By MATT VINES, LSUS Communications, and DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
NATCHITOCHES – “It was the whole world.”
That’s how Josh Fortenberry, who played at LSU Shreveport two decades ago, described the impact of the Pilots’ 59-0 national championship baseball season Tuesday night.
He was in the audience as six LSUS coaches and players talked about their incredible 2025 during an interactive program at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum.
No college baseball team at any level had finished unbeaten. As the Pilots discussed their perfect season and shared behind-the scenes memories and reflections, they were also soaking in the honor of being spotlighted alongside the state’s greatest sports legends in the 12-year-old museum housing a Hall of Fame dating back to 1958 and covering 170 years of sports history.
“It’s awesome,” said Canadian first baseman Austin Gomm, one of 20 seniors on last spring’s team and now a graduate assistant coach. “I look around and see big names I’ve heard of; I see the Atlanta Braves’ World Series ring. That was really cool, too.”
“It really is a special feeling seeing all the legends around here,” said pitcher Calvin Shepherd. “I saw Nick Saban’s championship rings, all the Pete Maravich stuff, and many others. Just to be in the same building, the same area as all that, it’s a surreal feeling.”
The unprecedented perfection has earned the Pilots a mind-blowing series of experiences. Head coach Brad Neffendorf said one that continues, and is especially gratifying, is how local folks repeatedly congratulate and thank him and the team.
“They’re so great about it, saying what this has done in athletics and for our city, has been unbelievable,” he said.
“I don’t care if it’s us who does it – I’m glad it is – or the Mudbugs, or Centenary, Bossier Parish … it doesn’t matter. It’s about what it does to impact everybody around you, and that’s what we’re trying to do with our baseball program.”
From having a police escort coming into Shreveport all the way to the LSUS campus on the trip home from the NAIA World Series, to being cheered by a thousand admirers at a downtown rally, and lately, on epic trips to Washington, D.C. and Natchitoches, the Pilots are still on a joy ride now into its sixth month.
“Every day I wake up and I think about it at least once,” said pitcher Calvin Sheppard, “like, ‘oh, man, we went 59-0 and have gotten to do all these incredible things, like go to the White House and come down to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.’
“Maybe one day it’ll feel like real life,” he said, “but that day hasn’t happened yet.”
Tuesday’s event commemorated the season and unveiled the LSUS baseball exhibit on the second floor of the museum, next to a Kim Mulkey display case, and not far from an exhibit featuring Louisiana baseball legends including local superstars Vida Blue, Todd Walker and Albert Belle and others such as Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock.
Many national championships have been claimed by state sports teams. Only a handful are showcased in the Hall of Fame. As of Tuesday night, the Pilots are there.
To steal a phrase from President Donald Trump during the team’s White House visit in October – “59-0? What the hell is that?”
While memories of the season filled the program moderated masterfully by Shreveport sportswriter Roy Lang III, the audience heard what the Pilots thought made them so remarkably unique in sports history.
“Our guys didn’t care about anything but being together,” said Neffendorf. “They had unbelievable energy, and guys like our shortstop Jose Sallorin, the energy he brought to the table every day is why we were able to develop so dang well together and play together as one unit.
“To use the word dominant – we did that because we dominated every day, and that’s because of the players. We (coaches) didn’t talk to them before games last year. They ran with everything and they balanced everything.”
What defined this team?
“Being good people, I think, was the biggest part,” said Gomm. “Nobody wants to be around a bad person. I think we had over 40 guys who were great guys. It was fun to do it with them.”
“If I described that team and all the people, it would be one word – family,” said Sallorin, a Venezuelan who is also now a GA coach. “We won it as a family, my brothers, and that gave us what we needed. We supported each other.”
“There was a bond you can’t really describe,” said pitcher Brock Lucas. “Everybody was close.”
“The biggest thing was the selflessness of the team,” said pitcher David Hankins. “Everybody cared more about their teammates’ success over their own.”
They shared superstitions that extended through the spring, and generated plenty of laughs – including Sallorin ribbing assistant coach Jordan Schwellenbach about almost conquering a postgame challenge at the World Series by rapidly finishing a stack of eight cheeseburgers and four orders of fries, along with a giant milkshake.
“He didn’t get the milkshake done,” said Neffendorf.
“59 and 1,” cracked Lang.
The history books aren’t closed yet.
The 59-game winning streak can be extended when the preseason No. 1 Pilots open their next season Jan. 23 at home against Tabor College, the beginning of a three-game series.
Tabor is the team that played LSUS the closest in 2025 as the Pilots needed three ninth-inning runs to secure an 8-7 walk-off win.
LSUS brings in 28 new players to mix with 14 returners, among them Hankins, who said the priority this fall has been to share the established culture with the newcomers.
“Trying to replicate an undefeated season is kind of crazy,” Hankins said. “With all the new guys we brought in, trying to teach them how we do things, there’s a very specific way of how we practice and play.
“Everything we do, we do our way. It’s not easy to learn if you’re just coming into it. We’re getting them on board and having that common goal.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com and Matt at matt.vines@lsus.edu