The Nicholls baseball roster will be without ten names next season as outfielder Matt Richard, catcher Cody Dufrene, outfielder Mike Barba, shortstop Ray Eureste, pitcher Michael Baxter, infielder Adam Seal, and pitchers Jordan McCoy, Mike Suk, Kelby Langston and Kory Delange will finish their college careers this season.
Over the past four years, the group of seniors has been a part of leading Colonel baseball into a new era under head coach Seth Thibodeaux. Coming from a range of areas that stretch from Florida to New Jersey, the veterans have made their mark on the program.
The seniors have had the chance to take part in some memorable games during their time at Nicholls. Their tenure has seen the guys face high profile in-state rivals like LSU and last year’s College World Series champion Stony Brook.
Each game means something to each player, and certain memories stand out. Many times it has nothing to do with wins and losses.  For Richard, playing LSU was memorable for a different reason. It gave Richard’s family the opportunity to see the Gonzales, La. native play.
“My whole family got to come,” Richard said. “It was one of the only times that my whole family has been able to make it down to a game and watch me play baseball since a very young age.”
As he gets ready to end his career, Barba remembers a moment from his start at Nicholls.
“One game that stands out is my first one, where I got my first college hit against ULL,” Barba said.
Aside from personal milestones, the team’s success comes to mind for the seniors as well.
“The games we won in the conference tournament stand out,” Barba said. “We made a little run there. Those were probably the highlight of my college career.”
With over 50 games slated each year, the players have done a lot of traveling together, which makes for a lot of time together. The players have become extremely close through the years. According to the players, everyone has to put in the work together.
“I will definitely miss the guys,” Barba said. “You spend so much time together, go through so many hardships together and work so hard with each other. It is going to be different not having them around and not having the routine every day.”
“I will miss pretty much everything,” Richard said. “I’ll miss the bond we make with all of our teammates and the time that we spend with each other.”
Players typically do not make it to the college level without a passion for baseball, so the players have loved the opportunity to play the game they love. For the departing group, there will of course be things to miss from a game they have played a good portion of their lives.
“I am going to miss the game of baseball,” Richard said. “We have gotten the chance to spend so much time learning the game.”
Richard added that he has enjoyed the entire experience of being student athlete and the lifestyle that comes with it.
The ten young men have learned a great amount from Thibodeaux and the game of baseball. It is an experience they said will last their entire lives.
“I learned how to accept constructive criticism,” Richard said. “It taught me how to work with other people. Not everybody is going to agree with the way you work, and you won’t always agree with them, so you have to be able to gel and find out how to work together.”
To the seniors, playing baseball has meant more than learning how to pitch and hit. It taught them life lessons.
“It helped me grow as a person and get along with other people, different types of people,” Barba said. “I have become a better teammate and leader.”
There is some uncertainty for the guys as they move on. The players realize the difficulties in playing the game past college, but they will at least try to continue to play if at all possible.
 “I just want to keep playing as long as I can,” Richard said.
Barba said he would take on whatever comes next.
“There is a plan for everybody, and if I’m supposed to keep playing, then I am going to keep playing,” Barba said. “I would like to be a coach one day.”
Their place in Colonel baseball will not end when the group leaves the University, as all of the players will join a large, proud group of alumni who continue to support Nicholls even after their playing days are over.
The players hope to be part of legacy that sees the Colonels reach greatness as time goes on and look back on their time as the beginning of something huge for the Colonels. This means not only the on the field performance, but every facet of the program, even the facilities.
“I think it is going to continue to grow,” Barba said. “I’ve been here for four years and I’ve seen the program go through some major changes with the people involved and the field that we play on. It is definitely growing and going to be able to compete with other teams in the conference and across the country.”
“The program at Nicholls is definitely turning around from what it used to be,” Richard said. “They have to continue to bring better guys into the program. It is just getting consistently better every year.”
As the season winds down, Nicholls will host one last home series, where the seniors will get to play under the lights of Didier Field one more time.