Catch up with one of College of Sequoias’ top baseball catchers Hailing from Visalia, Alex Lopez. He came swinging into the Giant’s diamond this season ready to compete. Through the beginning of his collegiate debut, Lopez has posted a confident .333 batting average while being a brick wall behind the plate.

Usually batting in the sixth or seventh position, Lopez has definitely seen the shift of mindset in the first competitive spring of his college career. Lopez highlights a strong work ethic, collaboration, and an insatiable competitive nature as reasons for his success. In the time I got to talk to and meet this young athlete, I discovered how seriously he takes the great game of baseball. This passion seemed to be a commonality within the clubhouse for COS Baseball.

Under the ideologies of head coach Jody Allen, Lopez has adopted that love for the grind and accepted the lifestyle that follows. The “if you’re not early, you’re late” mindset is a fire set under every player within the baseball program here at COS.

When talking with the left-swinging catcher, I saw just how much this first season meant to Alex Lopez. January 27th was the day he collected his first college hit. Just one week later, on February 3rd, he nabbed his first run batted in.

I asked him what it was like to have worked his entire life to play college baseball and finally realizing you just collected both his first hit and RBI. Lopez let me know that all he was able to do was, “Breathe. Just breathe. It’s what I do before every game. I try and just focus on the task at hand while also taking in the atmosphere.”

This realization of being grounded has led one of Visalia’s own to have incredible success at the beginning of a long spring ahead. Our conversation ended with how getting a quarter of the way through the season has been turning out.

While the Giants are currently boasting a 6-6 record, Lopez shares that they are not the caliber of team that will stay at .500 but go far past it.

He goes on to say that, “We can play. We can’t be afraid to be great. We are the guys that can come in everyday day in and day out to compete. None of us hold back and every single one of us wants to be that hero for the guy next to them.”

For all news and updates regarding COS Men’s Baseball, be sure to visit https://cosgiants.com/sports/bsb/index