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Club Baseball hits success
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Now that the World Series is underway, baseball is the sport that people are tuning into.
With the Rays’ exciting series win over the Red Sox, the Major League Baseball playoffs have offered fans a lot to watch.
Pro-baseball is getting all the attention. As for the Boise State campus, pro-baseball is where the attention is. BSU does not have a varsity baseball team.
What the school does have is a club baseball team. The club has been around for a number of years but more recently, the team has fallen under hardships and at one point last year, was almost dropped completely.
Last spring the club made a strong effort to revive club baseball for BSU and get the bats swinging again.
“We want this to become a great program and get it moving,” BSU club baseball President Bobby Kuber said. “This is the first year that we are in the conference. We just want to keep it going. Last year we proved ourselves and now we want to make a big impact and I think we can.”
The team is almost completely funded from donations and sponsors. The university doesn’t help with much of the costs it takes to run the club. The costs of uniforms, equipment, renting fields, paying umpires and the cost to travel add up quickly. The team relies on contributions of players as well as the sponsorship of local businesses.
Athletes who play for club teams on any college campus play for mostly one reason: love of the game. That love really shows because the players pay to play.
“Fundraising right now is a big priority because we don’t get much help,” Kuber said. ”Just build a fan base. That’s our goal.”
BSU’s team struggled to be successful on the field last spring. Not a lot of games were won and the level of commitment was low. Because the team was not part of a conference, the legitimacy of the team was in question.
“We don’t just want to win half our games, our goal is to win the conference,” Kuber said. “I think we can with the group of guys we have.”
Idaho, Idaho State, Montana and Montana State are a few teams in the conference. This fall, the team has seen the exact opposite from last year in commitment of the players.
“We always have at least nine guys coming out,” team Vice President Steven Tom said. “We understand that everyone else has class, work or some other commitment and that’s OK. So far we have 27 people signed up.”
Kuber said they have a good group of core guys, and he thinks they’d do well this year.
“We have a lot of guys with previous experience,” he said. “Not just high school, but college. Some junior college guys come out here and play just because they love baseball.”
BSU’s club baseball team is always looking for new players and people who are interested in playing baseball.
“I get a lot of guys calling me,” Kuber said. “I get guys calling me for next year; seniors in high school are coming out.”
Students interested in playing club baseball this spring should visit rec.boisestate.edu or visit the team’s official Website at hometeams.com and search for Boise State.
Students should also keep their eyes out for flyers and booths set up around campus.
“At BSU, it’s about having fun, but also about winning, Kuber said. “That’s what we are all about here.”
JOEY MCCULLOUGH
Arbiter Journalist
