LBCC suspends baseball program to renovate facilities – Press Telegram - California News Beep

Long Beach City College has suspended its baseball program for at least the next two years because of construction intended to modernize its baseball complex — though the news surprised many, particularly those on the team.

“We understood that there would be really strong emotions around the decision because of the history,” Associate Dean of Athletics Kal Stewart said in an interview, “but we also understood that those perspectives are likely to shift when they see what we’re able to attain with this reinvestment.”

Long Beach City College’s baseball field at 4901 East Carson St. in Long Beach on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. LBCC is suspending its baseball program for at least two years to renovate the facilities. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

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Players received an email on June 29 informing them that the program had been suspended and inviting them to an informational Zoom meeting the following day.

“Everybody was pretty surprised,” Benny Howard, a rising sophomore on the team, said in an interview. “We knew that the renovations were gonna happen, but we didn’t know they were gonna fully suspend the program for the whole two years.”

The school announced its strategic reinvestment plan publicly in a July 1 press release. Construction will affect the area south of Lew Davis Street, including student housing and baseball facilities.

The estimated baseline cost for the project is $18-19 million, Stewart said. The projected completion date is between fall 2028 and spring 2029, Stewart added, so the program could be suspended from two to three years.

“I feel like if they knew that this was going to happen, then they should have said something at the end of the season, or in the middle of the season, or even before the fall,” Howard’s teammate Riley Jones said in an interview. “A lot of these guys coming in, they had no clue. They were expecting to play two years at Long Beach like myself, like Benny.”

The baseball renovations, though, will strengthen the program, Stewart said, similarly to the way modernizing athletic facilities has for LBCC soccer, softball and beach volleyball.

“What we’ve seen is that enhancing the facilities helps draw very strong recruits to the institution,” Stewart said. “Full-time leadership also helps transform the experience that those student athletes are having, so we really see baseball entering into that same pipeline.”

To help athletes plan for their academic futures at LBCC or transfer to another institution, the college offers individualized academic counseling. Although LBCC cannot place athletes directly onto another school’s roster, Stewart said, there are provisions that allow students to transfer without penalty.

“I’m just glad that the academic support program,” Jones said, “they’re always still there for us throughout it all.”

The decision to pause the program was finalized between May and June, Stewart said — and the choice was difficult.

Other colleges, meanwhile, have also undergone campus construction that impacted athletic facilities — and many of those schools had their teams play elsewhere during the work. Last season, for example, L.A. Harbor College played at Carson High School. USC’s Dedeaux Field reopened in February after extensive renovations that forced the team to play home games at Irvine’s Great Park for two years.

“It wasn’t about which field or complex we had to use, but it was all factors,” Stewart said. “Understanding what’s the feasibility of us being off-site multiple years, the safety concerns, the staffing opportunities, the logistics.”

LBCC baseball considered relocating during the renovation but decided that playing on the road would be an unstable displacement of the program.

“We did not want student athletes to suffer through it. We did not want coaches to suffer through it,” Stewart said. “Being off-campus is a large task, and we wanted to ensure that student athletes had the opportunity to come back to something that was amazing and really good for that long-term commitment.”

Players like Howard and Jones, however, felt blindsided.

“It was kind of like we were backstabbed by the program out of nowhere,” Jones said. “We didn’t know leaving the season that this was going to happen.”

Jones was set to begin his second year at LBCC this fall, but because of the suspension, he is not returning. He said he is speaking to other schools about continuing his baseball journey elsewhere.

Howard said he isn’t sure if he will continue playing baseball.

“If I don’t end up playing baseball at school, I’ll just study, honestly. Lock in academically, work towards a degree,” Howard said. “I just don’t know if commuting somewhere far away is really worth it.”

Despite not being able to play, Howard and Jones both said, they are optimistic about what the reinvestment means for the future of LBCC baseball. Howard said he hopes the renovation will boost recruiting.

“I hope the renovation is going to give them a new life for the program, that they’re able to find a full-time staff and make it deep in the playoffs,” Jones said. “It’s just unfortunate for the players that aren’t able to experience that because their time was cut short there.”

LBCC suspends baseball program to renovate facilities – Press Telegram

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