SUU bids adieu to Thunderbird baseball in final home game

With the program disbanding, its remaining NCAA-eligible players will be free to pursue other options without having to sit out a year. Scholarship players deciding to remain at SUU will retain their athletic scholarship throughout next year.

However, the T-Birds will have one last week in the regular season at Oakland in Rochester, Mich., before heading to the Summit League tournament in Tulsa, Okla., in two weeks.

Carson said the team is optimistic about its opportunity to possibly win the conference for the first time in its last chance.

"So far we've beaten everyone in conference at least once, so we know we can beat everyone out there," Carson said. "We're going to Oakland with that same expectation."

But for the fans like Bridge, it's going to be hard to let go.

"I love baseball," she said. "I love eating a hot dog at a baseball game, being at a baseball game — it's just relaxing, and these guys work really hard at what they do ... it's really sad, I'm going to miss (the baseball team) a lot. It means a lot to me."