CV Shortstop Holding on to Hope
Michael Patchin
Staff Writer
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On September 29, La Salle University announced they cut seven of their sports programs, one being baseball, which perhaps made the largest splash in the media over the last several weeks. Senior Jerry Crispino, starting shortstop and three-year letter winner on the baseball team was days away from committing to play forr the Explorers.
On a Sunday afternoon, just two days before the announcement was made public, Jerry received a call from his coach to tell him the news.
“I was crushed after hearing the news,” Crispino said. “It is a terrible feeling to have one of the most important things in your life taken from you at the blink of an eye,” Crispino said.
Who is to blame for La Salle cutting the baseball program among others? COVID-19 is the short answer to this question. The virus has impacted the school’s funding immensely, especially for sports that do not bring in as much profit as football or basketball. It makes it nearly impossible for the school to keep other sports afloat.
To bring back the baseball program alone, it would be around $9 million, which is too far out of reach at this point.
“As of now I have to start the recruiting process all over again,” Crispino said. “It was already hard enough with [COVID-19], to restart the process is a brand new headache that could have been over months ago for me,” Crispino said.
The baseball players at La Salle have come together to try to bring their program back to life. The baseball team has gone directly to the school and introduced ideas to them to bring in revenue in ways they have never done before. They also have started a GoFundMe, with a goal set at $500,000. Apart from this, the baseball team has looked to founder and co-owner of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, for help. Portnoy has been raising awareness for the baseball program, giving them publicity and hope to rebuild their program. Portnoy has also donated a large undisclosed amount to both the baseball and softball program to hopefully help get them back on track. La Salle baseball is currently accepting donations to their program at
https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-lasalle-baseball.