CROOKSTON, Minn. - Baseball is a brotherhood. Whether it was through the trials faced during back-to-back one win seasons or the joys faced with setting program records for overall and conference wins, four UMC baseball players have stuck together through it all. That is a testament to their character and work ethic, which has paid dividends with the Golden Eagles' performance on the baseball diamond during their senior campaigns.

Trevor Buttermore (Sr., RHP, North St. Paul, Minn.), Ryan Haggstrom (Sr., 1B, Apple Valley, Minn.), Marcus Campbell (Sr., RHP, St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and Colton Haight (Sr., C/OF, Rogers, Minn.). All arrived to Crookston four years ago. All four from different backgrounds. One, Marcus, who started college as a punter of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls football team. Another, Ryan, who had played a limited role as a senior for the Apple Valley East View High School baseball team. And then Colton and Trevor, who weren't recruited hard by many programs, but found a chance to continue playing for the Golden Eagles.

But from that first day, a bond was formed between four of the 12 Golden Eagle seniors, who will play their final home games at UMC Baseball Field Fri., May 6 and Sat., May 7 against Northern State University. The four that have been at UMC for the last four seasons.

"The four of us have a deep bond," Buttermore said. "You come to college and you meet people and you come back for the next season and you feel like you have known them for years, even though you have only known them for a year. It is even more for teammates and we have also been roommates, as well. We all struggled our first couple of years. As young players in the NSIC it is never easy learning things the hard way. Now it has definitely been great to see everyone have a little bit more success and seeing the transition. You work out for four years, practice together for four years and get in individual work for four years and you finally see it pay off. It feels really good."

Through their first two years, it wasn't an easy road. As the Golden Eagles went 2-89. At times it was tough, but it was the love of baseball and the bond they had made as teammates that kept Trevor, Colton, Marcus and Ryan together.

"The love for the game definitely was the underlying factor for us sticking it out," Buttermore said. "You think of what it takes as a college baseball player to get ready for the season, especially when you add in the academic side of it. We do everything that other teams do. We do early lifting, late practices and school work. Then you add in the tough season. The love of the game is definitely what sparked everything and kept us going here. It kept everything alive for us and inside our hearts to play."

The tide started to turn for the Golden Eagles in June of 2014 when East Grand Forks High School product Steve Gust was hired from Dakota Wesleyan University to take over a struggling Golden Eagle program. The four guys didn't know at first how it would turn out, but it quickly became apparent with the attention to detail and work ethic preached by Coach Gust and his staff, that anything could be attainable.

"Paying attention to detail is probably the biggest thing that I have learned from Coach Gust since he first arrived here," Haight said. "These days everyone focuses on wins and losses but no one really focuses on the process and what it takes to get there. Paying attention to all of the little things it takes to get to the wins is what I have really learned from Coach Gust."

"I definitely thought that we could improve as a program prior to Coach Gust arriving," Buttermore said. "What Coach Gust did though was show us the extra mile that it takes to get there. It is something that I have had in mind all four years, but it is another thing to see what it actually takes to get there. It is a whole other level of hard work and holding yourself accountable and doing it all as a team. I definitely thought that if we were able to do that from the get-go that it would be possible. I could foresee it, we just weren't able to put everything together. We finally have started to but we still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of games ahead of us with tough opponents. Hopefully we can keep our work ethic where it has been and try to get better."

The Golden Eagles have made an amazing transition under Coach Gust. In under two years, Minnesota Crookston has won 37 games. They have set school records for wins and conference wins. UMC swept Winona State University to open conference season in 2016, marking the first sweep of an NSIC team in three or more games. The Golden Eagles have set themselves up in good position, just one win from clinching their first trip to the NSIC Baseball Tournament since 2001. With six games left, Minnesota Crookston sits in fourth place, behind athletic powers University of Minnesota Duluth, Augustana University and St. Cloud State University. Schools with more scholarships and in most cases larger student bodies, but that hasn't prevented the success the Golden Eagles have found.

What it has taken comes back to work ethic. With the success they have found, UMC will start getting in better talents, but at the end of the day it will always come back to the work and effort they put in every day to help the success of their teammates and the program.

"I want all of the young players that we are playing with to recognize the hard work and the way that we play the game and be able to apply that to their own games and carry that forward," Haggstrom said. "Now we are starting to get guys that are a lot more talented. If they come with the same drive and work ethic that we have, the sky is really the limit for them."

While Haight, Buttermore, Haggstrom and Campbell will always remember their first two years and how it brought them together, they are focusing on clearing their mind and focusing day-to-day and game-by-game on getting better and helping the program achieve its goals.

"Starting with a new program, it has been important to clear your mind and not focus on what we did the two previous years before Coach Gust was here," Campbell said. "It has also been important to leave everything else off the field. Once we are on the baseball field, it is all about baseball."

Another key that the four 4-year seniors have found to their success, has been how Coach Gust has always had their backs, since day one, when he had little knowledge of who these guys were and where they came from.

"The other day I was talking to him and I told him that he is doing a tremendous job and it is incredible what he is doing here," Buttermore said. "What I meant by that is how he sticks up for his players. He sticks up for every one of us. He knew that in order for us to achieve our goals, he was going to have to stand up for us. He did that without any of us asking. He has also continued to push us hard. Sometimes you view that negatively but at the end of the day, he is just trying to better us. Once you realize that, you can really see what you are capable of and what your teammates are capable of."

On Saturday, the Golden Eagles will take to UMC Baseball Field for the last time in their careers. While it will probably not be the last time Trevor, Colton, Ryan and Marcus play baseball, and maybe not even the last time this season with a playoff berth within reach, it will be the last time on their home dirt. A lot of emotions will be going through their heads as they take the field for the last time with their brothers by their side.

"It is for sure going to be a lot of emotions. I know that I am going to be emotional. I will probably shed a lot of tears," Haight said. "The nice thing about baseball is that I can play after college, whether it is amateurs or wherever it may be. It will be the last time that I get to play with these guys, so I will have a lot of emotions going through my head."

"It is going to be tough because you don't have the same bonds with guys when you play in summer leagues," Haggstrom said. "It is truly a band of brothers. It will be really emotional. There definitely will be crying."

"I spend so much time with these guys, whether it is on the road or practices," Campbell said. "We wake up at 5 a.m. and practice at night doesn't get over until 8 p.m. You spend a lot of time with the guys and get to know them personally and it is a family. Once you are done playing it will be hard to transition from here to working every day. It will be different but being away from these guys will be hard. It will be very emotional on my last day."

"I definitely expect to shed a few tears," Buttermore said. "My last game in high school I definitely shed a lot of tears and I knew that I had a chance to play. College is a different feeling with the bonds you create with other guys. That is really what makes it a sad moment is just that everyone has gotten so close throughout the season and throughout our careers here and it will definitely be an emotional time."

While their baseball careers will soon come to an end, all four 4-year guys will find success upon graduation. Buttermore will join former teammate Jesse Jennings in law school at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Campbell is looking forward to a career working on a grounds crew for a professional baseball team. Haggstrom will go into accounting, while Haight looks to follow in the footsteps of his coach and dreams of being a college baseball coach.

While it is almost over, the four 4-year seniors have a lot to play for, along with their other eight senior teammates and the rest of the team. They have a lot more marks to set and a lot more firsts to accomplish. These four gentlemen have come a long way from the Fall of 2012 when they first arrived from Crookston. From 2-89 to on the cusp of the program's first berth in the NSIC tournament since 2001. They have done it together. They have done it as a family. They have done it as brothers. A bond that will never die, even when they take off the Maroon and Gold uniform and unlace their cleats. The bond these brothers have formed will live on.