COLLEGE: UTPB baseball, softball teams set for openers

A pair of new faces debut their teams when the UTPB baseball and softball teams take the field for the first time in 2023.

Head baseball coach Gabe Grinder and head softball coach Samantha Mendez were hired last summer to take over the Falcons’ programs.

They are familiar with each other, as both coached at Ottawa University, an NAIA school in Ottawa, Kan., the past four seasons.

Grinder was the head baseball coach, leading the Braves to 117 victories the past four seasons, including a 42-10 mark in 2022.

Mendez was an assistant coach for a program that won back-to-back Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference crowns (2021, 2022), along with qualifying for the NAIA World Series in 2021.

Both will try to replicate that success in the Permian Basin as both programs have struggled in recent seasons.

Grinder and the baseball team leap right into Lone Star Conference play with four games at St. Mary’s, beginning with a 6 p.m. contest Friday in San Antonio.

“We’re excited to kick it (season) off, playing a veteran team in St. Mary’s,” Grinder said during a Zoom call Monday. “We are going to find out where we are in a hurry.

“To be tested early is huge for us; our first round conference series, we are looking down the barrel of playing four playoff teams, with three of the four in the Top 25 last year.”

Grinder added that the Falcons will rely on their defense and gap-to-gap power to compete.

He is also looking to see just how resilient his team is as it faces different situations throughout games and series.

Mendez also is going to see her team tested right away as the Falcons will compete (weather permitting) in the LSC-RMAC Challenge in Los Lunas, N.M.

UTPB will face Fort Lewis at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by a game against Colorado State-Pueblo at 1 p.m.

Sunday’s doubleheader features New Mexico Highlands at 2 p.m. and then Adams State at 4 p.m.

Mendez is looking forward to the challenge.

“I think it’s going really well,” she said. “They players are playing for each other.

‘These girls bring the energy every day. We always preach at competitive atmosphere; energy and competitiveness are going to be a huge thing, just competing the whole, entire time, to know what it’s going to take from the first pitch to the last pitch to win a ball game.”

>> LOOKING TO BUILD: The UTPB men’s basketball team had a busy week, going 1-2 in Lone Star Conference play with losses to Angelo State and Western New Mexico before finishing on a high note with a victory against Eastern New Mexico on Saturday at the Falcon Dome.

Now, the Falcons take to the road for games against West Texas A&M (7:30 p.m. Thursday) and Lubbock Christian University (3 p.m. Saturday).

Head coach Kyle Tolin is hoping to use the victory against the Greyhounds as a springboard for the final weeks of the season and a playoff push.

“We’ve got a group of guys that really care, trying every day, fighting every day,” Tolin said. “After Thursday’s game I talked about the next eight games, to get guys out there that were going to fight with me.

“I think we have the chance to win every game and that what I tell the guys. We have to fight, compete and find ways to win.”

>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide