Blankenship travels from the beach to cheer on the Pilots
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — LSU-Shreveport head basketball coach Kyle Blankenship might be the baseball team's biggest fan.
The Pilot baseball team is fresh off an unbeaten National Championship season.
Blankenship started the World Series in Florida, on vacation with his family. He jumped on a plane and flew across the country to Lewiston, Idaho to support his friend and colleague Brad Neffendorf and the Pilots as they won the National Title.
Perfect season, 1st national championship for undeafeated LSU Shreveport
At the National Championship celebration, Neffendorf spoke fondly on his relationship with his basketball counterpart.
'I think ever since I've gotten here our families have hit it off,' said Neffendorf. We're in full support of each others programs, our guys go to every one of his games and his guys come out and watch ours.'
In Neffendorf's tenure at LSUS, the Pilots are 3-0 in Lewiston with Blankenship in attendance.
'Kyle brought to my attention today, he's undefeated in Lewiston,' said Neffendorf. 'As far as I'm concerned he's got to be with us with a special assignment or assistant coach it doesn't matter.'
Shreveport celebrates LSUS perfect ending, historic season
Upon returning to Florida and rejoining his family on vacation, Blankenship posted a video to social media congratulating the baseball team on an historic season.
'Well I'm not in Idaho anymore but the flags are still flying purple and gold here in Florida baby' said Blankenship while showing the beach's yellow and purple flags for the gulf's water conditions. 'Congrats to LSUS Baseball on your history making, record setting 59-0 NAIA World Series National Championship. Let's go Pilots.'
Blankenship traveled over 5,000 miles to essentially be in two places at once.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Newsweek
3 hours ago
- Newsweek
Nationals Executive Responds To Manager Dave Martinez's Comments
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Washington Nationals' season has taken a turn even farther south than the team was expecting, and manager Dave Roberts made comments blaming the players after the team dropped its 10th straight game. General manager Mike Rizzo resisted commenting -- until Wednesday, during his radio spot on 106.7 The Fan. WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 16: Manager Dave Martinez #4 of the Washington Nationals looks on from the dugout during the sixth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Nationals Park on June 16, 2025 in Washington,... WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 16: Manager Dave Martinez #4 of the Washington Nationals looks on from the dugout during the sixth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Nationals Park on June 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. More Photo by"There's onus on the players, there's onus on the coaches, there's onus on the manager and there's great onus on the general manager to do a better job," Rizzo said during the interview, as transcribed by Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic. While there is not one specific reason for the Nationals' poor play, Rizzo is up to take accountability and say that the organization needs to reflect after an abysmal stretch. The Nationals' offense has been the league's worst in run scoring in June, scoring only 42 runs. Meanwhile, the pitching has not been much help either, ranking 24th in Major League Baseball in ERA during the month. Martinez did manage the Nationals to their only World Series victory in franchise history, but may have inadvertently turned the heat up on his seat following his comments and the team's poor stretch of seasons recently. Rizzo's comments are far from a fix to their situation, but if the general manager is saying that the organization needs to look at itself and find the issue, then Martinez's time at the top step of the Nationals dugout may be running out. More MLB: Will Rafael Devers Trade Trigger Avalanche of Moves Before Trade Deadline?


USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
FanDuel posts odds for MSU football to go undefeated this upcoming season
FanDuel posts odds for MSU football to go undefeated this upcoming season See how much FanDuel is offering to pay out should the Spartans do the unthinkable and win every game on their 2025 schedule Do you think there's even a remote chance of Michigan State football running the table and going undefeated this year? If so, then there's a bet you can take that'll pay you a pretty penny if it hits. FanDuel Sportsbook has released betting odds for notable teams in the Big Ten that could in theory go undefeated during the 2025 regular season. Believe it or not, there were odds posted for the Spartans and it would pay out a huge profit should it somehow hit. Michigan State football going undefeated is listed at +23000 on FanDuel. This means if you were to bet $100 and it hit, you'd walk away with $23,000. That's quite the payday -- which of course would mean quite the unthinkable would have to happen. Michigan State comes into this season with a win total over/under of 5.5 so the oddsmakers clearly think the Spartans are more of a fringe bowl team than a National Championship contender. To no surprise, I would agree with those oddsmakers and wouldn't recommend putting actual faith in taking this bet, but hey, anything is possible I suppose. Michigan State will kickoff the 2025 season on Friday, August 29 against Western Michigan. The season-opener against the Broncos is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on FS1. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.


Boston Globe
6 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Red Sox are trying to sell that Devers trade was in ‘best interest' of team. Sorry, not buying, and other thoughts.
Devers had to go. That's what the Red Sox want you to believe. Advertisement So he's gone. To the Giants. For a bag of baseballs. And payroll flexibility (I'm eager to hear when fans are getting their dividend checks from Fenway Sports Group). According to Spotrac, the once, top-spending Boston Red Sox have dropped to 19th in active player payroll. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Sox ownership just pulled off an amazing magic trick. With a lot of help from Devers (in all seriousness, Devers behaved like a baby and was a lousy teammate at the end), folks who run the Red Sox managed to get out from under a contract they hated, move a top talent to the other league, got virtually zero help for 2025, yet generate applause from a lot of you who just wanted to get rid of Devers. Advertisement Maybe the Sox should have done this with Manny Ramirez when he was causing all those problems before the Sox won those World Series in 2004 and 2007. Here's a sample from my inbox after the deal went down Sunday night: My take is he was wholly unlikable as a whining $32 million player who refused to play the infield when needed. He's unlikable so nobody cares . . . A bad apple like him needs to go . . . This is addition by subtraction. Hear Devers created bad vibes in the dugout/clubhouse . . . All my sports fanatic friends and family are celebrating Devers's exit. We're so happy to see him go, along with the $250 million he's owed . . . Do you really want Anthony and Mayer to be in the locker room, listening to Devers sounding off? . . . Most of the times he hits when it doesn't count that much . . . The franchise established the principle that no one is above the team . . . The Sox have rid themselves of a daily toxic anchor . . . The team is better today . . . Devers is a fat, out-of-shape, cheeks-bulging-with-tobacco, lackadaisical, uncaring slob . . . I never liked this guy, constantly spitting . . . I'm glad he's gone. His manners were disgusting . . . The Sox unloaded a cancer on the team. There were dozens more just like these. At times, I felt like I was reading the comments under my own columns. John Henry (who also owns the Globe), Tom Werner, Sam Kennedy, Craig Breslow, and Co. have to be ecstatic with this fan reaction. They didn't get this kind of support when they wouldn't pay Jon Lester, Mookie Betts, or Xander Bogaerts. Advertisement Devers delivered for FSG. Bigly. After the deal went down, we heard from David Ortiz (listed as team 'special assistant' at the top of the Red Sox front office directory), who suddenly recalled that Devers never answers his calls and texts, adding, 'You employees, go against the check-signer. See if you are going to last two days. I did everything they told me to, and today I'm earning a lifetime salary from the Red Sox . . . ' Wow. Could these be the words of the same guy who asked to be traded by the Sox in 2003, who took his bat to a water cooler when Terry Francona pinch hit for him in Toronto in 2010, who disrupted a Francona press conference to complain about official scoring, who almost harmed his teammates destroying a dugout phone in Baltimore, who just about annually complained about his contract? The Sox also leaked 'new' information that Devers was in Campbell's ear, telling the kid not to take grounders at first — a report that Alex Cora snuffed out quickly Tuesday in Seattle. Unlike Papi, Pedro Martinez (also a special assistant on the Red Sox masthead), supported Devers, telling MLB Network, 'If you try to sell to me . . . that Raffy is a bad teammate or he is not a team player, you're lying. You're going to tell me he's a bad influence in the clubhouse? He's not . . . This should have been in the hands of baseball people, not front office people. Not leaking it to the media.' Advertisement The Papi and Pedro remarks came after Remembering that Henry and Werner Kennedy: 'It was a baseball trade because we did what we felt was in the best interest of the Red Sox, on and off the field to win championships and to continue to ferociously and relentlessly pursue a culture that we want everyone in that clubhouse to embody . . . so yeah, it was a baseball trade without question.' Breslow: 'I would echo that. With the quality of the return, we're going to see how that plays out over the next several years . . . I do think that at the end of the season we're looking back and we've won more games than we otherwise would have won.' I also asked if the Giants' willingness to assume the entire balance of Devers's contract was a condition of making the deal. 'No,' said Breslow. 'We were trying to improve the long- and short-term outlooks. We were trying to provide some additional roster flexibility. And we were trying to make the best baseball trade that we could.' Sorry, guys. Not buying. I'm not convinced that this was anything other than a salary dump made palatable to Red Sox Nation only because Devers turned the fan base against him. This was a bad baseball deal, and it may motivate Alex Bregman and Scott Boras to opt out. But it's great for FSG's bottom line. 'This in no way signifies a waving of the white flag in 2025,' said Breslow. Advertisement Swell. One night after those remarks, the Red Sox were shut out on two hits by the Mariners, while Devers went 2 for 5 with an RBI double Even though they're having trouble scoring runs, the Red Sox go into this weekend in San Francisco ('Hello, there, Raffy.') having won four consecutive series, two games over .500, and very much in the hunt for a phony wild-card spot. The illusion of contention is alive and well in Boston. But if Devers homers against the Sox, look for WBZ-TV to bring back Bob Lobel, then have him cut to the highlights and ask, 'Why can't we get players like that?' ⋅ Quiz: 1. Name one championship-round MVP (and his team) that came from the losing side in the NBA, the NFL, and MLB; 2. Name five NBA players to lead the postseason in total assists four or more times (answers below). ⋅ Memo to Joe Mazzulla: The Oklahoma City Thunder took only 16 3-pointers and made only three in their 111-104 Game 4 victory over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. ⋅ Maybe folks who run the WNBA think it's good for business to allow jealous Advertisement Fever star Caitlin Clark continues to absorb rough treatment in the WNBA. Michael Conroy/Associated Press ⋅ Poor Canada. Another year. Another no Stanley Cup. The last team from Trump's 51st state to win the Cup was the Canadiens in 1993. The Edmonton Oilers were unable to end the Stanley Cup drought of Canadian teams. Nathan Denette/Associated Press ⋅ It saddens me that we won't get to see Garrett Crochet pitch to Aaron Judge again until August. The duel reminded one of my readers of 21-year-old Dodgers righthander Bob Welch's dramatic, nine-pitch matchup vs. Reggie Jackson in the 1978 World Series. It was strength against strength, with Welch ultimately fanning Reggie, as Mr. October corkscrewed himself into the batter's box missing strike three. A few days later, Jackson hit a 900-foot home run off Welch when the Yankees won the Series in Game 6. ⋅ With Devers gone, Tanner Houck — who first pitched for Boston during the no-fans pandemic season of 2020 — becomes the longest-tenured member of the Red Sox. Devers was the last remaining member of the 2018 world champs. Pitcher Tanner Houck is now the longest-tenured member of the Red Sox. Jim Davis/Associated Press ⋅ This space has roughed up Kiké Hernández for his hot doggery through the years, but kudos to the Dodger utilityman for being one of the few professional athletes to publicly speak out against the present administration's immigration/deportation playbook.' . . . ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity, and human rights,' Hernandez wrote last weekend on X. ⋅ Had a nice visit with Bob Cousy at his Worcester home earlier this month. The Cooz will be 97 in August, and like the rest of you was surprised that the Celtics bowed out early in the playoffs. Cousy is one of 14 living members of the Holy Cross Class of 1950. ⋅ Friends of ESPN legend Chris Berman celebrated his 70th birthday this past week at The Greatest Bar on Friend Street near the Garden. Those in attendance included Tedy Bruschi, Jim Kelly, Bob Lobel, Adam Schefter, Field Yates, Andrea Kremer, Kenny Mayne, Gary Miller, Max Lane, Alan Miller, and Butch Stearns. ⋅ RIP James Vinick, a Springfield native who died June 10. A passionate supporter of The Jimmy Fund, Vinick dedicated more than 60 years of service to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He commissioned a statue of Dr. Sidney Farber and 'Jimmy' that stands outside the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. ⋅ Quiz answers: 1. NBA — Jerry West (1969 Lakers, Finals loss to Celtics), NFL — Chuck Howley (1971 Cowboys, Super Bowl loss to Colts), MLB — Bobby Richardson (1960 Yankees, World Series loss to Pirates); 2. Magic Johnson (9), Bob Cousy (7), LeBron James (6), John Stockton (5), Rajon Rondo (4). Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at