After almost two years away from competition, LSU Club Baseball returned to the field with a bang this past academic year. A conference championship and world series berth later, and the return to play for this closely-knit club went about as well as one could imagine.

The LSU Club Baseball team, like the other LSU club sports, operates as a program offered by the UREC. The club is self-governed by the students within the club. The team plays and holds most of its practices at Port Allen High School due to the UREC Field Complex not having any baseball fields.

The COVID-19 Pandemic was a tough time for club sports all across LSU as no competitions were allowed for most of the 2020 spring semester and the entire 2020-2021 academic year. This meant for many members of the LSU Club Baseball team, this past academic year was their first time competing with the team, creating a memorable first experience. 

“I thought the experience was phenomenal,” said rising junior and newly elected Club president Joshua Bonnett. “It’s definitely not what I was expecting going into the club baseball situation, but it was very competitive and I’d say a lot of the guys would probably agree that we had an absolute blast.”

Bonnett joined the club during his freshman year in 2020, meaning that his experience was limited as a freshman. 

“Last year I was a sophomore, so I wasn’t able to do anything,” Bonnet said. “So this year was really the first year a lot of us had a full season and we just got ranked sixth in the country. And then to be able to go to the World Series and travel with the team and do that was just awesome. I mean, never, never could have expected it.”

The team qualified for the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) World Series after winning the Gulf Coast East Conference, consisting of teams from LSU, Alabama, Tulane, Mississippi State and Ole Miss. The Tigers then won the Gulf Coast Regional playoff, consisting of the two other Gulf Coast Conference Champions in Texas Tech and Texas A&M and at-large qualifier SMU. 

LSU fell short of the ultimate prize, but the experience for this group of players and friends was the highlight of the season. It marked the end of a season filled with the competitiveness and togetherness that club sports look to create.

“I think we’re 22 close friends before we’re a baseball team,” Bonnett said. “And that’s what has carried us this far because, I mean, this is the closest knit group of friends I’ve ever had.”

Even for players new to the club, the bond and team spirit created an inclusive atmosphere in the club. For rising senior transfer student Riley Harwell, the club helped him feel back at home after transferring back to LSU after spending a year at Dalton State in Georgia during the pandemic.

“Essentially, the guys had really welcomed me with open arms,” Harwell said. “I actually was an incoming transfer from last year and I just didn’t know anybody and I figured this would be the best way to immerse myself and it’s probably the best thing I ever did.” 

Trips to the world series and other games away from Baton Rouge is where it seemed the team’s best memories were made. That was the case for Baton Rouge native and rising senior Tyler Thomas who just finished his third year with the club.

“My favorite memory was the Austin trip,” Thomas said. “We went to Austin and we stayed in a hotel about four blocks away from the main street. We walked to this one place, and it had a mechanical bull in there. And just seeing everyone in there having a good time, like half the teammates trying to ride this mechanical bull. So just moments like that, like where the whole team is with each other together having fun. You can’t ask for anything better than that. That’s my favorite.”

The club has grown since the pandemic and now with the recent success, continual growth seems likely. The competitiveness level has also risen, creating a more competitive vision for the club while still maintaining the camaraderie and club spirit the team values most. 

“Intensity and seriousness, it’s definitely grown a lot bigger since the three years I’ve been part of the team,” Thomas said. “And now we kind of set the standard this year, like, yeah, now we expect to go back to the World Series a lot.”

The club now gets ready to go into the next season as a national powerhouse and with expectations of major success. The players expect to return to the world series and are exploring expanding the club to two separate teams, allowing more students to play and get playing time. 

Overall, through all the success, the friendships and community created within the club is what the players and members value most. From competing together, to traveling and spending time together as a team off the field, the LSU Club Baseball team has created a community many students look for when joining a club like this. 

“Everyone is friends with everybody and you can text whoever at any time,” Bonnett said. “It’s, like I said,  the best group of friends I’ve had.”