Not all baseball players are given the opportunity to continue what they love once they enter college. Since collegiate baseball is hard to commit to, a lot of players take a different route.

In recent years, the SIU club baseball team has seen much success. In 2009 and 2010 the team earned the District V title and a World Series appearance. SIU was also recently named the No. 1 team in the nation by the National Club Baseball Association.

This year, president Michael Ingram, a senior from Richmond, Ind., majoring in marketing and sports administration, thinks they have the talent to be as good as ever.

Kenny Thorne, a junior from Frankfurt majoring in Sports administration said, club baseball allows players to travel to other schools and have a similar experience to the one Division I college players have, but it is slightly more relaxed.

“It’s much more competitive than any kind of high school league you play in,” Thorne said.

Ingram compared the competition to a level of junior college baseball, and said club baseball is a good thing for freshmen to get involved in too.

“Last year we had seven or eight freshmen who played a considerable amount of time for us,” Ingram said. “Not because we didn’t have upper-class talent, but because they were good.”

This year, several freshmen are showing interest in joining and committing to club baseball. Alan Holmgren an undecided freshman from Fox Lake said he has been playing baseball for roughly 14 years and has an urge to play again.

“I used to play in high school and I used to love the sport,” Holmgren said. “I haven’t played it over the summer so I just want to go out and play.”

Ingram said the members of the team pay an annual $150 fee, which covers all the travel expenses, hotel costs, umpire costs, three jerseys, and two hats. Also, Ingram said he has helped the team do fundraising to offset some of the costs. Ingram said he does not want a player to be unable to play because of the cost.

The fundraising consists of a tournament SIU hosts from entry fees, as well as players who work concessions for basketball and football games, Ingram said. The team also sells apparel to friends and family. He said the team intends to have a wiffle ball tournament for $3 a player to make it as cheap as possible.

SIU will host their second annual tournament this year. Michigan, Northwestern, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Illinois are some of the bigger named schools that will be in attendance.

The team travels to several bigger named schools throughout the year and Ingram said that’s how he hopes to get SIU’s name out there. Beating bigger named schools can also shoot the team up the NCBA rankings. The club plays over 50 games every year, and every member is guaranteed to play, he said.

The team practices every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Intramural play fields.