When Nicholls head baseball coach Chip Durham suspended 16 players for academics on March 15, it came as a surprise to many.However, the suspensions have not held the Colonels back as they won three of their last four games, including an upset victory over No. 14 Tulane and winning two of three at Stephen F. Austin this past weekend.
For the Tulane game, the Colonels traveled with 23 players, but only 11 received playing time.
During the Stephen F. Austin series, only 18 members of the 30-man roster traveled.
The suspensions will continue for the next two weekends.
Durham said the suspensions were to let the athletes know that grades come first.
“At the beginning of the semester I told the players that at mid-semester if the grades weren’t good then there were going to be punishments,” Durham said. “There’s no reason for this to happen. We have study hall twice a week and a free tutoring service. I think a lot of the guys took it lightly and they got surprised.”
Durham put his academic policy in place towards the beginning of the fall semester, but continued it after he heard the baseball team had lost 1.7 scholarships due to the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) reduction announced earlier in the month.
“We have 30 guys, so we have to spread the money out,” Durham said. “Losing 1.7 scholarships doesn’t affect just one or two people; we’re talking about five or maybe six guys. We can’t put the program in a position where we get penalized year in and year out with 1.7 scholarships because we’re not taking care of our academics.”
Playing with half the team isn’t common, but the players left on the team are learning to adjust.
“We knew we were missing some players,” senior infielder Thomas Bourne said. “We just had to step it up a little. We still have some of our main players, so we were able to get the job done.”
Senior infielder Jose Higuera said the suspensions might give others the opportunity to play.
“It’s an opportunity to prove what they have,” Higuera said. “Because of the suspensions, a few jobs opened up.”
One setback is the lack of depth on the bench, something that the Colonels have also learned to deal with.
“We really don’t have any depth on the bench now,” Higuera said. “We basically have to play the whole game.”
Durham said it’s important for his athletes to realize they are students first.
“There’s no doubt we’re sending a message to these guys,” Durham said. “The biggest thing is that the one thing I know these guys understand is playing time and traveling and when they’re not doing that it hurts them a little more.”
Bourne said he believes the team is going to fight through the remaining two weeks of the suspensions and hopefully string out some victories.
