In the five years since Seth Thibodeaux became head baseball coach on campus, he has helped the baseball program achieve back-to-back 30-game winning seasons, a first since 1992-93.

Between semesters, he took this year’s squad to another first for Nicholls State University, the Dominican Republic. The coaching staff and student-athletes originally set out to the Caribbean island with the mindset of community service in impoverished areas, conducting clinics with the Dominican youth, attending orphanages and scrimmaging one of the six professional Dominican baseball teams. However, unexpected lessons began to reveal themselves to the Colonels.

“We tried to do some research, and I wanted our guys to grow from this experience,” Thibodeaux said, “but we had no idea what we were getting into. It took me off of my feet when we got there.”

In the states, athletics can sometimes be easily taken for granted. A plethora of professional, colligate, amateur and recreational leagues blanket the country in an athletic culture that has pervaded since the 19th century. However, in a country 202 times smaller than the United States, with a Gross Domestic Product of two percent of the US, baseball equipment and leagues are as scarce as fresh drinking water.

On the first day of their trip, the Colonels put on a free clinic for children around the hotel they stayed in. The attention, tips and techniques given to the kids by the players brought more smiles than the new equipment handed out to them.

“The kids couldn’t care less what it was they got from us, they were just happy to be out there playing baseball every day,” Alex Shermer, junior outfielder, said. “They were out there with no cleats or socks on, having the best time of their lives. Playing with them makes us want to work harder than we have been.”

After enjoying a day off on the Punta Cana beach and exploring the site where Christopher Columbus landed in 1492, the team spent the last day of the trip at the largest stadium in the six-team Dominican professional league, Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. The Colonels dropped a nine-inning game with one of the oldest and most respected clubs in the Dominican Republic, the Tigers Del Licey, 4-1.

However, the game itself was an afterthought for players in light of the passion displayed on the island for baseball. The Dominican Republic boasts the most players of any Latin American country in Major League Baseball, and for many men baseball is the only way to escape the rampant crime and drug cartels that have saturated the island.

For many citizens of the Dominican Republic, what we would regard as a backyard shack suitable for only lawn tools is a house for a family of six. Thibodeaux recalled the houses he and his team worked out while on the island not having basic comforts such as insulation or floors, but what surprised Thibodeaux the most was resilience and dedication to baseball from a people with so little.

“I went for a jog at six in the morning, and there were kids on the beach running sprints,” Thibodeaux said. “Then I ran to the stadium and kids were playing catch. It means the world to them and they play baseball like its their only shot at life.”