Spencer Paterick `21 Assistant Editor
Seven current seniors will return to LVC next year to pursue graduate degrees.
After a heartbreaking and sudden end to the season, athletes across the country lost out on an entire season of competition. While many seniors will never get the chance to take the field again with their beloved teammates, some students will have a chance to relive their last year that was cut short after the NCAA granted another year of eligibility to all DI, DII and DIII athletes
For the LVC baseball team, that means that seven of the eight seniors from the class of 2020 will be returning to pursue graduate degrees, as well as giving them another opportunity to chase a MAC championship.
The Dutchmen were on a red-hot nine-game win streak, a 10-2 record and were also in first place in the MAC Commonwealth when its season was canceled in early March.
“It’s extremely disappointing, especially with how well we were doing on the field and how the team was clicking off the field,” Brendan Ward, a senior right-handed pitcher said.
Prior to the sudden end of the season, Ward was already planning to return to LVC to pursue his MBA as well as play baseball. The six other graduate students that will be returning for the Dutchmen are Mitch Rickabaugh, Joey Bassett, TJ Holdredge, Bryan Towers, Chris DeClerico and Michael Leri. The only senior who will not be returning next year is center fielder Josh Herring.
The entire team had extremely high hopes for the remainder of the 2020 season, especially after the tremendous start to the season. But there is no reason to believe that the team will not perform well next year, as it will return seniors that were instrumental to the team’s success this year.
