The third ranked University of Denver lacrosse team took to the practice field for the very first time of 2018 season on Wednesday night.
The Pioneers were two wins away from another national championship last season which has added extra motivation for this season. There's a lot of excitement surrounding 2018 but most of the attention on this night was surrounding Trevor Baptiste and his invitation to play for the U.S. National team in July in Israel.
Baptiste isn't the only Pioneer who will be representing the Stars and Stripes this year. Troy Terry will play for Team USA in the Olympics in hockey. Both Terry and Baptiste will be the youngest players on their teams, in fact Baptiste is the only college player on the lacrosse team and admits he's been teased a little about it.
"There was this song playing in warmups and they're like oh we used to listen to this in college and I was like I used to listen to this when I was nine years old, " said Baptiste.
DU head coach Bill Tierney is almost as excited for this honor for Trevor as Baptiste himself is, a well deserved honor.
"I've been in this college business for 36 years and Trevor is in the top two or three of the young men I've ever been around," said Tierney.
DU begins their season February 10 against Air Force while the World Championships will take place July 12-21. It's going to be a busy 2018 for Trevor Baptiste.
