CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The cold days of south Texas really make you appreciate the sunny ones filled with some high school baseball. For Robstown head coach Elias Vasquez, just being here to see another baseball season is a blessing.
"I missed last season with the COVID. I was in the hospital for three and a half months and then went to a rehab center after that. It was pretty crazy," said Robstown head baseball coach, Elias Vasquez.
Doctors told coach Vasquez he wouldn't make it.
"I supposed to have been dead on December 25th of last year. I was ventilated, I had a traec. I had to learn how to walk and talk again," Vasquez added.
The season Vasquez couldn't coach had an impact on the team's outcome. They were kicked out of the playoffs in round one when the year before, they went three rounds deep.
"Which is pretty unlikely of us. It's not normal for us to get a first-round exit, so we're looking to make some redemption this year," said Robert Holguin, the senior catcher for the squad.
Redemption. A comeback. The team only lost one senior.
"The guys are older, it's senior year. They been through it, so they know what to do, how to perform in stages like this and how to get our mind right before a game," Holguin added.
Winning aside, coach Vasquez wants his team to learn from the cards he was dealt back then and achieve more than a few good runs here and a few stops there.
"I tell them 'you're going to overcome adversity in your life. You're going to see that adversity is going to be there. Whether you like it or not, that's life' It's how you overcome that adversity that's going to make you successful," said Vasquez.
With day one of scrimmages under their belt, the Pickers have three more before their first tournament then season starts in March.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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