At the end of May Northland College will close its doors for the final time. Dwindling economic resources and low student enrollment led the Board of Trustees to vote unanimously to close the 132 year old institution following the 2024-2025 school year.

RELATED STORY: Northland College announces they will close

It has been a wild ride for everyone, especially the baseball team who hosted the final ever Northland Athletic event on April 26; a doubleheader with North Central University. The day prior, Friday, April 25, marked the Lumberjacks’ last home opener, which they won 5-4 against the Rams.

“I’m glad I could be here when the program was finishing. I mean, if it’s going to close, I’d want to be here for it,” freshman Jonjay Arreazola said.

“It’s the last Northland event ever, not just baseball, not just athletics, like last Northland event. So it’s crazy. I’m sure I’ll be crying like a little baby at the end of it,” senior Jay Harris added.

The Jacks weren’t even sure they’d field a team last spring. In March of 2024, the school launched an urgent fundraiser to keep their doors open. It worked, albeit only for one more spring.

“I’ve only coached six games here where we didn’t know the school was shutting down or wasn’t going to be there,” Cal Fougner said, head coach of Northland baseball since 2023.

Freshman Mychal Castillo added, “at the beginning we were all in shock, but it was like this shared sympathy and empathy together. We’re all going through it together, it’s not like we’re going to have to do and carry the burden alone.”

Lumberjills softball didn’t make it to 2025, folding due to lack of numbers. However, baseball boasted 38 men, 14 being freshmen, including Mychal Castillo coming all the way from Tucson, Arizona.

“I found out that school was closing and I was like, ‘Oh, I have to do the whole recruiting thing again.’ And it was not fun or easy the first time,” Castillo shared. “So I was really hoping that they stayed open and they did. And I was like, ‘Oh, so much easier. I’m just going to stay, I’m just going to stay and come here.’ This is where I wanted to go. I liked the coach, I talked to some of the guys. They were very welcoming and they seemed like they wanted me on the team, and I was definitely like, ‘this is where I want to go’.”

Jonjay Arreazola also stuck with Northland College despite being an incoming freshman.

“I think everyone has played this game their whole life and they love it and that’s why we’re here. So even though we have these unfortunate circumstances around us, everyone here loves the game. No matter how, we’re still playing baseball and we’re just excited to get on the field and play,” Arreazola said.

Arreazola’s connection to the blue and orange goes deep, with the threads woven through his family.

“I had two brothers who played for this school. So I grew up watching baseball games on this field and now I get to play in the last one.”

The last class of Northland seniors stepped up to the plate big this spring, keeping everyone’s heads in the game.

“Obviously, we’re seniors and we want to play for ourselves. But we’re really playing for these younger guys and trying to give them, A: a positive experience of Northland, because we love Northland, but also trying to help them get something together so where they can go somewhere else afterwards. Like trying to get them film, trying to get them extra work, trying to find them a place to play next year,” Harris said.

Fellow senior Ridge Guyette added, “I think that just the idea of it being the only time that all of us are ever going to play together has made it easier for us to come together and say, ‘we’re all on the same level here’. It’s not seniors graduating and it’s our last opportunity, it could be everyone’s last opportunity if people can’t find somewhere else to go. We’re all on the same boat now.”

Along with playing this spring, Northland’s underclassmen have been busy starting the recruiting process all over again.

“The Coach has done a really good job of trying to get our names out there. And I’ve had a lot of coaches come to me and I’ve been lucky in that opportunity. So it’s just about finding the right fit going forward,” Arreazola said.

“For us, it was just getting information out for each of our players. Like as soon as we heard things getting video out, getting metrics out for all the guys, reaching out to all the regional coaches that we could that might be recruiting players for next year. Hoping that some of those relationships we’ve built as coaches pays off for them,” Coach Fougner said.

As a senior, Harris said it’s a tough goodbye.

“Honestly, it’s bittersweet. I really fell in love with this place my freshman year, and seeing what happened to the school was really sad over the course of my four years here. But I’m just so happy I could finish.”

“I feel like we’re the right people to kind of be putting the program to rest,” Coach Fougner said.

“I still love this place, regardless of whether the school was here or not,” concluded Harris.

Northland would claim victory in their last ever game beating Martin Luther 12-7 on May 3. They completed their season with a 7-31 overall record.