EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley baseball senior Austin Siener has had so much fun playing baseball over the years.
 
"I have made so many friends through the game," Siener said. "I have always had fun playing it. That's what kept me coming back. If I wasn't having fun with it, I probably would have stopped a long time ago."
 
Siener started playing around four years old when he lived in St. Louis, Missouri. He played in other sports too like soccer, volleyball, basketball, roller hockey, among other sports but it was baseball where he had the most fun and the one where he returned to every season. 
 
The passion for the game of baseball is something that he saw in his dad and it carried on in his life too. 
 
"Ever since a young age he had a passion about the game," Siener said. "My brothers and I became passionate about it too. He is a coach now and he has coached me my whole life growing up so it's been fun to be around him and grow and love the game as much as he does."
 
The passion for the game showed every time he stepped on the field. He always wanted to leave the field as dirty as possible. He always enjoyed getting that snow cone after every game as well. 
 
Siener continued playing the game as he headed into Marquette Catholic High School as a freshman. He was quickly thrown in the fire and was on the varsity team, which sped up his learning process.
 
"I went to a smaller school so I was able to play varsity all four years," Siener said. "I never missed a game throughout my career. I learned right when I got there that it's a little faster game. Playing there four years let me develop a lot quicker and matured a lot quicker than a lot of other guys did."
 
Siener earned All-Conference and All-Region honors in his junior and senior seasons. He then went on to play at Illinois Central College for a couple of seasons. 
 
Once again, he had to quickly adjust to the speed of the game as he entered as a freshman. That first season really opened his eyes as he had just 27 at bats as he hit three doubles, drove in seven RBI and scored eight times.
 
The lack of playing time really drove Siener to get better and that pushed him to work even harder.
 
"I did a lot of time sitting on the bench my freshman year," Siener said. "I learned right away that this isn't what I want to do. I don't want to keep sitting so I had to work harder to get better and eventually I played more my sophomore year."
 
He got a lot more playing time as he posted a .329 batting average in 173 at bats. He hit 16 doubles, one triple, eight home runs, 58 RBI and scored 45 runs while also stealing 16 bases out of 17 attempts.
 
It was Siener's sophomore season when he had a little luck on his side. UTRGV was supposed to play Northern Colorado but the series was snowed out so one of the coaches went to see another player on Siener's team that was already committed to the program when Siener caught their eye.
 
After that weekend, Siener decided that he wanted to get out of the cold weather and get into the RGV sun. For the third time, Siener quickly realized that he had to continue to work to get better because everyone around him was better too. 
 
Siener played in all 54 games as a junior while hitting six home runs and driving in 30. He was primarily a shortstop at Illinois Central but was asked to move to second base in his first year at UTRGV. 
 
He played fantastic defense through his junior campaign making him look like a natural.
 
"In junior college I played a lot of shortstop," Siener said. "I played at short my whole entire life growing up. Moving over to second base wasn't as challenging but I definitely still had a lot to learn about that. Guys like Joseph Collazo helped me so much there. I learned a lot about second base and I ended up really liking it."


This season, Siener made the change over to first base where he played in 53 games this season. He posted a .259 batting average with five home runs and 28 RBI. It was something new for Siener but just like he did with second base, he talked to a lot of guys that had played their before and he began the transition to a new position. 
 
He had never played at first base before and with the help of different people, Siener began to look like he had played it his entire life. 
 
At every level of the game, it was important for Siener to really get to know his teammates. He appreciated that his baseball team was his second family, especially with his family being so far away. 
 
In fact, that's one of his favorite thing about playing the game, which was always getting a chance to add someone new to his baseball family every season. 
 
"Baseball has given me so many opportunities and I have made so many friends," Siener said. "I have learned to compete and how to be dedicated and committed. There are so many things about baseball that I am going to miss but I am going to miss the family aspect of it. The fact that I have a whole other family besides my family is probably the thing I am going to miss the most."
 
Siener is majoring in accounting and isn't quite sure what he wants to do after he is done with school. He says he wants to go get his master's degree and see where that takes him. 
 
He would love to have an opportunity of playing baseball at the next level but he knows that is out of his control and will wait to see how it all plays out. One thing he has learned that will help him when he gets out to life after college is that you have commit to something and have fun doing it.
 
"I have learned that you have to commit to something and have fun with it," Siener said. "With this program, you can't get away without committing to it. You can't skip practice. You can't be skipping class and if I am not having fun with it then I wouldn't be doing it. If you can commit to something and have fun with it then you will be great at it."
 
Siener looks back at his time in college and he knows that he wouldn't have been able to make it this far without the help from all of his coaches. For that, he wants to thank each and every one of them. 
 
The last four years have been fun for Siener, after all if it wasn't fun then he wouldn't have done it. 
 
"It's been the best time of my life," Siener said. "It's all I could have ever asked for growing up. I really appreciate everyone who ever game me an opportunity."

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