High School Baseball

First, a little disappointment, Rummel lost to Jesuit in the Division I state championship game last night, played in Sulphur. But, during the radio broadcast, which I listened to, they said that Rummel's up and coming superstar Gavin Nicks has committed to Tech. He's only a sophomore. He emerged from nowhere and now bats 4th in the lineup because he has HR power and drives in runs.

But... being realistic, and understanding what it means to be a Tech fan, I doubt very seriously he keeps this commitment to Tech. He's got two more years of HS baseball to play and if he continues to grow and develop like he has this year, every school in the nation will be courting him, including LSU of course.

With the new recruiting contact rules that just came out, we should see a lot fewer of these early commitments, but like everything else in college sports, schools and coaches will find ways around it. There are incoming HS freshmen that have P5 commitments now.

Speaking of high school baseball....does anyone have details on what happened in the Barbe/West Monroe state championship game?

I caught the last few seconds of a radio interview with Sim a few days ago where he said the Barbe coach called him to apologize.

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Originally Posted by The Historian

Speaking of high school baseball....does anyone have details on what happened in the Barbe/West Monroe state championship game?

I caught the last few seconds of a radio interview with Sim a few days ago where he said the Barbe coach called him to apologize.

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This is the best info I’ve been able to find: https://www.kplctv.com/2023/05/16/fa...445a5bf1c5ph2c

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Originally Posted by The Historian

Speaking of high school baseball....does anyone have details on what happened in the Barbe/West Monroe state championship game?

I caught the last few seconds of a radio interview with Sim a few days ago where he said the Barbe coach called him to apologize.

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Cecchini and Sim don't like each other. Sim wrote "Ourselves" as the opponent on the lineup card, and Cecchini took offense to that. They exchanged words after the game. Both of those guys have huge egos and think the only team that can be them is themselves.

The top of West Monroe's lineup is pretty incredible: Ole Miss commit Hayden Federico, LSU commit John Pearson, LA Tech commit Trey Hawsey. All three of those guys are juniors and coming back next year, along with sophomore pitcher Drew Ferguson. Ferguson went 10-1 with a 1.22 ERA this season and had Barbe beaten in the championship game when he ran out of gas in the 7th. He was pulled and the wheels fell off. West Monroe also has the top 2025 catcher in Tyler Roark and the top 2026 pitcher in lefty Bradyn Garner, who has already committed to LSU.

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Originally Posted by theprofessor

Cecchini and Sim don't like each other. Sim wrote "Ourselves" as the opponent on the lineup card, and Cecchini took offense to that. They exchanged words after the game. Both of those guys have huge egos and think the only team that can be them is themselves.

The top of West Monroe's lineup is pretty incredible: Ole Miss commit Hayden Federico, LSU commit John Pearson, LA Tech commit Trey Hawsey. All three of those guys are juniors and coming back next year, along with sophomore pitcher Drew Ferguson. Ferguson went 10-1 with a 1.22 ERA this season and had Barbe beaten in the championship game when he ran out of gas in the 7th. He was pulled and the wheels fell off. West Monroe also has the top 2025 catcher in Tyler Roark and the top 2026 pitcher in lefty Bradyn Garner, who has already committed to LSU.

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For what it's worth, Federico is the only one of those mentioned that doesn't appear to have re-classed. I know it's becoming a popular thing to do with athletes these days (and maybe I'm biased having a young 2026), but it just doesn't sit well with me.

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Originally Posted by Dowty

For what it's worth, Federico is the only one of those mentioned that doesn't appear to have re-classed. I know it's becoming a popular thing to do with athletes these days (and maybe I'm biased having a young 2026), but it just doesn't sit well with me.

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Fed is also the only one of those guys who didn't grow up in West Monroe. West Monroe has made a killing off having 19-year-olds playing against 16- and 17-year-olds for years. They used to have a whole class of boys who would hold back in 8th grade. When the LHSAA made that illegal, it just happens earlier and earlier these days.

I remember a couple of years ago when I was coaching at Pineville, we played against them in football with their freshman sensation Slade Bolden at QB. He looked really good for a freshman. That's because he was nearing his 16th birthday already. We had a kid who was playing as a 13-year-old freshman, while Bolden was nearly 16 as a freshman. It makes a huge difference.

Right…Slade was successful in the SEC because he had the perfect birthday according to the LHSAA. You remain the same dumb ass you were many years ago. Let’s go Brandon!

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Right…Slade was successful in the SEC because he had the perfect birthday according to the LHSAA. You remain the same dumb ass you were many years ago. Let’s go Brandon!

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LOL. Of course the point went totally over your head. Slade was a great athlete. He's probably not the starting QB at West Monroe as a 14-year-old freshman. I enjoyed watching him play. Thought he'd be a better player at Bama than he was. We'll see if he can stick around the NFL as long as Trent Taylor has.

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Originally Posted by theprofessor

LOL. Of course the point went totally over your head. Slade was a great athlete. He's probably not the starting QB at West Monroe as a 14-year-old freshman. I enjoyed watching him play. Thought he'd be a better player at Bama than he was. We'll see if he can stick around the NFL as long as Trent Taylor has.

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He was not the starting QB at WM as a 15 year old freshman. I suppose they may have started him against Pineville for obvious reasons. It's not at all unusual for 15 year old freshman to be playing football in the LHSAA. It's not unusual for a 19 year old to play as a senior in the LHSAA. More fun to pile on WM right?

I never said he'd be successful in the NFL. I said he was successful in the SEC.

Back to WM-Barbe.
Both coaches are high-octane on talent and aggression. Simoneaux is not as high maintenance in constant interaction with the umpiring crews.
The only changes that need to be made at Sulphur are all-turf fields (add to outfields) and larger dugouts. Seating is enormously adequate for those South La matchups in all divisions.
The larger dugouts are necessary for all the plentiful coaching staffs who roam the areas outside the dugouts.
Cecchini and his heir apparent assistant coaching son are very hyper, hence the motivational ploys activated. (BTW, Simoneaux's lineup card ploy was employed two rounds (vs. Fontainbleau-game 2) prior to Sulphur.
If I were a promoter I'd book Barbe-WM in a two-game regular season series next season. Once at McNeese. The other at NLULM.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

He was not the starting QB at WM as a 15 year old freshman. I suppose they may have started him against Pineville for obvious reasons. It's not at all unusual for 15 year old freshman to be playing football in the LHSAA. It's not unusual for a 19 year old to play as a senior in the LHSAA. More fun to pile on WM right?

I never said he'd be successful in the NFL. I said he was successful in the SEC.

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15 isn't all that unusual, but some of these freshmen are 16 years old during baseball season now. The Garner kid mentioned earlier is very talented for sure, but he's also 16 and 6 months as a 2026; my 2026 will be 15 next month. Makes a huge difference.

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Originally Posted by Dowty

15 isn't all that unusual, but some of these freshmen are 16 years old during baseball season now. The Garner kid mentioned earlier is very talented for sure, but he's also 16 and 6 months as a 2026; my 2026 will be 15 next month. Makes a huge difference.

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Maybe it does for for the Garner athlete, but that doesn’t mean he would not have been great 12 months ago. The guy we have playing CF was Mr Baseball in Louisiana his Sr year and signed with lsu. How is that working out? Has NOTHING to do with how old he was when he was a senior.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Maybe it does for for the Garner athlete, but that doesn’t mean he would not have been great 12 months ago. The guy we have playing CF was Mr Baseball in Louisiana his Sr year and signed with lsu. How is that working out? Has NOTHING to do with how old he was when he was a senior.

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That extra year makes a huge difference when the kids are still growing. Take a kid who's already talented in his own right, hold him back a year to get bigger, stronger, and faster, and match him up against teams where some of the kids are just hitting puberty and the overwhelming majority of them don't have the talent to sniff the next level. What do you think is going to happen?

It's a HUGE step up from HS baseball to college, just like it's a HUGE step up from college to the pros. First round picks bust out all the time, just like the guys at the top of the HS ranks who never do well in college. Do you know how many #1 overall picks are in the hall of fame?

5A Baseball sees 90+ a lot. Please don’t compare the transition from 5A/College to College/MLB.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

He was not the starting QB at WM as a 15 year old freshman. I suppose they may have started him against Pineville for obvious reasons. It's not at all unusual for 15 year old freshman to be playing football in the LHSAA. It's not unusual for a 19 year old to play as a senior in the LHSAA. More fun to pile on WM right?

I never said he'd be successful in the NFL. I said he was successful in the SEC.

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You do see 18-year old seniors on the football field in their senior season. It's not unusual, but I wouldn't say it's the norm.

One example: I was told that when STM won its first state championship in 2017 that entering the season they had one 18-year old senior on the roster along with two seniors that were still 16. The administrator who gave me that info said that the Catholic schools in south Louisiana had similar numbers. Even John Curtis, in the past decade, has had far fewer 18 and 19-year olds than in previous decades.

Also, Nic Brown was on Fox's afternoon drive show in Ruston a few weeks ago. He indicated the LHSAA was going back to allowing the hold back decision to be made in the 8th grade. For more than a decade the decision to hold a student back in junior high had to be made in either the 5th or 6th grade. That dramatically curtailed the hold backs at West Monroe and John Curtis.

It made very little difference at WM. That rule has been around for 20 years or more. 99% of WM “hold back” decisions were made in 1st grade. You got some bad stats. FWIW WM has had many 16 year olds playing football as a senior.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

It made very little difference at WM. That rule has been around for 20 years or more. 99% of WM “hold back” decisions were made in 1st grade. You got some bad stats. FWIW WM has had many 16 year olds playing football as a senior.

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