Soesbe ready for fresh start with Rebels’ squad after suspension

Tim Graham

Wednesday, April 7, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

The Wilson Stadium welcome mat was worn thin Tuesday.

Not only did an afternoon workout mark the homecoming of UNLV's baseball team after a brutal 17-day, 13-game road trip that covered 10,500 miles, but also the reunion of head coach Rod Soesbe and his players.

"We're happy to have him back," junior first baseman Tony DeMarco said.

Soesbe was suspended for a week with pay on March 28 for a physical confrontation with senior pitcher Mike Lopez in College Station, Texas. Soesbe was in Las Vegas last week while the Rebels played four games in Hawaii.

"I'm excited about it," Soesbe said of his team returning home. "We're looking forward to moving on."

The Rebels took Monday off to let players rest and get caught up with their school work. Tuesday's practice was optional, but every position player, with the exception of senior outfielder Chris Adolph, showed up. Adolph had to attend class.

But Lopez, who stated last week his desire to return to the team, was not on hand. He returned to Las Vegas before the Hawaii trip.

"I haven't talked to Mike," Soesbe said. "I don't know where he sits."

The welcome mat might be pulled for Lopez if the players have anything to say about it.

Senior shortstop Eliot Sarabia said Soesbe's suspension may cause some of the UNLV players to feel betrayed by Lopez.

"It's going to be pretty difficult for some of the guys to accept (Lopez) if he comes back," Sarabia said. "I think it will be difficult for some of the guys to overlook (Lopez) leaving and not telling us anything. That's pretty much on him. He left us."

Lopez, who is 0-1 with a 15.68 ERA in seven appearances, said Soesbe choked him in the early morning hours of March 23, the day after UNLV lost to Texas A&M in the championship game of the Aggie Classic.

Lopez and senior pitcher Billy Barker apparently were returning to the team's motel around 3 a.m., just after a prank had been pulled in another player's room. Soesbe, who had lifted curfew that night, confronted the players about the incident.

According to Lopez, Soesbe grabbed him by the throat. Barker's story was similar, but he admittedly was several yards away.

Soesbe claims he grabbed Lopez only by the collar in trying to assess whether or not the pitcher had been drinking, a team rules violation.

Either way, the Rebels are glad Soesbe is back and the incident is behind them.

"It shouldn't have gone that far," Sarabia said. "That's the whole consensus.

"When we were told Coach Soes was getting suspended, my feeling -- and most of the other guys, too -- was disbelief. We couldn't see how this situation could go to such lengths.

"It was blown out of proportion, this whole deal of getting suspended."

Soesbe's punishment came down when the Rebels were starting to play their best baseball of the season. UNLV had handed top-10 teams Texas A&M and Rice their first home losses of the season and were attempting to use those victories to ignite a hot streak.

"It was a test," DeMarco, a Cimarron-Memorial alum, said. "And we pulled together. We really found out a lot about our team."

UNLV is 18-21 overall and 7-5 in the Western Athletic Conference. It is tied for third in the WAC with San Jose State, which it hosts for three games this weekend.

Six teams make the WAC tournament. The Rebels have 15 conference games remaining.

"We're happy with the way we played on the road, in tough conditions," DeMarco said. "We're playing our best ball of the year. Everything is starting to click at once."