Players Reflect on Discontinuation of Purdue Fort Wayne Baseball

Cam Karczewski jogged down the third base line and touched home plate, trimming Youngstown State’s lead to five runs in the top of the ninth.

Purdue Fort Wayne had already lost once earlier in the day. It was now fighting for its life on the opening night of the Horizon League Championship. The Mastodons had become familiar with the taste of defeat, having already lost 41 games in the 2025 season before they took the field on May 21 at Nischwitz Stadium in Fairborn, Ohio.

Pitching was a struggle for PFW, to say the least. It allowed 10 or more runs in 22 games throughout the year. This game looked awfully familiar to many others earlier in the season.

After four innings, Youngstown State led 9-6. The middle innings slowed down, but the Penguins began to pull away via a four-run bottom of the eighth. Dead in the water once more, the Mastodons tried to mount a rally.

Karczewski led off the ninth with a walk. Two more free passes sandwiched the first out of the inning, loading the bases. YSU made a pitching change, and a hit batsman immediately followed. Karczewski scored, really putting the rally in motion, at least for a moment.

One batter and one double play later, that dream was crushed. Youngstown State claimed a 13-8 win, ending Purdue Fort Wayne’s season in unceremonious fashion.

Little did anyone on that field know, the program was about to meet an unceremonious end of its own.

Two days later, players woke up to an email about a mandatory meeting that had been called for later that morning. Group chats exploded. Exit meetings had begun the day before, but those were now cancelled, signaling something seismic was about to come to light.

Some assumed that sixth-year head coach Doug Schreiber had been fired. The players loved him and the staff, but it wouldn’t have been a surprise to hear that a change was being made after an 11-42 campaign, the program’s eighth losing season in a row.

That speculation was quickly smushed. As word got around, some players found out there was also confusion swirling amongst Purdue Fort Wayne’s softball team. It too had an obligatory meeting called for the same time.

Once players arrived and noticed the attendance of athletic director Kelley Hartley Hutton, it became evident what was coming: the baseball and softball programs were being cut, effective immediately.

“Right outside was the AD and the softball head coach (Amber Bowman), they were just bawling their eyes out. I looked back at my teammates and was like ‘well, I think we’re done,'” pitcher Zane Danielson told Just Baseball in the fall.

When recounting the day their program was cut to Just Baseball, the emotion of that meeting stuck with former PFW players. Hutton did most of the talking while a chorus of sniffles filled the gaps.

Multiple former Mastodons recall seeing an expressionless Schreiber sit off to the side, shaking his head as the crushing news unfurled. He did eventually speak and told the team that he and the staff had also just found out that morning, sharing similar emotions to the despondent room.

“He wanted to make sure we knew that he wasn’t hiding anything from us,” Danielson said.

The university announced $6 million in budget cuts the day prior. The decision to axe the pair of programs saved about $1 million as the school tangles with what it labeled a “turbulent NCAA landscape.”

“This is one of the saddest days in my 25 years as a Mastodon,” Hutton stated in the May 23 press release. “We know this news will upset our student-athletes, alumni and fans. It was not made lightly, and we are committed to supporting those affected through this transition.”

In hindsight, it may be easy to take a look at the bones of the programs, understand Purdue Fort Wayne’s financial outlook and come to the conclusion this was a move you could’ve seen coming.

No matter how bad things get over the course of a defeat-filled campaign, there’s always the thought of turning things around or starting a new chapter the following season.

Not anymore.

“We were all completely blindsided,” outfielder Kevin Hall said. “We had no idea. We were going through exit meetings per usual, we just had a fundraiser, and coach told us that whatever amount we get, he would match it.”

“This was a complete shock to all of us,” pitcher Caden Cornett said.

Not everyone got to find out in person. Karczewski had his exit meeting the day prior, told his coaches he was planning to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal and was already back home in Joliet, Ill. He and a few others learned of the program’s demise via Zoom.

Despite his intentions to leave, he too was “totally blindsided” by the news.

In the face of the ever-changing college sports landscape that’s allowed NIL, unlimited transfers and battles for extra eligibility, the look of your run-of-the-mill mid-major baseball roster hasn’t changed all that much. Purdue Fort Wayne’s last team is a great example.

Of the 37 players on the Mastodons’ 2025 roster, 23 were in-state products from Indiana. Another 12 came from four bordering states, mainly Michigan and Illinois. Not all of these players had spent years in the PFW program — 16 played elsewhere before transferring in — but by all means, they were a local bunch.

Most players would tell you they love their teammates and their dugout is tight-knit. Going to battle on the road and playing the game you love with those wearing the same name across the chest creates a specific kind of bond. Multiple former Mastodons drove that point home to Just Baseball when reflecting on last season and the end to their time in Fort Wayne.

“It was pretty surreal. I’d say it was equivalent to finding out somebody died,” Hall said. “It caught us all by surprise and just took us a moment to process…teary-eyed, hugging each other and just wishing each other the best for the next stages in our careers.”

Said Danielson: “We went back to our apartment just in shock. We’re gonna leave in a week and just not see each other again? Me and my roommates were fully expecting to have a summer break and then come back to the same rooms for next season.”

That dejection for many on the team quickly turned to trepidation. Not only did they have to process this news, but there was little time to do so. The transfer portal was set to open in a little over a week on June 2. They now had to find a new home.

For most players, entering the portal is a decision you get to make. The portal doesn’t judge. But for a majority of the Mastodons, it appeared much more insidious.

“I was worried about where I was going to end up or how to even enter the transfer portal,” Danielson said. “It was a whirlwind.”

That’s not to say that a good chunk of the roster, even Danielson, hadn’t previously given the portal thought, because some certainly had. Losing is never fun, and nobody was looking forward to another rough 2026 campaign.

There was belief that 2026 could have been a step in the right direction. Some were ready to run it back.

Hall was one who intended to return. Playing for Schreiber and assistant coach Brent McNeil was a big reason why.

“If you looked at my stat line from last year, I really struggled,” Hall said. “I was two for my first 23 at-bats, and they still put me out there every day in the middle of the lineup and just trusted in me and took that time.”

Purdue Fort Wayne was already the second stop in two seasons for Hall. He played his freshman season at Grambling State before becoming a Mastodon. Fully knowing his time as a Division I athlete could’ve been over, Hall had a level of gratitude toward the PFW staff for taking a chance on him.

“When I entered the portal previously, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to go back to a D-I school or if I was going to have to take the junior college route,” he said. “They gave me that opportunity, and I’m really big on loyalty.”

Hall has since found himself back in the same situation, as did a slew of his teammates. The harsh reality for many was that Purdue Fort Wayne may have been their final stop at the D-I level.

Of the 37 players on the Mastodons’ 2025 roster, 28 are playing college baseball this spring. Of those 28, only eight are on a D1 roster.

Justin Osterhouse led PFW in just about every hitting statistic in 2025, slashing .328/.453/.636. You’ll now find him manning third base at Alabama. 

Karczewski, who hit .324 and played shortstop for the Mastodons, is closer to home and using his final year of eligibility at Illinois State. 

Hall is eyeing a big year in the outfield at UAB.

Danielson is one of the 20 others. He’s back home playing for Division II Illinois Springfield (UIS). The left-hander began his career at Lincoln Land Community College, so he’s no stranger to grinding it out amidst less-than-ideal conditions.

Frankly, that part of his college baseball experience didn’t even leave him while at PFW.

“I called (Purdue Fort Wayne) a glorified D-II,” he said. “We played a Division I schedule, but it’s not like we got Division I amenities. Compared to UIS, I don’t think there’s anything that blows it out of the water. Honestly, I think we have a nicer field at UIS.”

“Our field at PFW was not the best. We had to work on it a ton, there were bad hops always,” Karczewski said. “It’s hard to compete with the rest of the people in that Horizon League conference when our facilities are not as great. It makes it hard on a coaching staff to recruit kids as well.”

Hutton acknowledged the uphill battle the baseball and softball teams were fighting.

“We have not made the adequate investments into facilities and resources over the life of these programs, and when considering the current financial climate, it was determined that there was no feasible path to address those needs,” she said.

After learning of the program’s fate, Cornett and a few others decided to go play a round of golf to try and process things and, in his words, “get mad” at something else. There was plenty to be frustrated about.

Cornett, while a part of the team for two years, didn’t get to contribute much. He came to PFW to make an impact as a freshman in 2024, but a shoulder tear caused him to miss the entire season and most of the next. He worked his way back, but ended up making just two appearances last season, totaling 19 pitches and recording one out. 

He planned on finally making his mark as a Mastodon in 2026. Instead, he had to rely on high school stats when trying to get his name out there to coaches searching in the portal. 

Cornett landed with Indiana University Southeast, an NAIA school right outside of Louisville. If not for a friend putting in a good word and helping him set up a visit, he isn’t sure where he’d be this season. 

Cornett wishes his college career had gotten off to a better start. Putting his chapter at PFW behind him hasn’t always been easy.

“I really loved it there. I wish I didn’t get hurt and could have produced on the team,” he said. “You learn to get over things. What had to be done had to be done, so you just have to move on and just look for the positive ahead.”

Purdue Fort Wayne isn’t leaving behind a storied history on the diamond. Its inaugural season in Division II came in 1970. It made the jump to Division I as an independent in 2002. In 2008, it joined the Summit League, where it played until moving to the Horizon in 2021.

As a D-I program, the Mastodons compiled a 393-748-2 record. They finished runner-up in the 2015 and 2016 Summit League Championships, but otherwise never sniffed an NCAA Tournament bid. Those two seasons were the only times PFW finished with a winning record.

La Salle, which coincidentally makes its return to the diamond this spring, was the last Division I baseball program to discontinue, doing so back in 2021. Purdue Fort Wayne isn’t the first to part ways with its baseball program, and it won’t be the last.

That doesn’t make the extinction of these Mastodons any less heartbreaking for those who were around.

“It would be awesome to be in Fort Wayne right now getting ready for the season up there with the same group of guys that I bonded with,” Danielson mused.

Multiple players recalled opening the 2025 season in Baton Rouge against eventual College World Series champion LSU as a highlight of what was their final season together. The Tigers swept the three-game series, outscoring PFW 32-2. The games weren’t close, but just having the opportunity to take the field at a place like Alex Box Stadium was memorable enough.

Opportunities like that may come again, but for now, it won’t be in a Purdue Fort Wayne uniform.