Homegrown: Edinburg Vela alum Lopez shines at shortstop for UTRGV

1 month ago 77

By Bryan Ramos

EDINBURG — Edinburg native Isaac Lopez grew up going to UTRGV baseball games.

For the plast four years, he’s starred in them.

Lopez, the Edinburg Vela alumnus who is a graduate student in his fifth year at UTRGV, has been one of the Vaqueros’ best defensive players since joining the program in 2021.

He earned a starting spot at shortstop as a redshirt freshman in 2022 and has held down a role in the middle infield ever since. After sliding to second base the past two years, Lopez has started 37 games at shortstop this season and has appeared in 182 games during his career.

He was named recently to the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, which recognizes the top 100 shortstops in the nation.

“It’s a blessing, that’s the best way I could put it,” Lopez said. “But really when I look across my career here, the biggest thing I’m proud of is, one, how I’ve stayed faithful to this university and how they’ve stayed faithful to me and the community. Two, the process that it took to get here. Obviously I didn’t just show up and was given the starting role or anything, but the hard work and dedication that it took to get there.”

Lopez and the Vaqueros are set to host their final home series of the season beginning today and running through Sunday against McNeese. Game 1 is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg.

The Vaqueros also are on track to break the all-time attendance record during Saturday’s game. The sellout and record crowds of today are much larger than the crowds Lopez used to be part of attending games growing up.

“Yeah, well, the kids definitely have more competition for foul balls, I can say that,” Lopez said with a smile. “It’s awesome, man. They come out every weekend. I tell the guys this all the time, when I first got here, there weren’t nearly as many people as there are right now, and that’s due to the growth of the university and how much they want to see us succeed. It’s just crazy as the years have gone by. I see the little kids running around and stuff, and I’m, like, ‘Oh my gosh, that used to be me.’”

Lopez leads the Vaqueros in runs scored (41), ranks second on the team in hits (55) and batting average (.357), and ranks third in RBIs (34) and home runs (6).

He also ranks inside the top 10 in the Southland Conference in batting average, hits and runs.

Lopez hit just one home run during his high school career at Vela and had his senior year cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At UTRGV, his consistency at the plate and work behind the scenes has led to hitting 22 career homers, which puts him third all-time in career home run leaders.

“I think it’s a testament to the coaching staff that we’ve had throughout the years,” he said. “Ever since I’ve been here, from the coaches that have left and the coaches right now, they just do such a good job at developing us and they really care about us as players, so I’m just so grateful to play for them.”

“To stay with something for five straight years and never change your work ethic on defense and never freaking let up, that’s impressive because it’s hot down here and we take a lot of ground balls,” UTRGV head coach Derek Matlock said. “That guy’s been just a steady worker, a Valley boy, and a grinder his whole five-year career.”

UTRGV (26-14, 17-7 Southland) sits in third place in the Southland Conference standings, a half game back of McNeese (28-8, 16-5 SLC) and Southeastern (31-10, 16-5 SLC).

If UTRGV can take two of the three this weekend against McNeese, the Vaqueros have a shot at a first– or second-place conference finish. The top two teams in the Southland get to host the opening weekend of the Southland Conference tournament from May 15-18.

Lopez knows the Vaqueros have what it takes to win it whether they host or not, but the finish line is in sight with 10 regular season games and six conference contests remaining before the SLC tourney.

“We have to give a perfect effort every single pitch, and we need to be grateful for the opportunity that’s come here,” he said. “Our time’s gonna come to an end at some point, and we just have to play every game like it’s our last. They probably won’t realize that until they get to our point, but I just want us to play for each other because that’s the best part about this group. When we play for each other, it’s something special.”