Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Catching Up With Blue Raider Shortstop Fausto Lopez
6/6/2020 2:00:00 PM | Baseball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee baseball player Fausto Lopez joined the Blue Raiders after playing two seasons at Pensacola State College. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native racked up a .282 batting average at the JUCO level and swiped 23 bases in his final season with the Pirates.
Lopez started all of the Blue Raiders' 17 games at shortstop in 2020 and got off to a hot start with a team high 12 hits in the month of February. When the season came to an abrupt end, Lopez tied with fellow JUCO transfer Nathan Sanders with a team high five multi-hit games.
Check out our interview with Fausto Lopez here:
In 2019 you had 11 doubles, three home runs, and 23 stolen bases in your final season at Pensacola State College, what are some benefits of playing at the JUCO level before transferring to a Division I program?
The number one thing that just jumps into my head is for sure the work ethic, and everybody always talks about the JUCO grind. It isn't made up, it isn't fake, it isn't something JUCO guys say to try and be cool, it's a true thing. There are certain things at the Division I level that I wasn't appreciative of until I went to a junior college, then I realized that we have so much available to us [coming from the JUCO level] that you've got to be grateful for what we have and still continue to grind. I feel like one thing is to just keep your head down and keep working. In JUCO there weren't any [media] interviews, there wasn't a conviction of everyone in the school like there is at MT. Playing at a JUCO made me one: appreciative of everything I've had every step of the way, and two: just to grind, keep your head down, and focus on your craft above all else.
At the beginning of the season you were hitting in the ninth spot in the lineup, but as the season progressed you cemented yourself as the leadoff hitter for the Blue Raiders. What was going right for you at the plate and what was your approach in the batter's box?
The main thing was confidence from my teammates honestly, it took them because they had more confidence in me than I had in myself. Getting encouragement from my teammates and them letting me know that they were confident in me whether I failed or succeeded got me right in the batter's box.
You and teammate Brian Dillingham started the majority of games up the middle for MT. Both of you guys are JUCO guys, both played in Florida, are there some other similarities that you guys bonded over as a double play duo?
For sure, we also knew some of the same people. A guy that I went to high school with rand was very good friends with went to junior college with him and he was very good friends with Brian. We didn't find out that mutual connection until a month into the fall semester. I was like '"wait, you went to school with Ty Hoyle,'" and he was like "'yeah, I love Ty."' That led to us starting to talk to Ty more through that, and Brian and I will call up Ty whenever we're together. That and practicing every single day, going through everything together in the weight room and training, and eating, we spent so much time together. I actually just got off the phone from talking with Brian maybe 30 minutes ago. It's crazy the bond that we formed through the whole process.
Head Coach Jim Toman talked during the season about "putting together complete games," meaning hitting well, playing solid defense, and having quality pitching. As the season progressed we stared to see more and more of those complete games come together. What kind of confidence does it give the team when you all are fire on all cylinders like you guys were heading into conference play?
It gave us a lot of confidence. I've always thought to myself the team is going to be as good as their leader. Yes, there are down years, but Coach Toman as a leader believed in us before we even knew what we had. We had a whole bunch of JUCO guys come in, and yeah we had an idea that we might be pretty good, but Coach Toman was preaching that from the get-go. It goes to the point where, us hearing that everyday, we had no choice but to believe and play with confidence. It's either that or you're just not tuned in at practice. He did a good job of humbling us down when he needed to, but at the same time he instilled confidence in us from day one. With a leader like that there is no other way to play other than to say 'we don't care who is in the other dugout, we want to put our name out there.'
Now that the semester has come to a conclusion what are some things that you are doing in your down time?
I haven't been able to go home yet with the whole Coronavirus thing. I'm hoping to be able to go home. I live in Brooklyn, N.Y. and my parents have been up there. I came to Orlando to stay with my cousin and he's been on a diet kind of deal and for some reason that translated into me. During lockdown I've been in the kitchen a lot, learning how to cook healthy, doing stuff like meal prepping, and I feel like that's going to help out a lot. I've also been connected to my church through Zoom. My church is in New York, but we all stay connected through Zoom now that you can't go to church in person. All of that, working out, hitting, fielding ground balls and all that stuff.
What are some things you're looking to improve on before next season?
I'm focused on getting back and getting my body in even better shape and being ready to attack the year. I want to be a positive teammate. I want my teammates to look at me and be like, '"that dude works hard.'"
