Olivet's Baseball Coach: His Mindset and Goals for the Team

Coach Mendez has been Olivet's coach for about three years and is excited to see how the team does this season. Photo taken by Braeden Jones.

The University of Olivet’s baseball team is nearly two months into its season, and they hope to have a solid season led by head coach Santiago Mendez

Mendez is from Lansing, Michigan, and has been playing baseball for most of his life. He started playing college baseball at Grand Rapids Community College where after a successful stint he transferred to Lansing Community College.

At LCC, he earned 2015 All-Michigan Community College Athletic Association Second Team honors. He finally transferred to Gannon University where, as a pitcher, he earned 2016 All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Second Team honors and helped the team win 31 games and advance to the PSAC Tournament for the first time since 2009.

After he finished his college career, Mendez served as a graduate assistant coach at Gannon for two years before coming to Olivet and serving as an assistant coach for three years. In 2022, he was named the team's new head coach.

Mendez has big goals for his team.

“Getting to the conference tournament is somewhere where it would be a good stepping stone for this program and obviously winning some games and competing for a regional bid. But on the field, I want all my guys to be successful but off the field I want them to be good human beings,” said Mendez

Coach Mendez has the respect and support from his team.

“I think Coach Mendez is a great coach. He puts all of his time and resources into the program and that's all I can ask for in a coach,” said junior Braden Abbott.

Mendez has his team believing that they are heading in the right direction.

“I definitely think we have the talent on the team to even make a run this year and be competitive in years to come. We just need to stay healthy as well as play as a team,” said sophomore Brody Lehman

Written by Braeden Jones