At 222 hits, 153 runs scored and the highest on-base percentage of any Lobo in the NCAA, senior Wesley Moss has branded his name into the Sul Ross State University record books and has also managed to reach the ASC post season tournament in three of his four seasons with the Scarlet and Gray.
 
Moss tied Sul Ross All-American Javier Arrieta at the 222-career hit mark following the Lobos' 2-1 series victory over defending National Champion U.T. Tyler at Kokernot Field last weekend. He also surpassed Johnny Campos in career runs scored at 153 following the season closer with the Patriots. Campos held the record at 148.
 
"Breaking records was never a big goal," Moss said in the Kokernot Clubhouse Tuesday. "It's something that you keep in the back of your mind but if that's your focus, you'll start to lose sight of the bigger picture which is always the team."
 
"It's never about individualism and that's something coach Mesker stresses to us during the preseason," he said.
 
Many players who set school records are never preoccupied with the notion according to Moss.
 
"I think about people like Johnny and just their commitment to score when they reached base," he said of his former teammate. "Johnny was focused on scoring not to set records but to help the team win."
 
"That's the approach I try to take every time I get to base," he said. "The records may or may not come but I'm more concerned about crossing the plate and putting another "W" in the win column."
 
Although Moss keeps his priorities in perspective, tying one record and breaking another is cause for excitement.
 
"Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to have tied the career hitting record and break the runs record," he said. "But I really begin to lose the value I place on my teammates and the important roles they bring to the squad if I just concentrate on this record or that record."
 
"It's just so easy to become selfish and I think every ball player has to fight that," he said.
 
Moss also holds the Sul Ross record for on-base percentage at .471 after 580 at-bats heading into Thursday's playoff against Concordia.
 
Moss packed in the accolades in 2018 with an ABCA/Rawlings Second Team All-West nod.
 
The San Antonio native was also named to the D3baseball.com Third Team All-West Team and was also a member of the 2018 ASC First Team All-Conference Team.
 
He set an American Southwest Conference single season on-base percentage record of 605 in 2018.
 
This season, Moss leads the ASC in stolen bases nabbing 25 out of 30 attempts.
 
His 27 walks on the season currently place him at third in the conference rankings.
 
He currently ranks sixth in the league with a .391 batting average.
 
Turning to the subject of defense, glory, glamour and glitz do not typify the experience of most outfielders.
 
Bagging a screaming fly ball at the top of the wall or making a catch on a super-athletic dive to end a bases-loaded jam can add sparkle to an otherwise underappreciated aspect of the phenomenon known as baseball.
 
But Moss has never approached his spot in the outfield as undervalued.
 
"We are the last line of defense," said Moss. "So if we breakdown that messes everything else up. We have to hold our own."
 
According to Moss, one of the challenges of an outfield player is trying not to re-live a negative last at-bat.
 
"Playing in the outfield, you have a little more time to think about things and that's not always good," Moss said.
 
"If you strikeout in the last half inning or get caught stealing, you have to put that out of your mind when you're on defense."
 
"I think it's a little more difficult for outfielders to deal with that because you are not moving around quite as much as the infielders, especially during a long inning so it's easier to occupy your thoughts on the negative instead of concentrating on the present," he said.