The Sacramento State baseball team is having a different kind of training schedule this semester in the most unlikely of places &- the library.

In his first year as head coach, Reggie Christiansen is invoking some change in how his players go about succeeding in the classroom.

“We didn’t have a very good fall semester academically,” Christiansen said. “We had used some different ways to go about it in the fall so we just decided to change it up.”

The training that team members are required to complete is to help boost their performance. The training is located in the library and is proving to be very useful for the student-athletes.

Every Tuesday and Wednesday, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., team members are required to go to study hours to help them keep up with class assignments off the field.

“Study hours are always good,” said junior infielder Trevor Paine. “It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do when you get home to actually get down and study and take it seriously. We have all of the resources there to get studying done and gives us a good time to focus and work because once we start traveling, it’s hard to find time with flights, being in hotels and not always having Internet.”

After a day of school, practice or games, the last thing some players want to do is go to the library and work on their homework.

“You don’t want to go to the library after a long day,” said junior catcher Derrick Chung. “Sometimes I just want to go to bed. I’m not enjoying it, but I’m getting my work done.”

Jake McKinley, director of baseball operations, said last fall the team GPA was around a 2.5, and the group is not satisfied.

Though the study hours can seem like a burden to the some of the players, the new demands made by the coaching staff is already proving to be very helpful for the players.

“We track our players’ daily attendance in their classes and we have already noticed massive improvements in terms of grades and professors’ satisfaction with our players,” McKinley said.

The five hours of studying time every week have not only helped with the players’ performance in the classroom but it has also helped with their cohesiveness as a team as well.

“I think that it is helping them chemistry-wise,” Christiansen said. “They get to hang out, help each other study and they’ve become a better team because of it.”

Paine, a communication studies major, has taken it upon himself to help his teammates in any way he can.

“As an upperclassman, I’ve taken some of the stuff that the younger guys have taken,” Paine. “And whenever I can step in and help some of the younger guys, it really benefits them.”

Paul Edwards, director of the Student-Athlete Resource Center, thinks Christiansen is stepping up in a good way.

“Coach Christiansen is taking academics as serious as any coach I have ever worked with in the two-plus decades I’ve been on campus &- probably more,” Edwards said.

“He’s worked very closely with my office and staff and is serious about holding his players accountable and having high expectations for them academically and athletically. I expect most of what Reggie does with his guys will be for the better and improve his overall program.”

Paine expressed his appreciation to the coaching staff for pushing them to excel not only on the field, but the classroom as well.

“It’s good the coaches are really on top of us,” Paine said. “We were so bad in the fall and that’s not us. It just shows a lack of effort and a lack of caring from us. Hopefully this semester we can turn it around.”

You can reach Anthony Honrade at [email protected]