HAMMOND, La. – Six years into the Matt Riser era, the native of Picayune, Mississippi has established Southeastern Louisiana Baseball as an NCAA postseason-caliber program.
 
The Lions' year-in, year-out consistency brings with it a Top-75 ranking by D1Baseball in their biennial program rankings published earlier this fall.
 
"That's one thing that we really hang our hat on as a program, the consistency model," Riser said. "I think we've garnered a lot of respect in this business because of the year-in, year-out. We graduate good players and send good players into the MLB Draft or on to the professional ranks, but the next year we've reloaded and are ready to go.
 
"There hasn't been a rebuild year," Riser said. "Every single year we're playing for championships and postseason play. That's a testament to our coaching staff, identifying the right players, but also the players that buy in to being a Lion. It's a testament to the guys that were brought into this program and laid the foundation for the past decade, coming in humble, hardworking and with the selfless mindset that they're here to win championships and get a degree."
 
Looking to "identify the programs in the best shape right now, with an eye toward the next five to 10 years," D1Baseball tabbed the Lions as their No. 66-ranked program. Southeastern ranks ahead of several high-profile schools like Alabama, Maryland, Missouri, Southern Cal, Tennessee and Virginia Tech, and 19 Power-5 programs overall. The Lions sit second in the Southland Conference and third in the state of Louisiana, ahead of both Tulane and Louisiana Tech.
 
"Southeastern has been arguably the most consistent program in the Southland since Matt Riser took over as head coach before the 2014 season," Aaron Fitt wrote in his assessment of the program. "The Lions continue to identify and develop talent ably, and they have a nice baseball following and a fun gameday atmosphere. Southeastern figures to continue to compete for Southland championships for years to come."
 
During Riser's six seasons at the helm of the Southeastern program, the Lions have generated 17 Major League draft picks, nine All-Americans, three conference players of the year, a conference pitcher of the year, two conference relief pitchers of the year, three national players of the week and the best RPI in the history of the Southland Conference.
 
In the classroom, Southeastern leads the Southland with 150 players named to the conference honor roll, 23 Southland All-Academic performers, two CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and a program-record 3.31 GPA. The Lions' graduation success rate (GSR) stands at 90 percent while finding time to complete more than 5,000 community service hours, far and away the most of any Southland program.
 
Recent partnerships are aimed at growing those numbers. Equipment, including custom bats and gloves, are produced by homegrown Marucci Sports. On the development front, coaches and players now have endless data at their fingertips thanks to partnerships with FlightScope, Yakkertech and BaseballCloud.
 
"We want to stay on our current trajectory," Riser said. More than a decade ago this program sat around .500 and Coach [Jay] Artigues did an excellent job of instilling a winning culture that I wanted to be part of. Winning games and then championships, it has kept these guys hungry. We've reminded our guys this fall, don't ruin the foundation that has been laid before you. Take it and continue to build upon the success we've had."

DIAMOND CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the baseball program are encouraged to join the Diamond Club. Lion baseball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Diamond Club and S Club (baseball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern baseball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lions Baseball, follow @LionUpBaseball or @MattRiser17 on Twitter, @LionUpBaseball on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.