Club baseball rounds 3rd

For some, it's about having fun. For others, it's about satisfying their competitive genes. For Bobby Price, DePaul Club Baseball is another chance at playing the game he loves.

"I just like playing," said Price, who suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder during a game in 2009. "I never thought I'd play again after surgery so it's just nice, even at the club level, it's nice to go out and play…for not ever thinking I'd play again, going out there this weekend and just stepping up to the plate and being able to see some live pitching was great."

Though many have tried through the years to establish a club baseball team at DePaul, it was Kevin Crittenden's initiatives over this past winter break that finally made it possible for a team to come together.

"It was Christmas break and I had just transferred here and I was told that we had a club baseball team, but when I went to the fall involvement fair there wasn't one," Crittenden, the team president, said. "So I spoke with the club sports director and she said that it kinda stalled. So she was like, ‘I have a couple names if you wanna just email them, see if you can get started and do all the paperwork.' So it was over the six-week break I just emailed everyone on that list, talked to everyone… And then I ran into Kyle [Capone] and Nick [Blumenberg] who tried starting one as well. So we kind of joined together and just did some advertising and that's kind of how it got off the ground."

Senior Michael Walker, the self-proclaimed "old man" on the team, had attempted to join the then non-existent team since freshman year.

"There was like a sign up sheet at the Ray Meyer that I'd signed up for the past three years," Walker said. "So it's cool to finally get it going…Kevin did all the legwork, all the paperwork, pretty much everything. We just kinda showed up."

Roughly 30 players tried out for the team, though only 14 made it. Because the deadline to join a league passed in December, the team could only schedule eight exhibition games this spring season, according to Crittenden, who added that they would be joining the National Club Baseball Association Division II next year.

However, the lack of a league and relatively short season has had little effect on the feeling of success.

"I think it's been very successful considering for years people would start it and it would just kind of flutter," said Crittenden, sophomore. "So I think after four months to be able to get a team together and play some games is very successful."

The team, which manages without a coach, relies on the executive board staff and a few others to take the lead.

"I make the lineup, but as far as in the game I think a lot of the better guys just take charge," said Crittenden, right field. "Like you'll have Walker and Bobby on the bases giving the runners signs and telling them what to do."

And the lack of central leadership has yet to present a problem.

"We're all just getting along because we're all here to play baseball and have some fun," said Kyle Capone, captain.

But, as a newly created team with just a few months of practice and no head coach, how serious are these games?

"These are definitely competitive games," said Sean Shelhamer, freshman.

While practice locations vary from BASH Sports Academy to Chicagoland parks, all home games this season are held at Northeastern Illinois University, though Crittenden is looking into playing at a location closer to campus, which will likely cost the team four or five grand for the season.

Playing at Cacciatore Stadium, where DePaul softball holds games and practices, may have seemed like the most appropriate location for the team, but according to Price and Crittenden, DePaul denied their request.

"They shot that down fast," Price said.

Though their home field is roughly twenty minutes away, the team is already developing a fan base, something they hope to continuously grow.

"We had some family members," Capone said. "We had a few cheerleaders show up."

According to Crittenden, the team has also done advertising on campus and is now working with Screen Gems, who contacted the team asking that they give away advanced screening passes to their new movie "Priest."

"I think just being able to network with [Screen Gems] and give away free stuff will be a good way to get a crowd," Crittenden said. "So we're going to start handing out free passes and T-shirts at the games."

Meanwhile, Price is relying on word of mouth.

"I tell everybody," Price said. "I tell all the girls in my classes. They're like, ‘We have a baseball team?' Absolutely."

The team also hopes to improve their relationships with other local teams and is planning on holding an annual Chicagoland tournament each fall.

"We're trying to get a fall tournament going before we have tryouts," Crittenden said. "It's going to be with Columbia College, Loyola and Whitewater from Wisconsin.

"So it's going to be a [four]-team, all weekend tournament sometime in the fall…they kind of were all interested in starting a tradition and having a tournament every fall with us. We just want to be associated with all the teams in the area."

And though much is still to be determined, for Crittenden the future of the club is clear.

"I kind of want to be the most well-known club sport," Crittenden said. "Obviously we're not collegiate level, but I want us to be the talk of the campus where if people are gonna go watch club sports, it's gonna be the baseball team. You know, we can almost get that type of popularity around campus."