Baylor club baseball a step away from NCBA World Series

Across the nation this weekend, a team of Baylor students will be among the many college teams putting it all on the line for the chance to advance to the World Series. But this isn’t a group of varsity student-athletes on the Road to Omaha; these club baseball players dream of getting to Paducah, Ky., and the Bears are one step away.

As winners of the Gulf Coast North Division regular season title, Baylor’s club baseball team will be playing in the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) regionals in McKinney, Texas, this weekend. The winner of the regional will advance to the NCBA World Series — the ultimate goal for these students who, like their fellow competitors on Baylor’s other 25 club sport teams, aren’t playing for a scholarship or glory. They play solely for the love of the game.

“We’re a group of 19 guys who played baseball all through high school. We love baseball and didn’t want to stop playing in college,” says Baylor club baseball president Kory Krumrey, a junior business management major from Amherst, Mass., and a middle infielder for the team. “Club baseball allows us to keep playing.”

Hundreds of students participate in club sports at Baylor, with sports ranging from the familiar (baseball, golf, soccer) to the exotic (fencing, rugby, wakeboarding). While officially organized through Baylor Campus Recreation, they each have their own governing bodies and are largely self-coached. It’s also up to the players and teams to raise funds to cover expenses for travel, equipment and more.

The Baylor Club Baseball team is a part of the Gulf Coast North Conference, along with Texas Tech, SMU and UNT, and they play each conference foe at home and away (Baylor plays at the Southwest Region Little League Complex a mile off campus). Their non-conference slate generally includes games against schools like Texas A&M, TCU and Texas State. The Bears clinched the Gulf Coast North Conference championship with a win over Texas Tech two weeks ago, and finished the regular season with a 16-5 record. If they win this weekend’s regional, they’ll be one of just eight teams nationally to advance to the NCBA World Series in Paducah, May 27-June 2.

Sic ’em, Baylor club baseball!