Meet the Coaching Staff

Steven Elder II, Owner & Program Director

Coach Elder is from Fort Worth, TX. He attended college at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, TX on an athletic scholarship for two years. After receiving both an academic and athletic scholarship, he moved to Austin, Texas to play in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) at Huston–Tillotson University (HTU) where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s in Political Science. While at HTU, Coach Elder led the team in wins, games pitched, innings pitched and ERA. He was ranked 9th in the RRAC conference in total hits allowed, runs allowed and ranked 1st in conference in total walks allowed. In addition, Coach Elder was ranked 32nd in the Nation in total walks allowed, beat a NCAA-D1 rivalry twice, pitched a total of 31 games, 4 complete games, 1 Shutout and 112.2 innings pitched. While allowing 1 home run and 25 walks out of 499 at bats, with a record of 6 wins 5 losses. Coach Elder is currently the Head Varsity Baseball Coach at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, TX.

Rico Espinoza, Head Coach and Lead Instructor

Coach Espinoza is from San Antonio, TX. He played two years of collegiate ball at San Antonio College before transferring for his last two years to play in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) at Huston-Tillotson University (HUT); Coach Espinoza was a RHP and outfielder at HTU. Espinoza graduated with a Bachelors in Kinesiology and went on to play professional a couple of baseball seasons for the Ozark independent league. He also played in Puerto Rico’s professional minor winter league where he finished with a 2.45 era and third most innings pitched. He was then invited to the Empire Professional League, where he played for 3 seasons before he decided to go into coaching full time. Coach Espinoza is currently the Assistant Varsity Baseball Coach at St. Stephen's Episcopal School.

Rick Segovia, Head Coach and Strength and Conditioning

Coach Segovia was born in Laredo, TX and grew up in Hebbronville, TX. He played collegiate ball for 2 years at Coastal Bend JUCO before transferring to play in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) at Huston-Tillotson University. Coach Segovia then moved back home where he took the Head Baseball Coaching position at Hebbronville High School and Head Coach of Strength & Conditioning for all sports for 3 years. Since then, Coach Segovia has devoted all his time into personal training and coaching select baseball.

Zane Ponder, Assistant Coach

Coach Ponder was born and raised in Flatonia, TX and graduated HS in 2013. In 2013, he was able to travel to Washington to be a part of the Babe Ruth Baseball League World Series as a center fielder and pitcher. Coach Ponder went on to play collegiate baseball at Concordia University in TX, where he was the only freshman to play on the Varsity team as an outfielder and LHP. Coach Ponder currently is a Coach for St. Stephen's Episcopal Middle School Baseball Team.

Charleston Samuel, Head Coach

Originally from Bryan, TX, Coach Samuel found his way to Austin in 2012 when he began playing college baseball on scholarship for the Huston-Tillotson University (HTU) Rams as a pitcher. While there, he studied and competed through the year 2016, when he graduated with his Bachelor's in Business Management. Coach Samuel maintained a role as a leader in HTU's baseball program and was President on the school's first-ever Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Coach Samuel has been a student of the game since he began playing at 9 years old and he continues to strive for new game knowledge every time he is around the game. He fosters an environment for high energy, high intensity and lots of communication!

Coach Samuel's biggest pet peeves are a negative attitude and lack of effort. Those are considered controllable factors, and every player should be determined to work and cheer for every teammate.

A quote Coach Samuel lives by is: "the man on top of the mountain didn't fall there", meaning in order to be on top, it takes willpower and work on the journey up. No one wakes up as the best player or as the best baseball team, but through work, repetition, and some failures, we can and will be the "man" on the mountain.