Reflections on a Season of College Baseball

In 2025, I decided to road trip the United States, visiting national parks and watching a lot of sports. It was a dream trip, one I spent two years planning. As I came back to Alabama in September and reflected on those eight months, I couldn't stop coming back to one thing: sports, and how special they are. Through the end of the year, I couldn't shake that thought from my head, and thus, a bucket list of sorts was born.

Seeing every stadium or every sport in the United States.

As I started planning 2026, I couldn't shake the feeling that my heart was in college baseball. It always has been. I'd seen 37 games all at unique stadiums in 2025, and I wanted to get that feeling back. From big schools to small, college baseball brings people together in a way that no other sport or league comes close to. I can't explain it. So after spending two and a half months building an honestly kind of insane calendar, I started planning the 2026 baseball season.

I told y'all I built an insane calendar...

I knew this year would be a lot. 50 games planned during the regular season across D1 and D2 programs in nine different states is categorically something only an insane person would do.

But even then, I never imagined that plan would lead to everything it did this season.

As someone with severe anxiety, I would do research into every stadium I went to. What was the parking situation like? The seating? Were concessions cash or card only? How easy was it to get to? After spending a few months trying to pull this together, it finally dawned on me; why not build a blog dedicated to answering the questions I've been asking? With that, Every Stadium, Every Sport was born.

I also have always loved sports journalism; for a lot of my time in high school, I thought it was what I'd get a degree in and do for the rest of my life. While I have no regrets in getting a marketing degree and love my current job, I missed it. So I started covering the games I went to over on Twitter/X, working with teams across the country and highlighting the players and fans that made all these stadiums so special.

And people enjoyed it! I've met so many incredible people this year all thanks to a silly little blog and an even sillier Twitter account, but even then... this post season has simply been on another level.

I knew I wanted to go to a conference tournament this year to cap off a few months that have simply changed my life. So I made plans to be in Montgomery for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and honestly on a bit of a whim requested a media credential thinking there was no way in hell it would happen.

And then it did. Covering the Sun Belt Tournament, a conference so close to my heart as a Troy grad, made me realize how much I really do love covering college baseball. Being able to watch five! teams do what they needed to clinch a bid to the tournament solidified to me how truly special college baseball is.

It's hard to put into words how special what happened in Montgomery this year is, and how much it shaped my future plans. But from there, things just kept happening, and I was able to head to Hattiesburg to cover the Southern Miss Regional. I never anticipated that that would find me covering a 4-seed punching their ticket to a Super Regional, but I met so many hard working, talented folks that weekend as Little Rock went 4-0 and moved to a Super.

But then came Troy. Being able to be in the college town I love so much and watch them punch their ticket to Omaha for the first time ever is still not something I can put into words, and I don't know that I ever will. Seeing old friends, meeting new ones in real life and not just over the internet, getting to share the story of this team changed my life for the better. I am so, so deeply grateful that I was able to play even the tiniest part in this Troy team's story, and I cannot wait to watch them take on Omaha.

So, what's next?

For now, some much needed rest. Time with my family and my dog. A few minor league games over the summer, potentially some college football games in the Fall (my 9-5 is killer in the Fall, so tbd). And then, well... I'll have another insane calendar to build.