Long Beach City College turned heads earlier this month with the announcement that it would be suspending its baseball program while undertaking a complete overhaul of the school’s baseball facilities.
As the Vikings get ready to celebrate their 100th year of athletic competition in 2027, they will do so without an active baseball program. That news drew the ire of alumni, fans, and community members online, while leaving the current roster in a state of shock.
“I understand that our baseball program is near and dear to our community because of the proud tradition and lasting impact it’s had on generations of student-athletes, alumni, coaches, and supporters,” said LBCC Athletic Director Kal Stewart. “It was not an easy decision, so it was an emotional moment for us, too. Our baseball history is exactly why this decision was approached with such care. Our commitment is not to step away from baseball, but to position the program to return with the facilities, full-time leadership, and long-term support necessary for future generations to succeed.”
Returning sophomore Benny Howard is a Long Beach native who played at Wilson High, and was expected to be a big part of the Vikings’ plans in the upcoming season. He was out of the country on vacation when he got an email about an important Zoom meeting with his teammates. Howard said the team was informed on June 30 that the program would not be competing for the next two seasons.
“I was just caught off guard first of all, and then it kind of sunk in that I have to go find somewhere else to play,’” Howard said. “It definitely caught me by surprise.”
According to incoming freshman Dylan Davis, who recently graduated from nearby Cerritos High, he’s been committed to LBCC since last fall, and cut off communication with other schools once he planned on being a Viking. He’s now restarting his recruiting process after many programs have already filled their rosters for the upcoming season.
“Letting us know this late was such a huge problem,” Davis said. “If I had known that the program wasn’t going to be going this year, I would have never even considered going to Long Beach … I ended up not talking to those other schools after I set up the plan to go to Long Beach, and then it kind of messed me up now because I have to start talking to those coaches all over again.”
The college stated that it is committed to assisting the displaced athletes through the transfer process, but there’s no guarantee that an opportunity awaits them.
“Supporting our student-athletes has been our highest priority throughout this process,” said Stewart. “The college informed student-athletes immediately following institutional approval so they would have the greatest opportunity to pursue transfer options before the season begins … While we cannot place student-athletes on another institution’s roster, we are committed to helping every student-athlete identify opportunities to continue both their academic and athletic careers.”
While the returning players were able to ask questions about the decision via Zoom, the incoming crop of recruits was apparently not afforded that same opportunity. According to Davis, he only received communication from the coaching staff and has still not heard from anyone at the college.
Left-handed pitcher Riley Jones is another player who was expecting to return for his sophomore season with the Vikings, but he’s not sure where he’ll be able to play in 2027, if at all.
“I was upset about it, because even though they’re doing as as much as they can to make sure we’re able to leave Long Beach City and go elsewhere, it’s in the middle of the summer now, and some of us are struggling to find other places to play on such short notice,” said Jones. “Me personally. I’m going to a few camps to see if I can land a spot in the NCAA, maybe take a redshirt year. But it’s really frustrating that there’s almost no communication throughout the summer–other than for us to join the summer class for baseball–just for the program to be shut down.”
Especially for a Long Beach local like Howard, he felt the sting of no longer being able to play for his hometown team.
“Oh, 100 percent. I was honestly pretty sad,” Howard admitted. “Other than it being really close to my house, the college itself just felt like home to me because I’ve lived here my whole life. The culture at that college was really welcoming to me.”
By comparison, there are a few recent examples of other local baseball programs securing alternate venues to remain in competition. LA Harbor College, which competes in the same conference as LBCC, used Carson High as its home venue just last season while undergoing facility repairs.
At the Division I level, USC played the majority of its home games in the 2024 and 2025 seasons at Great Park in Irvine–a facility that’s nearly 45 miles away–while renovating its on-campus facility, Dedeaux Field.
Stewart says that LBCC did consider renting out alternate venues, and that “the issue was not identifying a field.” He also stated that a “road games only” schedule was considered, but the associated challenges that come with running a displaced program led the college to pursue the suspension of the program.
“The college evaluated multiple operating models, including limited-home and road-based schedules,” Stewart explained. “Ultimately, we concluded those approaches would not provide the level of operational stability, competitive environment, or student-athlete experience that we believe should define an LBCC athletics program.”
That decision hasn’t played well on social media, where many fans, players, and prominent alumni have voiced their displeasure.
“Terrible,” commented former LBCC pitcher Mike Gallo, who went onto Long Beach State and the Major Leagues. “There are fields where they could’ve played at and just played all road series games–there are ways to get this done without canceling the program for two years.”
“The baseball facilities have been long overdue for a renovation but not at the expense of two baseball seasons being stripped from the players,” commented former Vikings pitcher Tai Tiedemann, who was drafted out of LBCC and played seven years in the minor leagues. “LBCC Baseball continues to be treated like an afterthought.”
Two seasons would also be a best-case scenario, based on the updated timeline provided by Stewart. He said completion of the $18-19 million renovation project could be fall 2028 or spring 2029, which would impact a third season of LBCC Baseball.
