Utah State University Baseball Club
The Utah State University (USU) Baseball Club is a member of the Campus Recreation Department at Utah State University. The team's mission is to provide opportunities for students interested in baseball to improve their skills and compete in a highly competitive league.
The Baseball Club is not an intramural team; it is a highly competitive team that competes with some of the top baseball programs in the region.
Utah State is a member of the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA), which consists of over 300 teams from around the United States.
National Championships
2012 | 2014
Region Championships
2012 | 2014 | 2017 | 2022 | 2023
Conference Championships
2011 | 2012 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024
Eligibility Requirements
Please use the following links to view the latest eligibility requirements for both the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) and Utah State University (USU) Club Sports:
USU Club Sports Eligibility Requirements
Open Tryouts
The team is chosen based on the skill that players demonstrate during tryouts. All baseball players are welcome to attend the tryout, given they meet the eligibility requirements. Tryouts are held twice per season; one at the beginning of each semester. Exact dates will be updated to the USU Baseball website or posted on social media pages. If you miss either of the tryout dates, feel free to reach out to a coach or team leadership member.
Tryout Format
Tryouts vary from season to season. Traditionally, they adhere to the following format:
Each day will consist of pitching to ensure that position players have the opportunity to showcase their pitching skills. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Fielding Hitting / Running BP Scrimmage* *We’ve found that one of the key ways to evaluate players is by watching how they react to game situations. One way that we have found to get the most out of our limited time is to have players taking BP and having them take their last rep live with fielders reacting at game speed. This gives us the opportunity to simultaneously evaluate hitting and fielding.
Tryout Evaluations
Evaluations for players will be done by coaches, and team leadership. It is the hope of the coaching staff that each player trying out will receive an equal number of reps and an equal number of opportunities to showcase their skills. We strive to create a fair atmosphere where new and returning players are given the same chance of making the team.
Because of the success of the program, we strive to be one of the top teams in the country year in and year out. For this reason, we choose players that we feel can make either an immediate impact or ones that we feel will be vital to the success of the team in years to come.
Typical Week
A typical week will be practicing on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, with weekend games on either Friday and Saturday or more commonly Saturday and Sunday. For a conference series, we play a doubleheader with two 7-inning games one day, and a single 9-inning game the other day. For series against Community Colleges, we typically play two days of double-headers, one 7 innings, and one 9 inning game each day.
Fall Season
Date Range: September – October
Team Dues (Cost): $400 (subject to change)
The fall season is treated as an extended tryout period. We will have between 8-10 games scheduled vs other opponents. We will be scrimmaging during scheduled practice time and arranging for scrimmages on the weekends when we don’t have other opponents scheduled. Because of the limited amount of funding that we have, we try to keep costs low during the fall season to save for the traveling and other expenses that we incur during the spring season.
Off Season (Winter)
Date Range: November - December
The offseason is used as a time to prepare for the spring season. Although we are giving this time to help players focus on schoolwork, we expect each of them to be improving their skills on their own time. We will be having several team meetings throughout this period to get the necessary paperwork, forms, and letters filled out. These necessary things are for helping the Club function smoothly, as well as for the purpose of the University, and the NCBA to ensure that all players are academically eligible.
The offseason will also include required team events that will help the team raise funding for the spring season. Some examples of these opportunities include cleaning the Spectrum after Basketball Games, providing security for the Hockey Club, cleaning the side of the highway, etc. Players are responsible for the funding of the team, and as such, it is expected that players will help out with team sponsored fundraising events. When winter break starts there will be no team events scheduled.
Preseason
Date Range: January – February
Practices will be held two to three times per week in indoor facilities, both on and off campus. Practices will focus on individual work and occasional team defense. Pitchers will throw bullpens, gradually increasing their pitch counts to ready their arms for the spring season. Outdoor practices will resume immediately after the snow has melted and the fields are dry.
Spring Season
Date Range: February – May
Team Dues (Cost): $600 (subject to change)
The spring season is the main season. We schedule approximately 30 games for the spring season, which is similar to the length of the high school baseball season.
Conference games are played against other members of the Northern Pacific – East Conference for a combined 15 games between the fall and the spring seasons. Non-conference games will also be scheduled with other teams from the region on any available weekends. Exhibition games may also be scheduled against nearby junior colleges.
Each season, we also travel to Henderson, Nevada, just outside of Las Vegas, for the Swing Into Spring Tournament to compete against the top club baseball teams in the west.
Playoffs
The NCBA playoffs consist of two tournaments in late May and early June. The NoPac Regional Tournament is a double elimination tournament that hosts the top two teams from both the eastern and western conferences in the NoPac region. The winner of this regional will be selected to compete in the NCBA World Series, currently held in Alton, Illinois. The World Series also applies a double-elimination format.
On the occasion that we make either of these tournaments, the team needs to apply further fundraising efforts to secure flights, hotels, and other necessities for these tournaments. Fundraising details and costs will be determined by team leadership after seeking support from the University and the surrounding communities.
Sunday Games
Although we try to avoid playing on Sundays, it is inevitable that we will have to play a couple of games on Sundays. Being a school in Utah, we understand that some players decide to not to play on Sundays. If you are one of these players, please don’t worry, we will make accommodations and understand the decision. There will be no repercussions for missing a Sunday game, except for the fact that you won’t be getting the reps and allowing somebody else the opportunity to possibly get ahead of you on the depth chart because of the skills that they displayed while you weren’t playing.
Dues
As a player funded program, we expect players to pay their dues in a timely manner to contribute to league registration, equipment costs, travel, umpires, and other operational costs. Players who are unable to pay dues may work with team leadership and coaches to find alternative options. These alternative options often include fundraising through sponsorships or seeking donations.
NCBA
The NCBA is the sanctioning league for club baseball and provides valuable details and important dates for tournaments and playoffs. League information, power rankings, standings, stats, and more can be found on their website here.
Additional Questions?
If you have any additional questions that weren’t covered, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of the members of the coaching staff or team leadership. You can contact us by sending an email to baseballclub@usu.edu, and one of us will reply.
We look forward to seeing you at tryouts this season and seeing if you have what it takes to be a part of the USU Aggies Baseball Club.
