De La Garza Thriving in Sophomore Year with Wranglers

ARTICLE BY MICHAEL BAUER: ODESSA AMERICAN

For Odessa College's Robert De La Garza, it's been a night and day difference between this season and last year.

Last year, the infielder from Eagle Pass only saw action in eight games total.

Now, he's one of the biggest impact players for the Wranglers, working his way up to leadoff hitter and is currently in the top 10 in base hits.

So far this spring, De La Garza has scored 41 runs while registering 48 hits including 16 doubles and five triples along with four home runs and 30 RBIs.

He's had 112 at bats and 130 plate appearances from the 30 games he's played in thus far for Odessa College.

De La Garza is currently ranked seventh in base hits in the JUCO nation, tied for sixth in triples and seventh in doubles.

His impact has helped the Wranglers to a 22-9 overall, 14-2 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference showing where the team is currently tied for second with New Mexico Junior College.

As for his improvement, De La Garza said last year was just a matter of learning from his teammates.

"It was just learning last year from Antonelli (Savattere), the second baseman and the teammates," De La Garza said. "All credit goes to them. It helped me push myself and become a better leader."

While everything has paid off for De La Garza this spring, he's not surprised by how much he's improved since last year.

"I know I'm a good ball player but working all offseason, I felt like I had a good chance to do well," De La Garza said. "The dream is the division one level and I'm hoping to go there."

His training during the summer was just a matter of doing the same thing over and over.

"I just kept on getting bigger and stronger," De La Garza said. "I kept working out. Baseball is all about repetition so I worked on hitting, defense and everything else."

That also included a lot of strength and training.

"That was the major goal, to get bigger and stronger," De La Garza said. "As for hitting, I kept working on my swinging and working to be as precise as possible."

As for being the leadoff hitter for the Wranglers, De La Garza has embraced that role.

"It's a good thing," De La Garza said. "It helps set the tone early. I also feel confident because I have the guys behind me like Bustamante. I feel confident about getting on base and help setting the tone for the game."

It was around the time conference play began when De La Garza started finding himself in the leadoff position more often.

He's been trying to make the most of his second year at Odessa College and is hopeful of landing a NCAA Division I offer soon.

"I told myself that I have to work hard," De La Garza said. "With conference play starting up, I had to help myself and get to a division one school. My teammates have helped and that's a good thing."

Odessa College head coach David Wood, who is currently in his first season with the Wranglers, hasn't been surprised by De La Garza's performance.

"We knew he was going to be good," Wood said. "I don't think you can ever predict when someone is going to be top 10 in the nation in base hits, hitting .430 and doing everything that he's doing. But he keeps riding the wave and it's been nice to watch."

Since the start of conference play, the Wranglers have been on a run, sweeping three consecutive series in a row including last week's victories against Western Texas College.

The Wranglers' two losses in conference play came against nationally-ranked Midland College last month in a series split against the Chaparrals.

De La Garza talked about what has helped his team improve.

"It starts with the coaching," De La Garza said. "Coach (Wood) has helped push us and the pitchers have been great for us. They've been throwing strikes and we've been getting hits. We've struggled at times but we just want to keep things going as best as we can."