NATCHITOCHES – When Doug Ireland, the chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, watched LSU Shreveport second baseman Vantrel Reed flip a grounder to first baseman Austin Gomm and record the final out of the NAIA World Series, one thought crossed his mind.

“These guys just made the Hall of Fame,” Ireland said.

Not because the Pilots won their first national title in any sport, but because they accomplished college baseball’s first ever undefeated season -- a perfect 59-0 record.

Six LSUS baseball players and coaches relived the historic season Tuesday at a special panel discussion at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum.

While the official induction to the hall of Louisiana sports legends will take place in the years to come, Tuesday’s event commemorated the season and unveiled the LSUS baseball exhibit on the second floor of the museum.

To steal a phrase from President Donald Trump during the team’s White House visit in October – “59-0? What the hell is that?

“Our guys didn’t care about anything but being together,” said LSUS head coach Brad 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.”

 

CHERISHED MEMORIES

For pitcher Calvin Shepherd, he’ll always remember the dogpile after winning the national championship and completing the perfect season.

“I’ll never forget the feeling after the final out was made,” Shepherd said. “Seeing all the smiles on everyone’s faces running out to dog pile. I had my mom and grandpa in the stands – it was a special moment.”

Assistant coach Jordan Schwellenbach recalls how the host town Lewiston, Idaho, filled the stands and backed LSUS’s bid to make history.

“As the tournament kept going on, the crowd kept getting bigger and bigger,” said Schwellenbach, who noted that crowd sizes had been smaller without host team Lewis Clark State in the World Series. “We had a great contingent of LSUS people, but I’ll remember watching the guys run out and seeing the crowd there – those people in that town, they’ll never see something like this again and I think LSUS will always hold a special place in Lewiston.”

As the team made their way back to Shreveport, pitcher Brock Lucas remembers the flashing lights of the police escort that guided the bus back to campus.

“To get off the bus and back to campus, and to see all the people waiting for us – it’s one of those moments I’ll never forget.”

The following Monday, the Pilots were celebrated in Festival Plaza downtown as 1,000 people crowded under the pavilion and patiently waited for pictures, autographs, and handshakes.

“It’s nice to come back and the whole team gets off the bus, and there’s people waiting for us, and our music is playing,” said first baseman Austin Gomm. “To see the parents, kids, and alumni that came back to support us – we saw some of that in the playoffs, but this was awesome.”

 

CEMENTING THE LEGACY

Neffendorf often evokes the past when speaking to his team, and LSUS’s baseball past is simple – the NAIA program was the most historic and accomplished to have never won a national title.

He guided LSUS to the NAIA World Series in each of his first two full seasons in 2021 and 2022, but the Pilots dealt with the heartbreak of losing in their home regional in 2023 and 2024, the latter of which happened in one-run fashion to Kansas Wesleyan in the regional title game.

Names like founder Doug Robinson, the legendary Rocke Musgraves and Brent Lavallee laid the foundation.

“Winning the regional is my favorite moment because the year before we lost out in the regional championship game by one run,” said pitcher David Hankins. “That feeling stuck with a lot of us.

“To come back and finish the regional and then to win it all without losing, it’s special.”

That LSUS squad featured 20 seniors, many of which were key players in those regional losses in 2023 and 2024.

With all of that experience, Neffendorf said he “just got out of the way” on game days.

“They knew what it was going to take, they saw the teams that had gotten there,” Neffendorf said. “I wasn’t going to change the way we practice, but when it came to game day, I really had to make adjustments to just let them play.

“There used to be a lot of pulling them up and saying this and saying that … I know I have an intense atmosphere about me that not everybody wants to be around, but it was about letting them balance things. We didn’t talk to them before games last year. They ran with everything and they balanced everything.”

Neffendorf did briefly say something when the Pilots fell behind by four runs in the national title game but added that he never saw any panic or hanging heads in the dugout.

The Pilots did make their comeback, and back-to-back solo home runs from Jackson Syring and Ian Montz turned a Southeastern (Fla.) 7-6 lead to an 8-7 edge for LSUS, which started a stretch where the Pilots scored the final seven runs in the 13-7 win.

WHEN DID THE ‘PERFECT’ START TALK?

The story goes that NAIA Pitcher of the Year Isaac Rhode said the Pilots wouldn’t lose a game around 10-0 or 11-0.

The players confirmed that statement, crediting Rhode with the original thought.

But the “perfect” talk didn’t permeate the dugout and wasn’t spoken about much.

“They didn’t really talk about it until they knew it was in sight, and I think the one time I really talked about it was at the regional,” Neffendorf. “I told them that nobody believes you can finish the year through the World Series without a loss, so go do it.

“They hadn’t been afraid of it all year, and they took initiative and took control.”

 

HONORING COOPER’S DAD

Senior Cooper Huspen is much more than just a speedster on the basepaths, he’s one of the crucial energy guys the team credits with setting the 2025 tone.

Father Robert Huspen is well-known throughout the team because he attended virtually every contest, driving three hours one way just for a four-inning scrimmage.

Robert Huspen unexpectedly died just a couple of days before he was scheduled to fly to Lewiston, and Cooper got the call while at the World Series.

He left to spend time with his mom and brother, returning to Idaho for LSUS’s second game in the tournament.

“We knew (Robert) for about two years because he’d come to the games – it was tough to hear,” Gomm said. “We knew (Cooper) had to go, and we didn’t know how long he’d be home for.

“We hung his (No. 9) jersey up in the dugout. I put his name in my hat with a little cross.”

Sallorin added, “It was pretty tough because we knew him since we got here. I put his name in my wrist tape.”

Lucas said finishing the perfect season and winning a national title became that much more important.

“It made us want to achieve that goal way more than what we initially started at,” Lucas said. “We didn’t know if Cooper was going to come back, but when he did, it made us feel better and bring us closer together.”

 

THE SHREVEPORT CONNECTION

LSUS featured four Louisiana players, including one from Shreveport – Northwood High’s Brendan Burns.

As the bullpen catcher, Burns knew he wasn’t going to set foot on the field during a game, but LSUS pitchers said he was a crucial piece to a staff that compiled a 2.38 ERA.

“Our pitching staff would have never been what it was without Burns,” Hankins said. “He was a huge part of it even though he knew he wasn’t going to see the field in a real game.

“He’s the best guy to talk to right before going into the game, and he knows exactly what to say to you every time. If you’re tense, he knows how to make you laugh and make sure you’re ready to go. He’s a big part of our team, and we wouldn’t have done it without him.”

That connection was also felt with the city itself, something that built through the regional, the World Series and culminated with that celebration downtown.

“Shreveport needed this,” event emcee Roy Lang III, sportswriter for the Shreveport-Bossier Advocate, reiterated multiple times, citing all the positive attention paid to the city.

Mayor Tom Arceneaux handed out “I love Shreveport” buttons in Washington D.C. and Louisiana governor Jeff Landry attended the U.S. Capitol and White House visits in October.

 

TURNING THE PAGE

The history books aren’t closed yet.

59-0 and will live forever, but 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.

It’s the start of a six-game homestand to start the season and the first 17 games in the state of Louisiana (13 at home).

LSUS brings in 28 new players to mix with 14 returners, and Hankins said the priority this fall is to teach the established culture.

“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.”

Lucas said the team put the perfect season on the back burner on the first day of fall practice.

“Last year was pretty cool, and it’s not that you really move on from it, but you open a new chapter and see what you can do with the new guys to build off what happened,” Lucas said.