Skip To Main Content

University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Joe Mondragon

Baseball Chris Brannick

In Their Words: Joe Mondragon

A Student-Athlete's Account of the Year Unlike Any Other

As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has affected the on-goings of everyday life in countries around the world, in the United States and even at Central. For many UCO student-athletes, their seasons came to an abrupt end, signaling the end to a college career that came much sooner than expected. This is the experience of baseball player Joe Mondragon – in his own words.
 
We all kind of had an idea, just hearing things. We're all on social media, just seeing things. It was kind of uncertain what was about to happen. The vibe around practice was an eerie feeling and I know a lot of our guys had talked about it throughout the practice. It was just a completely unknown feeling.
 
As far as when he [Central Oklahoma head baseball coach John Martin] actually had to break the news to us. Never should you have to see 30 grown men be as heartbroken as they were. For me, individually, I didn't know if that was the last time I was ever going to put baseball pants on again. It was heartbreaking. Who am I without baseball? It was tough.
 
I'm from Platteville, Colorado. It's just a little farm town outside of Greeley. I was fortunate enough to have two older siblings and my brother was my role model growing up. He's 11 years older than I am. I like to think I came out of the womb wanting a ball in my hands. I really started playing when I was six or seven. Other than that, every time before that, I was always at the field just watching my brother.
 
Growing up I played football, basketball and baseball. Then, in high school, I just played baseball and basketball. I went to Eaton High School and then I went to Neosho for two years.
 
The big thing [about UCO] was Coach Martin. I know he was an old JUCO coach. Him and I have pretty similar personalities. And honestly, the way the guys before me played. The culture that they have here. I just love it. It's a family atmosphere and we all just love to get after it.
 
We were all trying to take in the news together. There was a lot going on with, stay safe, and maybe, stay away from each other, but, we've talked about it all year, we are a family, we still are a family. We felt like it was necessary for us to stay together.
 
The next couple of days, it was just an unbelievable feeling. Like is this really happening right now. I think that, the hardest part about it, we felt like we had so much potential. We felt like it hurt us more because we were so good. Because we had the potential to be great. We'll never know if we could have achieved what we wanted to do.
 
We're getting into the routine of things again. I know a lot of the guys are taking care of themselves. Ever since we've been granted an extra year of eligibility, I think it kind of, it just lit a fire under our ass. That's what it's done for us.
 
It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I know within seconds I said, I know I'm coming back. I know a certain number of guys that are coming back. It was a relieving feeling, a sense of relief, where we said, okay, we know what we need to do. It lit a fire underneath us. This is our second chance. We know we need to take care of this.
 
It's playing with a chip on your shoulder the whole time. You can say it, and they say it all the time in sports, you never know when your last game is going to be. Really for us, that was a reality for a little while. We are never going to be taking things for granted. You can go to practice, you can dread to be there or you can enjoy it. It really is a great feeling knowing we are going to be able to go out and do what we want to do again.
 
 
 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Joe Mondragon

#17 Joe Mondragon

1B
6' 1"
Senior
L/R

Players Mentioned

Joe Mondragon

#17 Joe Mondragon

6' 1"
Senior
L/R
1B
Skip Ad
Skip Sponsors