Nicholls State University’s head baseball coach, Seth Thibodeaux, and his baseball team will participate in their annual “Clean up the Streets” community service project this Saturday, in which all of the Nicholls baseball players will pick up trash on Audubon Drive and Percy Brown Road.

 Thibodeaux said that the city will supply the team with trash bags and grabbers. Security guards will be present, and cop cars will patrol to keep them safe. Thibodeaux said this is a way to instill pride about their community within the players.

 The Colonels will pick up trash around campus, at the Teche Regional Medical Center and up toward Canal Blvd.

 “I don’t like idle time for sure, and I want to show people in this community that we do care and have a lot of pride in our town,” Thibodeaux said.

 This is not the only community service project the Colonels participated in. During last year’s season, they worked with Thibodaux Regional to promote breast cancer awareness and to raise money for research. 

Thibodeaux met with Dr. Greg Stock and brought the idea to him about his team wearing pink jerseys in a home conference game againstMcNeese State to promote the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Thibodeaux said Stock was excited about the proposal.

 “I approached him about the idea of having a pink game for baseball, and us raising money for Thibodaux Regional’s Breast Cancer Awareness here,” Thibodeaux said. “I don’t think they realized how good it could be. It was exciting to be able to raise nearly $7,500 for the Susan G.Komen Foundation. They were very appreciative of it.”

 After the game against McNeese, the Colonels had a live auction to auction off their pink jerseys. Assistant head coach Chris Prothro said thatThibodeaux has made community service a top priority for the program and said the team wants to give something back to the community.

 “Since (Thibodeaux) has taken over, giving back to the community has been priority in this program,” Prothro said. “We know that in order for people to come out and support us like we want them to, they have to know that our players, whether they’re from the state of Louisiana or not, are invested in the community. We want to give something back to the community and the state and the University.”

 Thibodeaux plans on doing more community service projects in the future.

 “We’re doing a lot of other things too,” Thibodeaux said. “We’re doing a lot of work with parks and recreation here and with Dixie Youth Baseball. We do clinics for those guys, umpire for those guys and do whatever we can for the youth. I want my players to speak to these young men and teach them something and not be shy. It’s a tradition we’re trying to start, and hopefully it’s something that will continue to grow.”