In only its second year of existence at MSU, the club baseball team had a record of 15-13 overall and 14-5 in the conference.

The club team was started in 2003 by then-junior Aaron Leong. He is the team president and manager and also plays third base. Leong played baseball in high school and was interested in playing in college. Two years ago, he heard from other schools that there was such a thing as club baseball.

"I called other schools and the league to find out how things would work out," Leong said.

The team is part of a four-division league that is set up much like Major League Baseball, which has a three-division format. Fellow conference foes are The University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Central Michigan University, Ferris State University and Bowling Green University.

The season starts in March and runs all the way to the first weekend in May. The team trains at IM-Sports West, and as the season goes on, the team practices less.

"During the season, we have five games a week, so we are playing all the time," senior utility player Kyle Koster said.

In this the team's second year, they improved from their 6-9 overall performance last year.

"As we started playing, it was rough - we struggled," Koster said. "We were rusty and had no idea of competition; we were outmatched."

But the team stayed with it. Their record this year was good enough to get them a spot in the playoffs as a wild card team. This tournament is a round-robin format with double elimination.

The team started out winning two games, but then lost two straight games to Illinois, ending their chances of going to Florida to play in the club baseball world series.

"The tournament was disappointing because we had to lose two in a row. It was kind of a heartbreaking story," second baseman Kyle Leong said.

"Obviously, we were disappointed that we weren't able to win and clinch a trip to Florida," Koster said. "On the other hand, we were really happy. We weren't expecting the wild card."

Being part of the club team is much different than playing varsity baseball, players said.

"There is not as much pressure; when you make a mistake, you won't get yelled at," Koster said. "There's a lot more joking around and no coach to get mad."

Being on a club team and being together all the time gives the team a better relationship, he said.

"It's a real blessing getting to know all the guys," Koster said. "We had a lot more guys this year, and everyone has their own personality."

Despite the heartbreaking finish this year, team members are looking foreword to next season.

"We are not losing that many players next season. We have a lot of promise," Koster said.