For one morning at the NAIA World Series, the Taylor University baseball team traded its usual game-day look for something rarely seen on a baseball diamond.
Purple-and-black graduation gowns replaced uniforms. Mortar boards sat where ball caps normally would. And instead of walkout songs echoing from the dugout, 10 Taylor seniors stepped onto the field to the sound of “Pomp and Circumstance.”
Back in Indiana, commencement had already ended. So Taylor brought commencement to Lewiston, Idaho.
“We wanted to go the extra mile,” Taylor President Michael Lindsay said. “And in this particular case, it was going the extra 2,000 miles.”
Hours after Saturday morning’s graduation ceremony concluded in Upland, Lindsay and provost Jewerl Maxwell hurried through airports and connecting flights trying to reach Lewiston in time to give the baseball seniors a ceremony of their own.
“It was just a really awesome experience,” senior pitcher Jake Boyer said. “One that all of us graduates and all of our families are going to remember forever. We were super grateful for the president, the provost and everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to make that happen for us.”
For senior infielder Ben Kennedy, the ceremony’s unusual setting made the moment even more memorable.
“You expect to take the field in a uniform,” Kennedy said. “So when you’re wearing something different, it’s kind of surreal.”
The seniors honored during the ceremony included Wes Hunt of Germantown Hills, Illinois; Fletcher Roemmich of Elmhurst, Illinois; Brody Fine of Lafayette, Indiana; Brayden Manning of Lakeville, Minnesota; Nick Crabtree of Muncie, Indiana; Sam Gladd of Columbia City, Indiana; Gage Gongwer of Wakarusa, Indiana; Jake Boyer of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Brennan Frickel of Driftwood, Texas; and Ben Kennedy of Evansville, Indiana.
The possibility of missing graduation first surfaced months earlier.
Around the same time seniors began receiving emails about ordering caps and gowns, the Trojans realized another date on the calendar carried just as much significance: the NAIA World Series.
“With us being ranked No. 1, we knew it was a real possibility,” Boyer said. “But coaches told us, ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.'”
Graduation represented four years of work in the classroom. But the postseason run represented four years spent building one of the best teams in the country together.
“It was mixed feelings,” Boyer said. “You’ve worked four years to get this degree, and graduation is kind of a celebration of that. But at the same time, all my best friends are on the baseball team.”
Crabtree, a senior pitcher, said some players joked about not minding the idea of missing a traditional commencement ceremony.
“Some of the other guys were a little upset, and our parents were obviously a little upset as well,” Crabtree said. “But it’s kind of hard to beat what we were able to do out here. The experience is kind of second to none.”
Coach Kyle Gould first floated the idea a year earlier when the Trojans narrowly missed reaching the World Series. At the time, he imagined little more than bringing caps and gowns for photos.
This year, it became something much bigger.
Lewis-Clark State, the tournament host, helped transform the stadium into a commencement venue during one of the busiest weekends of the season. Taylor logos flashed across the videoboard while “Pomp and Circumstance” played through the speakers as families, teammates and university officials gathered behind home plate.
“What they did to set this up is incredible,” Gould said. “It was really fun and really meaningful.”
For Gould, the ceremony represented more than recognizing a graduating class.
The Trojans are dedicated not only to baseball, but also to their studies. The team carries a 3.46 GPA, with players preparing for careers in medicine, dentistry, physical therapy and business.
“These guys are very serious students,” Gould said. “Baseball’s not their whole life, nor should it be.”
That balance between athletics and academics was exactly why Lindsay felt it was important to make the trip west.
“I just think it’s really important to remember they’re first and foremost college students,” Lindsay said. “They’re there to get an education to prepare for the full life they’ll have after their athletic careers, so it seems entirely appropriate that we would bring graduation to the students if they couldn’t be there.”
For Kennedy, the gesture reinforced that message.
“I felt more seen as a student than I probably ever have during my time at Taylor,” Kennedy said. “That was really special.”
Taylor defeated William Carey 7-4 in Thursday’s semifinal to advance to Saturday’s NAIA championship game, moving within one win of the first national title in program history.
But for the seniors, one of the week’s most memorable moments came before the championship game.
For four years, they shared bus rides, practices, workouts, victories and disappointments. They arrived on campus as freshmen and grew into teammates, classmates and close friends.
“With this senior class, we’ve been here for four years and kind of gone through everything, the ups and downs,” Crabtree said. “It’s just been really, really cool to be able to go through that experience with them. I’m really thankful that we were at a university that saw this was important and was able to make it happen.”
Standing in graduation gowns on a baseball field 2,000 miles from campus, the seniors celebrated a life milestone together — not just as teammates, but as the people who understood the journey better than anyone else.
Jessica Garcete is an IndyStar sports reporter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Baseball team was at World Series, then Taylor brought graduation 2,000 miles away
Reporting by Jessica Garcete, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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