelch said. “We’re gonna play as hard as we can for [the students], for the city and for the school.”