Five JU Dolphins, two UNF Ospreys seniors are close to completing their college careers
True to their school: JU, UNF players have stayed put for entire careers
In the NIL and transfer portal era, a handful of Jacksonville and University of North Florida players have stayed true to their schools.
- Jacksonville University and University of North Florida baseball coaches commend senior athletes who remained committed to their programs.
Loyalty still trumps money for some college student-athletes.
But for how long?
Even in college baseball, where NIL opportunities are much more modest compared to football and basketball, it’s getting more difficult for mid-major conferences to keep their best players.
That’s been especially true at ASUN programs Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida, which have lost some of their biggest stars of the past several years to programs in the SEC, ACC and Big 12.
“It’s turning into travel ball,” said Ospreys senior pitcher Clayton Boroski. “If they don’t like the coach they just up and leave and try to find a better opportunity.”
That’s why the JU and UNF coaches appreciate a handful of seniors who stayed at those respective schools for their entire college careers.
“When they stay, they’re staying because they love this place and they know this is the right place for them,” said Dolphins coach Chris Hayes. “It’s not about the money for them, it’s about the right fit, the right environment, the right experience.”
UNF coach Joe Mercadante said the transfer portal trend in college sports reflects a larger picture.
“It’s just today’s society and where the game is right now,” he said. “Guys are constantly moving around, trying to find the opportunity that best fits them, instead of staying somewhere and learning through some adversity.”
JU right fielder Blake DeLamielleure has been through as much of that adversity as anyone, playing on one conference championship team, on others with losing records and missing all but two games of the 2024 season with a hip injury.
He had almost an entire season to consider going elsewhere. DeLamielleure also watched former high school and college teammate Justin Nadeau transfer to Florida and five JU pitchers go elsewhere, with Evan Chrest and Payton Prescott landing at Florida State — where his cousin Brody DeLamielleure plays.
Blake DeLamielleure had every reason to transfer.
He rejected them all and will go out wearing the same uniform he was issued as a freshman.
“This is my home,” he said.
JU, UNF celebrate loyal seniors
Jacksonville has six seniors who have played for the Dolphins their entire college careers: DeLameilleure, pitchers Richard Long (a Clay graduate), Layton Perry and Blake Barquin, catcher/first baseman Josh Steidl and outfielder Clayton Hodges (Episcopal).
North Florida has two, outfielder Drew Leinenbach and Boroski.
In almost every case, their decision to stay is justified, from a personal and a team standpoint.
Jacksonville (29-16, 15-6) is second in the ASUN’s Graphite Division behind Stetson and has the third-best conference mark and third-best overall record, behind Stetson and Gold Division leader Austin Peay. The Dolphins have already clinched a spot in the ASUN Tournament and are on an eight-game ASUN winning streak entering this weekend’s series at Queens.
North Florida (22-22, 10-11) has already won more games than last season and is one more victory away from matching its total of conference victories in 2024.
After a slow start, DeLamielleure is batting .278 with five homers and team-high totals of 45 RBI and 11 doubles. He’s also just as daring on the basepaths as he ever was, despite the season-ending injury last season when he was trying to go from first to third on a hit, and has stolen 20 bases in 22 attempts.
Long is in the conversation for a second ASUN Pitcher of the Year award and is 7-3 with a 2.88 ERA, two complete games and an opponent batting average of .183.
Steidl is hitting .306 with six homers and 30 RBI, Hodges, who has been injured and missed 12 games, is batting .131, Barquin is 3-3 on the mound and Perry is 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA in nine appearances.
Leinenbach is batting .268 for the Ospreys with three homers and 21 RBI and Boroski is 1-0 with a 3.98 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in 15 games.
“Those guys who stayed with us bleed green and gold,” Hayes said. “It’s easy for me to root for those guys. They’ve earned every opportunity they’re getting .”
Mercadante had similar feelings about Leinenbach and Boroski.
“Those two guys stayed here, bought into it and have worked extremely hard,” he said. “They’re giving us everything they’ve got.”
Blake DeLamielleure, Richard Long part of a ‘brotherhood’
Blake DeLamielleure didn’t hold any pity parties when he missed almost all of the 2024 season, a year after he led the Dolphins in hitting (.302), doubles (15), stolen bases (14 of 16) and added six homers and 40 RBI.
Instead, he completed his degree in finance, rehabbed and left no doubt he’d return.
“Not at all, when DeLamielleure was asked if it was a difficult decision. “This school always wanted me, and this is the place I wanted to be since I was a freshman in high school. I love Chris and I love this program.”
DeLamielleure said he’s not going to second-guess the decision his former teammates made in transferring but isn’t going to deny he wasn’t dismayed at their departure.
“Ultimately, it’s up to them,” he said. “You’re disappointed but yeah, it’s definitely their decision.”
Long said he had some inner turmoil about so many players on the pitching staff transferring. But he said his faith sustained him as he decided to return to JU.
“I battled that for a while,” he said. “I’m a big faith-based guy and I viewed it as more than baseball. The brothers I had here, the community, the education I’ve gotten … I couldn’t put a price value on leaving here.”
Long’s father Richard said some teams put out feelers for his son but in the end, the family viewed his senior season as a chance to finish a stellar career with the Dolphins.
“It’s a brotherhood on this team with the guys who stayed,” Long said. “They’re very high on faith and believe if you work hard and you can accomplish anything.”
A UNF family and small-town values
Clayton Boroski didn’t have difficulty maintaining his allegiance to UNF. The lines between family and the university had long since blurred and leaving school might have been the same as leaving his family.
“My sister graduated from UNF … I feel like if you made a decision out of high school to go to a program and play for four years, you should honor that.”
Leinenbach is from Dunnellon and said the values he learned then kept him at UNF.
“I’m from a small town and I was taught to finish what you start,” he said.
Boroski and Leinenbach also faced a difficult situation after their sophomore seasons. Their coach, Tim Parenton, died of cancer. Other teammates such as Lodise (FSU), Aidan Sweatt (Liberty) and Austin Brinling (South Carolina) departed but both gave Mercadante a chance to sell his vision.
“Really it took just one phone call,” Leinenbach said. “He told me we were going to win the ASUN. I could tell in his voice that he truly believed it. He said he was going to get the guys in here to win it, so I believed it.”
Leinenbach admitted he almost entered the portal after Parenton died. But as with Boroski, he gave Mercadante a chance.
“Once they got here, they made me believe in them,” he said.
Clayton Boroski: ‘a dying breed’
Hardly anyone thinks the stream of mid-major players going to the SEC or ACC when they become stars is going to dwindle to a trickle anytime soon.
“We’re going to be a dying breed, for sure,” Boroski said of players who play all four years at the same mid-major school.
And what of the coaches? Hayes, Mercadante and other mid-major coaches didn’t sign up to develop talent for Florida or Florida State. There is chatter that future NIL agreements might require a major college to kick back a development fee of some kind to a player’s former school or, as Albany basketball coach Dwayne Killings has suggested, a model patterned after the NBA G League.
But for now it’s still the Wild, Wild West and mid-major coaches are spending time recruiting and developing players who may leave as soon as they show more skills.
Neither Hayes nor Mercadante are showing outward signs of being frustrated. Hayes said he builds loyalty by recruiting players as young as freshmen in high school and will develop them to the best of his and his staff’s ability and using the same guidelines.
“I hope guys continue to see and understand how special this environment is,” he said. “This is a relationship-based environment that believes in development, and every single guy that comes into this program gets better. And they get better because of the investment they have in them, physically, spiritually, emotionally. We’re going to earn [loyalty] and I’m not going to change how we’re going to do things.”
Mercadante said he’s not going to start recruiting players on the assumption he’s only getting a year or two out of them.
“I can’t get caught up too much thinking about the future,” he said. “We’re going to coach each team the best we can and make them understand why they came to UNF, that they’re cared about and we’re going to work for them every single day. You may need to have some tough conversations later [about players transferring] but I can’t coach thinking about that.”
In the meantime, the players say they will enjoy every moment they have left. Each team has nine conference games remaining and the ASUN Tournament will be May 20-25 in DeLand.
“It was worth staying,” Long said. “The brotherhood we have is inseparable and the relationships I’ve built at JU will last forever. That’s the most important thing to me.”
“We have a ton of baseball left,” said Leinenbach. “Three weeks, and maybe more. I’m not worried about anything except winning.”
How are JU, UNF transfers faring at new schools?
2025 statistics are for games played through May 1
- Alex Lodise (UNF): Leading Florida State in most offensive categories and starting at shortstop. Lodise, a Bartram Trail graduate, is hitting .440 with 14 homers and 53 RBI.
- Justin Nadeau (JU): Has played second base and outfield for the Florida Gators, hitting .293 with three homers and 18 RBI.
- Peyton Prescott (JU): 3-0 record and 6.31 ERA in 18 games for Florida State.
- Evan Chrest (JU): 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight games for Florida State.
- Isaac Williams (JU): 0-1 with an 8.00 ERA in 12 games for UCF.
- Aidan Sweatt (UNF): Hit .274 with five homers and 39 RBI in 61 games for Liberty in 2024.
- Austin Brinling (UNF): Hit .303 in 33 games for South Carolina in 2024.
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