Jasmin Espinosa BROWNSVILLE – A total of eight division transfer players joined the UTRGV Baseball roster this spring semester, one of which is leading the team as a graduate student.
New to the lineup but not to baseball, Diego Villescas, graduate senior shortstop, is one of the newest vaqueros to join the team.
Villescas said his goals are playing better and winning conference all the way.
“Obviously winning conference, going to a regional, but, you know, limit the errors,” Villescas said. “[I] haven’t been hitting too good. So, obviously I want to pick that up. But yeah, just as a team, you know, just want to win conference, make a regional and you know, do everything I can to help my team win.”
After five years of playing college baseball, Villescas has played for the University of New Orleans, Hill College and in The Valley League in Virginia.
He said returning to play at UTRGV, after all these years, feels like home.
“Just being home, you know, and with there being a lot of returners, you know, I mean it was pretty easy to, you know, just know that there was a, chemistry there but yeah, I mean all the guys, you know, we all get along super well,” Villescas said. “I mean it’s all one big family, but, yeah, it’s really easy to, you know, come in. [I] felt welcomed as soon as I stepped on here.”
He said an important role in being a shortstop is keeping constant communication with his team members.
“Hyping up my pitchers when I’m out there, constantly talking to, you know, my second baseman, third, you know, with the shifts and all that, talking to my outfielders, you know, if our coaches trying to get their attention,” he said. “I’m the one, you know, telling them where they need to go.”
Derek Matlock, UTRGV Baseball’s head coach, said the team is well adjusted and is ready to see Villescas on the field.
“There’s no more adjusting there,” Matlock said. “They’re baseball players. They’re blue collar kids and they want to go get it and they want to compete.”
Track & Field heads to Southland Conference Indoor Championships
Shareese Hicks, head coach for UTRGV Women and Men’s Track and Field, said the teams are excited and ready to Rally The Valley in its upcoming Southland Conference Indoor Championships.
Despite the championship competition being indoors, the teams have been training outdoors since September.
Hicks said what stood out to her during the indoor season for both teams was the togetherness.
She said the teams are able to stand behind one another and uplift one another with the atmosphere of a positive team.
“A successful weekend for the UTRGV Track and Field team will be each and every person, number one, supporting one another,” Hicks said. “But number two, just showing up and being who they are. Everybody on this team, what they have, their talent is enough to win a championship. So, if they go in there and they believe that and they show up and they’re their best selves, i’ll be a very, very proud coach.”
The Vaqueros will host a two-day Southland Conference Indoor Championships this Wednesday and Thursday at Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.
