On May 16, LSU Shreveport Chancellor Dr. Robert Smith declared in his commencement speech that the LSUS Pilots Baseball team would bring a national title home to Shreveport.
“And sure enough, they did.”
On May 31, the Pilots won the 2025 NAIA Baseball National Championship at the Avista NAIA World Series. On June 2, the city of Shreveport welcomed the team home with music, food, and a city-wide party. Courtney Avant, an LSUS alumni, was in the crowd, cheering for the team.
“This is like, really crazy. Like, unheard of, basically.”
Which is true, since the Pilots are the first team in college baseball history to stay undefeated for the entire season.
At the series final in Idaho, Southeastern University’s team played hard against LSUS, taking the lead multiple times throughout the game. With a final score of 13-7, LSUS came out on top, marking their seat as the only collegiate baseball team to go undefeated. For 59 consecutive games, the Pilots dominated every field they stepped foot on. Brad Neffendorf has been the Pilots’ coach since 2020. Coach Neffendorf says that there were no real nail-biting games for them; he always knew the team had a real chance to win.
“Obviously a national title game is a national title game, but you can’t change anything going into that. You’ve got to maintain the same level of composure and poise and looseness. And I think our guys did that the entire year.”
That composure and poise from the team continued into their academics, where the team maintained at least a 3.0 GPA throughout the whole year. Dr. Samuel Cannon, a professor at the university, was in the audience of the celebration.
“Seeing from the faculty side, from the opportunity to be a teacher for a lot of these folks, it’s really cool to see them succeed in their goals and also maintain good grades and be responsible.
Coach Neffendorf says he and the other assistant coaches really encouraged the players on the field and in the classroom. Part of his coaching was learning the needs of the individual members of the team and how he could help them keep up their grades.
“You know, you do it for them. Our job is to impact. Our job is to build relationships. I care about them a ton, they care about everybody. You know, I’m so happy for them.”
Coach Neffendorf proudly says that he plans on sticking around at LSUS. He assures that Shreveport is his home, and the city means a lot to him.
”It’s just like, ’Oh, you’ve got to go to this.’ Or, ‘You’re going to get this job offer from this…’ I don’t care. I really love being where I am, my family loves it,” Neffendorf says. “The support… it’s all about the people around you. And we’ve had a lot of good runs and a lot of good years with the right people here. And to me, my quality of life is everything, and the quality of life here at LSUS, because of these players, has been absolutely awesome.”
Shreveport reciprocates this feeling by donning purple and yellow and hosting a celebration in the festival plaza to recognize the team.
“Being from, like, a small city, for them to go this long with their winning streak and then to come back here just makes like the city proud,” Avant says. “Being here, homegrown, I’m just very proud.”
Dr. Smith and Dr. Cannon also note that the win will be really beneficial to the city and the university.
“When they won the championship, that was a big day,” Dr. Cannon says. “I think this is something that the university and the city deserve and need.”
Since so many news outlets are covering the team, Dr. Smith says the school is getting some necessary attention.
“But, it is so great for this city, and for this part of Louisiana and for LSU in Shreveport, I’m delighted,” Dr. Smith says. “It’s surreal.”
This is Alaina Atnip with Red River Radio News.