Noah Fries | sports editor

When someone mentions Duquesne athletics, most people’s minds go straight to the varsity sports — the moneymakers. If you went on the street right now and asked someone what they think of when they hear Duquesne sports, they’ll probably tell you something about the football team or the basketball teams.

While those varsity sports are what Duquesne is known for, few people know or truly understand how club sports are so prominent on the Bluff. The club baseball team is one of these programs that has had a lot of success so far this season but has unfortunately gone mostly unnoticed — until now.

The Duquesne club baseball team competes in the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA), the only national governing body for club baseball at the collegiate level. The Dukes compete at the Division III level, competing in a conference with Robert Morris, Cleveland State, Youngstown State, Carnegie Mellon and Akron.

The club team was formed in 2010 after the varsity program was cut because of Title IX, which encouraged colleges to have proportionate spending and opportunities between men’s and women’s programs. After originally competing at the DII level, the Dukes transitioned to the DIII level in 2022 to compete with other smaller schools in the area.

Head Coach Josh Kane noted that the early success of the 2026-27 might warrant a change in the future.

“Originally, we wanted to be a little bit more competitive and needed to go down a division to be able to do that,” Kane said. “But now, I think we’re getting back up to the point where we could probably justify moving back up.”

The season for the team is split into fall and spring, with the team being required to play a doubleheader against each conference team and also reach a certain number of nonconference games to qualify for the playoffs.

The logistical aspect of club and varsity baseball is wildly different — for the Dukes, the executive board is responsible for all the intricacies of the club that might not be obviously.

“We’re pretty much self-run,” Vice President Josh Hessel said. “We have to do all our own scheduling, all our own field maintenance, field gathering, how we get umpires. It’s a lot, but it means a lot that we have a good group of guys on our board who care about the team and care about its success.”

The executive board seeks players out at the expo held on Academic Walk at the start of every year and holds several tryout dates to give everyone a chance to get on the team.

President Joey Casey understands that academics come first but also believes in his guys who devote their time to the team.

“I think we found a great group of guys,” Casey said. “All of us can rely on each other. We all became friends. We all just go out there and play baseball as best as we can and we just enjoy the time we have with each other.”

One of the team’s biggest tests so far this season came at the Charleston Fall Invitational in West Virginia, where Duquesne was one of two Division III schools to play in that tournament (the other was Cleveland State). Despite going up against Division I and II talent, the Dukes went 2-1 in pool play and ended up winning their pool before falling in the semifinals.

Despite having a relatively young team, Kane noted how impressed he was with how his team played at the tournament.

“We have guys who had been on the team for just two or three weeks and we’re beating Division I teams down there,” Kane said. “So that honestly just locks them in… We’re brand new to this, and we just came together as a team. We’re capable of pulling off big wins.”

“I think we for sure exceeded expectations,” Hessel said. “We have such a young team, and we’ve got a lot of guys stepping up and are ready to compete. It really sets the tone for the rest of the season.”

With a conference-heavy schedule looming in the spring, Casey is looking forward to what’s ahead as he enters his (likely) last season of collegiate baseball.

“I’m looking forward to playing the game that I’ve been playing since I was four or five years old,” Casey said. “People take it for granted, but I feel like it’s a big part of me. Our end goal is making the playoffs for our division, and I think we’re the team to beat. We’ve got 21 guys who are all very good at what they do, and I think the other NCBA teams in our division should be looking out for us.”

The Dukes have one more doubleheader in the fall, facing Akron twice this weekend before a break until the spring.

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu