Utah State Baseball: For the Love of the Game
Did you know that Utah State has a baseball team? Despite being a club team which has had lots of success and which boasts two National Championships (2012 and 2014), it is still somewhat of a hidden treasure.
Sure, it is not an official university team, and it may not compete at the NCAA Division I level, but that does not stop the team of 28 students from going to late-night winter workouts in the Fieldhouse and from being weekend road trip warriors in the spring to try and get back on the path to the coveted National Championships.
Because USU does not have an NCAA-sanctioned baseball team, players on the baseball team do not get offered athletic scholarships. Even though each player has to pay some money out of pocket, the money is well spent in the eyes of the team.
“We’ve kind of made a name for ourselves, so we get a lot of donations,” said senior pitcher Jayden Berensen. “We only have to pay a small amount for fall and spring, I think spring is $400. We go to Boise State, Montana State, Arizona State, and Mesquite in Nevada. We get shirts, hats, and the gear that we get alone is well worth the $400. It’s crazy how good our presidency and coaches have done fundraising money, and every year we do a pretty good job at it.”
Chanelle McCall With time taken away from school, work, friends and family, the team is a great way to form friendships both on and off the field.
How can you really get to know someone? Like, really know someone? Go on a road trip with them. The team has a tradition of spending spring break in Mesquite, Nev. and Phoenix, Ariz. to finally break out of the Fieldhouse and play some ball in the sun, and of course, attend a spring training baseball game.
“That is the time of year where we come together, cause it’s just us down there. We’re not going out and hanging out with other people or teams, it’s just us down there so that is when we really come together,” said senior center fielder Alex Munns. “Having that trip is a big deal. It helps us grow together as a team and learn more about each other than just weekend trips.”
Munns is not the only player who swears by this trip being the glue to holding the team together. Other players who have gone on this trip before have said that the memories made during that week are some of the best ones they have of playing Utah State baseball.
“We have some really good road trips,” said former player and current assistant coach Colton Draney. “That’s a really good time cause we are all together for like six or seven days, and you get really close to them.”
As a former player turned assistant coach, Draney sees the game of baseball and the opportunity to be around this team as something he can’t give up. Going into his second year as one of two assistant coaches, Draney makes sure that time is set aside in his schedule to do what he loves.
“I enjoy the environment here,” he said. “It’s a fun club to be around, and it’s really relaxed. It’s something I really want to do so I make it a priority to do it. I don’t have to cut anything out of my life to be here.”
Senior outfielder and third baseman David Clayton was a part of the team that won the 2014 National Championship, before taking a two-year break to go back home to Colorado to work.
“It was awesome, like the best feeling ever. I can’t even express it,” Clayton said. “We had such a good team, and that’s why I want to do it again, to get that feeling back. I always have high hopes every season when we come in. We’ve done it once so we can do it again.”
Chantelle McCall For someone like Clayton who has been playing ball for as long as he can remember, that two-year break away from the team was a hard one to stomach.
“The year I left, we had a really good team and I think we could have won that year,” he said. “I missed it, being out of it was rough.”
With almost half of the 28 players on the roster being of senior class status, they have learned the ropes of the organization and know what it takes to produce a winning team and set a legacy for the underclassmen to carry on for future years.
The first element to produce a winning team is purely the love of the game. The team plays their games with a carefree and easy-going mindset, but also with a competitive edge. The second element of a winning team is unity.
“The biggest thing that separates this team between when we went to nationals two years ago is unity. We have more talent than when we went to nationals, but that team was way more united,” Berensen said. “It’s hard when we are inside cooped in the fieldhouse for three months. If we can get the unity that we got when we went to nationals, we will be a better team and compete more.”
Taking away from normal everyday activities such as homework, hanging out with friends, and working does not seem to bother the guys much. They are able to come together as a team and play with their friends and for the love of the game.
“I have to work less, sacrifice time with friends and family, we travel on weekends, but it’s worth it,” Munns said. “Some of the friendships I’ve made throughout playing these last few years are some of my closest friendships I’ve had in my life.”
The Utah State club baseball team is built on unity, and is fueled by the mutual passion they each share for America’s pastime. It doesn’t matter to them if they have to drop a chunk of change on their own or cut out some homework time to make it to games and practices, let them just play some ball.