TCU Club Baseball unites students through their love for the sport and desire to continue competing after their high school athletic careers. Despite the start of the official season being a few months away, optimism within the club about their potential on the field is ramping up.
“We have some really good freshmen this year. This is my third year playing club baseball, and it is easily the most excited I’ve been and the highest expectations I’ve had for this team,” Paul McMahon, a senior political science major, said.
“For the team, the objective is to just win.” Lukas Engles-Klann, a first-year political science student, said. “I 100% think we can live up to a top-25 ranking this year.”
The team’s eagerness for the season is evident and winning is one of the team’s main priorities.
TCU Club Baseball has been a great off-the-field asset for everyone involved, teaching valuable life lessons as the team battles adversity on the field.
This is especially true for the club’s manager Ryan Donahue, a junior finance and accounting student. “I think it gives me a great way to have leadership qualities that are going to help me in my life, not just in baseball,” Donahue said.
The lessons learned off the field are extremely valuable, but they help TCU Club Baseball excel on the field as well.
“A good leader can raise the ceiling wherever they are, that’s what I will try to do,” Donahue said.
The feeling of community and friendship is consistent throughout the club.
“The friendships that everyone has made mean so much to me. This is who I hang out with and the people that will be at my wedding one day,” McMahon said.
“We’re a family, this is a little brotherhood right here and we are all so close,” Connor Parish, a senior communications major, said. “We play better with discipline and high team chemistry.”
In a sport like baseball, adversity struck in the form of injuries for Paul McMahon.
“Obviously I got hurt last summer and it was not in the plan at all, I’ll be out for the season,” McMahon said. Now adjusting to a coaching role, McMahon hopes to “show the guys the ropes” and “hopefully help the team improve day by day.”
The team will compete in a preseason doubleheader against Southern Methodist University on Saturday and the Wood Wars tournament in Louisiana in early November.
Established in 2012, TCU Club Baseball has now positively impacted students for over 10 years.
Whether that impact comes from winning, brotherhood, or life lessons; the club intends to continue to have that influence for many years to come at TCU.
