Friday Features: West Georgia’s Caleb Lopes focuses on family, baseball, school
By Mike Perrin
Caleb Lopes had a lot on his mind when he came to the University of
West Georgia as a junior transfer from Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette, Ala. New town, new team, big decision to give up switch-hitting and stick with his natural right-handed swing.
The shortstop from Mobile also has Sarah and Lilly to think about – Sarah, his wife, and Lilly, his baby girl. “It is tough balancing school, baseball and a family, however my wife is great at keeping me focused and encouraged every single day,” he said.
“It is awesome having my wife and daughter here in Carrollton with me. It really is a blessing being able to come home after a long day of school and practice to a nice home-cooked meal with Lilly crawling up to my feet when I walk in the door. It makes me want to do better on and off the field for them."
“Seeing them in the stands at my games makes me so happy. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to play baseball and to show the world my talents. I’m playing for so much more than just myself now so there is definitely extra motivation having Sarah and Lilly as my responsibility,” Lopes said.
Stepping up in competition could be worrisome, too, but Lopes is handling that like a champ. After batting .348 at Faulkner as a sophomore, he leads the 28th-ranked Wolves – and is fourth in the league – with a .419 batting average headed into this week’s Gulf South Conference Baseball Tournament at top-seeded West Florida and earned a spot on the First Team on the 2016 All-GSC Team.
“There was a big change (coming to UWG), starting with the atmosphere,” Lopes said. “There is a lot of support and big crowds at the games that Faulkner lacked. Nothing against Faulkner, but the NCAA is a big step up from juco. I love playing in front of a lot of people and the GSC is the best conference to play in for that atmosphere."
“I feel as if every weekend is a hard weekend in this conference as opposed to junior college, where some teams were absolutely terrible and you could just ‘get by.’”
This season, Lopes led UWG in hits, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, total bases, plate appearances and hit by pitches. He struck out just nine times in 170 at-bats, tied for second-best in the conference only to Kyle Hamner of West Florida (three) and was 16th-toughest to strike out in all of Division II. (Hamner was No. 1.)
“I am blessed to be able to put on a uniform and perform at the level I am playing at now at shortstop and at the plate,” he said. “I credit my great season so far to two things: a great off-season working with my dad in the cage behind our house back in Mobile; and two, I decided to just hit from my right side instead of switch-hitting. My mom made me switch hit when I was younger and I succeeded at it all through high school and my two years at Faulkner State. I came to West Georgia as a switch-hitter, but I am a natural right-handed hitter, so I decided to just hit right-handed this season. It is paying off."
“(My dad and I) got up early and worked out in the mornings during the offseason and then hit every day during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays – not to mention last summer,” Lopes said. “It didn't matter if it was Christmas Day or Thanksgiving. We were hitting.”
Lopes has been a shortstop his whole life, he said, and he learned the game from his father, Hugh Lopes. The elder Lopes came to Alabama to play baseball in the same junior college conference that Caleb later starred in. “He is from Curaçao, Netherland Antilles in the Caribbean,” Caleb said. He later played at the University of South Alabama, where he met and married Jennifer – “the 'real J-Lo',” Caleb said.
“I have played since I was 3- or 4-years-old,” he said. “I never really thought of myself as good until I hit three home runs in one game. I was 11 and on an All-Star Team representing Alabama in the Southeast Cal Ripken Regionals Tournament.”
With coaching from dad and a dedication to the game, Lopes also stood out in the field for the Wolves. The 5-foot-8, 195-pounder’s fielding percentage was .925 this season. There’s a little less to the mechanics of his fielding philosophy, he said, “I love the position because I am involved in almost every play.”
Hitting? There’s quite the method, even while he sees it as straightforward.
“My approach is simple, and I feel like everyone could do it,” Lopes said. “My first thought is to see a fastball in the strike zone early in the count and don’t miss it! If the pitcher starts me out with a breaking ball, I usually take it unless I’m sitting on that pitch or if there is a runner in scoring position (then) I try to be really aggressive. If I take a first pitch breaking ball for a strike, I hit the next strike I see."
“Any other count, I am picking a pitch that I can drive. It does come natural, to say the least, and I feel like I’m a better hitter with two strikes because I bear down and really focus on staying through the ball and not striking out or getting beat on the outside part of the plate.”
Coach
Skip Fite’s 37-12 West Georgia team finished 23-10 in the GSC to earn the No. 4 seed and will meet No. 3 West Alabama (35-13, 23-10) at 7 p.m. in Saturday’s final game of the opening day of the tournament.
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