Many former college baseball players can look back at their time as athletes and can remember it like it was yesterday. The games under the lights, the off-season training, the countless hours of dedication towards their craft. Above all of those is one aspect of the college athletic experience that is often not touched on and is prevalent in the Southeastern baseball locker room.

The memories and core values that stick with the players throughout their lives. The seniors of the savage storm baseball team touched on what this program has meant to them and what they have learned from their time playing at Mike Metheny Field.

First, to understand the importance of this game to these players, you have to see the game through their eyes. To become a collegiate baseball player at any level is already a feat in itself. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), only 7.1% of all varsity baseball players will go on to play baseball in college. These players spend most of their childhoods and adolescence working towards this dream of signing with a college baseball team.

Senior shortstop, Dylan Herd, spoke about the discipline it took for him to play college baseball.

“My high school schedule was workouts started at 7:30 in the morning, then class from 8:45 to 1:45, baseball practice started at 2:15 and ended at 5:00 and we always stayed after to hit in the cages until like 6 p.m.” Herd said.

It is a big accomplishment to become a college baseball player. But like anything, it comes with responsibilities. Being a college baseball is a fulltime job. The NCAA has put regulations on the number of hours a team can practice throughout the week. The rule states that each team gets four hours per day each week with one mandatory rest day.

This does not include the amount of hours player spend on their own working on their craft. Being a college baseball is a full-time job in itself because of the nature of the sport. Baseball is a sport that requires a lot of field time to master to small parts of the game such as fielding, hitting, running bases. These tasks have progressions and these progressions take time.

Southeastern baseball has a hard-nosed culture behind it. Players who come into this program speak about the mental toughness that is cultivated the moment they hit campus. Senior outfielder, Jake Miller, spoke about the cultivation of his own mental toughness while at Southeastern.

“The mental toughness aspect of SE baseball has created for myself has improved in my day to day life, stacking small victories throughout the day like waking up right when my alarm goes off, also the mentality of nobody cares has helped me be a better version of myself,” Miller said.

All of these players have given countless hours to the sport they love and will remember the values it has taught them. Each player spoke about will miss most about Southeastern baseball.

“My teammates and the time we spend with each other,” Miller said

“Making memories and hanging out with all of my friends here,” Herd said.

Southeastern baseball is more than making it to Cary, N.C., to play for the national championship. It is the magic when a coach brings in 46 random guys from all over the world and they leave life long friends. That is what SE baseball is all about.