Sonoma State University’s Baseball team finished their regular season on Saturday with a series against San Francisco State University and their senior night in celebration of their graduating players.

The Seawolves finished 3-1 against SFSU out of a four game series played from Thursday to Saturday last week. As the team waited out a storm to play their last game of the season, the team’s graduating senior class was honored pregame. The program was then able to finish their season strong against the Gators, winning 10-5. 

The Head Coach of the SSU Baseball team, John Goelz, has been with the program for nearly 40 years. He spoke about how seriously impactful being a coach at SSU  for so long has been for himself. His experiences from meeting kids when they were 10 years old, bringing them onto the SSU program, and going on with their lives, even having some of those graduates come and coach beside him today. 

When asked about what it’s like going through so many senior classes, Goelz gave an example showing the depth of the bond between alumni and the current program. He spoke about when the team traveled down to Cal State Los Angeles to play this season, they had more fans in the stands than LA did. Goelz is constantly showing his appreciation and gratitude for the way sports can bring people together, even if it’s 20 plus years after athletes have departed from the school and the program.

He then referred to a letter written to him by SSU Alumni and former player of his, Jeff Tudor. Tudor is known for being the youngest chief of police in the city of San Leandro’s history; but in this letter, it was evident that Tudor got his leadership style amongst many other traits from coach Goelz during his time playing baseball at the university ten years ago. Goelz purpose is to help every player step into manhood as they finish their time in school. “The rewards that come from coaching are life-changing for me,” Goelz said, hoping that it is also as significant to the players as it is to himself.

Senior pitcher Jake Dent spoke about how being a part of this program has pushed him to go outside of his comfort zone when it comes to his work ethic on or off the field. “We all pull one rope as leaders, not as individuals,” said Dent in response to being asked what his time on the team has taught him. As far as his favorite memories with the team go, he mentioned the last-minute Giants games, canned food drives and “competing with my brothers until the last pitch.”

Michael Benz, another senior hurler, summed up his most significant takeaway from his time with the program by explaining kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. “I’ve already applied this to my professional life and it is surprising how far just a change of mindset can set you ahead,” said Benz.

There were six graduating seniors whose careers were celebrated on Saturday, Jake Dent, Nick Roth, Michael Benz, Vito Rodin, Ryan Wilmoth and Ian Anderson. The SSU Baseball program closed out their season with a 22-22 overall record and 16-20 in conference play.