The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Baseball walk-on tryouts will be held for upcoming season

    Lions baseball will have walk-on tryouts this offseason to fill up their roster after four Lions were drafted to the major leagues. The walk-on informational meeting happened yesterday at 3 p.m., where students were told the requirements needed in order to try out. 

    “Basically we gave them a packet of information,” said Assistant Coach Andrew Gipson. “They need to be registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center, they need to have had an updated physical and obviously they need to be a full time Southeastern student. They also need to be compliant with all of our rules and regulations.”  

    The last three seasons for the Lions have been the most successful in school history with back-to-back 40 win seasons and two conference titles.

    “The NCAA gives division I institutions 27 scholarships that we can give and we have 11.7 full scholarships, so our money is spread thin,” said Gipson. “It is not like football or basketball which are what they call a head count sport where everyone gets a scholarship, so walk-on’s are important to us. I think you are behind the 8 ball as an organization if you do not have the academic walk-on’s helping you on a consistent basis.”

    The walk-on players are not simply there for show according to Gipson. They will receive playing time in games and are expected to perform at a high level during their years on the team.

    “We recruit high academic kids that add value to our baseball team,” said Gipson. “It is not just guys who are there as practice players, these are guys who we expect to contribute at some point in their careers.”

    Walk-on tryouts were held last year and those players are still on the team even if they do not get a lot of playing time.

    “We have kept somebody every year,” said Gipson. “Two years ago we kept two guys and last year we kept two guys. At this time none of those guys have played. A lot of it is based on need for us, but we take it seriously. We do not just have these guys run around the field for thirty minutes to an hour for nothing. They need to be in shape. This is sort of a rigorous tryout because we need to find out if these guys can help us, but we have kept four guys over the past two years.”    

    There are current players on the roster that walked onto the Lions and have played big roles in the success of the team these past two seasons.

    “Last year we had up to six guys in our lineup that were academic guys or walk-on’s,” said Gipson. “We had Josh Green who was a pitcher for us who threw 30 to 40 innings. He was a major cog in the wheel for us down the stretch and he was an academic walk-on. I can go down the list: Ryan Byers, Webb Bobo, Carson Crites and Taylor Schwaner all of those guys were walk-on’s.”

    On the field, tryouts will begin this Thursday, Aug. 25.

    “We have not set a certain date,” said Gipson. “Those guys have to have been to the meeting first. They cannot just show up to the field on the 25th.”

     
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