Senior center fielder, Austin Ott, reflects on his time on the Cougars baseball team and his hopes for National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II championship in his last season. Part of Austin Ott’s legacy in the dugout is as a leader on the team, along with recently named California Collegiate Athletic Association player of the week.

“The perfect game for me would definitely be winning the conference championship in Stockton this May,” said Ott.

Starting baseball at age four, Ott has a history of playing with current teammates, Michael Lopez and Troy Lamparello, which he highlights as a memorable experience.

“Playing with my best friends everyday is pretty awesome. Some of the kids I grew up with are on my team now which is pretty cool.”

Together, along with the rest of the team and head baseball coach, Matt Guiliano, they have created a synergy with the same goal: to record big wins at the end of the season in DII playoffs.

“[Guiliano] has led us to this point where we need to be… now it’s our job to get to … the playoffs. I know we have enormous talent on our team. We need to be there this year and I feel like we will.”

In addition, Ott said that him and his teammates look forward to win. “I’ve never been on a team that’s so dedicated and willing to do whatever it takes, so I think we got it this year,” he said.

Ott has found that the academic skills he has gained as a Communication major also transfer out onto the diamond. “Being vocal, I feel like it correlates to being a leader in baseball…just the consistency factor of always staying on top of things.”

Ott said he is not superstitious but his pre-game rituals include “eating donuts or a California burrito and make sure I get enough stretching in before a game.”

In addition to his time on the field and attending lectures, Ott said his past times include beach visits and binge watching favorite shows Dexter or Prison Break.

Ott said in the future he wants to “play professionally somewhere, but if that doesn’t happen then [he] wants to be around sports.”

His advice to future college ball players is to “live everyday like it’s your last…it’s my senior year and I’m so blessed to play this game, so I want to make the most out of it.”