NEW ORLEANS - The purists will tell you that baseball is a game of underlying complexity.  On the surface the game seems simple enough, but each play has the potential for countless outcomes.  Each pitch involves careful consideration from everyone on the field – not just the pitcher and the batter.  STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) is at the heart of it all.  The Sun Belt Conference will take advantage of these underlying sides of baseball in two educational sessions during the upcoming Sun Belt Baseball Championship in Lafayette, La.
 
With the help of Science of Sport, the College Football Playoff Foundation, and a sponsorship from Humana, an event for Lafayette area elementary and middle school students will be held on Wednesday, May 23 and another session for Lafayette area educators will be held on Thursday, May 24.
 
The student event, open to third through seventh graders, will involve lessons such as the trajectory of ball flight, aerodynamics, reaction time and measuring strike zones.  The event will start at 4 p.m. and continue to 7 p.m. and will be held in the University of Louisiana Leon Moncla Indoor Facility.  Those interested can register by going to https://goo.gl/forms/fDg9VKzz53kYfTR32.
 
The teacher workshop will be held on Thursday, May 24 from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will also take place in the Student-Athlete Performance Center.  This workshop will involve training teachers on STEM topics that will ultimately have an impact on over 1,500 students.  Each teacher will receive a curriculum and a classroom kit that includes all of the baseball and classroom equipment needed to implement STEM lessons.  Those interested can register by going to https://goo.gl/forms/IgWvKJ60wsVKTHjl1.
 
The two Science of Baseball sessions will coincide with the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship that is being held in Lafayette May 22-27.  Louisiana will be hosting the championship at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park.
 
The Sun Belt and Science of Sport have previously hosted student field trips and teacher training workshops for football and basketball.  The sessions were made possible through a grant from the College Football Playoff Foundation.