Alabama’s club baseball team has been very successful recently, winning three West Conference titles in the last four seasons.
The team is a completely student-run, University-funded organization that is recognized to compete in the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA). For many members of the team getting the chance to play college baseball had been a lifelong dream. Through the club sport, they get the chance to lace up the cleats and don crimson and white on the diamond and play competitively.
“I have a blast every time I come out here, it’s great to be able to continue playing the game you love,” sophomore Brian Barcelona said.
The team accepts on average 10 incoming players every year to fill its 30-man roster. These fresh faces are required to have played a minimum of two years of varsity high school baseball, and should have played in some form throughout their entire high school career.
Just as the varsity squad would, the club team squares up against several potent peer schools such as the University of Mississippi, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Clemson.
“We play every game to win, if we didn’t carry our competitive edge, what’s the point of playing,” junior Cooper Wright said.
This past season the team posted a 15-5 record during the regular season, after starting the season off with eight consecutive wins. It ended the regular season by winning five out of six.
When the team traveled to Columbus, Georgia for the regional tournament, it was defeated by UCF in a 4-3 heartbreaker, followed by a 10-0 thrashing by Clemson, who was the only team to sweep Alabama during the regular season.
Coming into the fall season, the team lost several key members of the 2016 team like Chase Brashier, Jeremy Terao and the team’s most impactful hitter Anthony Cinello. Regardless of the nine that the team will start entering the season, there is no doubt that every man on the roster will share one goal–winning.
“We have a fresh crop of guys this year, tryouts were a success, and I think our new faces are ready to make an impact this fall,” sophomore Logan Brashier said.
Varsity or not, the Alabama club baseball team is competing to win.
