CCA having fun, cruising to quick start in 2019

The Covenant Christian Academy baseball team is having fun so far in the 2019 season.

Who wouldn’t with the way they’ve been playing?

The Lions are a loose, fun-loving bunch — a talented group that’s rolled to a 13-3 start to the season — the No. 2 team in the state in the Division IV power ranking projections at press-time.

Coach Joe Teuton said this group is tight-knit and fun-loving — a team that’s been fun to be around, both on and off the field.

“The kids have been great,” Teuton said. “They enjoy each other and they’ve put in a lot of work to get to where they are right now. Look, here, we have high goals. No one shies away from that. The expectations are what they are. We’re enjoying playing, competing and kudos to the kids because they’ve put themselves in a great position.”

CCA has a luxury.

Some baseball teams are one-dimensional.

The Lions are anything but.

They can win many different ways — with the combination of offense, defense, pitching, speed and intangibles.

Teuton said the Lions’ order is sound from top-to-bottom — loaded with young men who can do different things to help the team win.

The Lions count on Roth John, Austin Champagne, Cameron Olivier, Channing Holloway, Blaine Boudreaux, Trenton Holloway and others to work through games.

CCA has scored 8 or more runs in 10 of their 16 games — one of the highest-scoring teams in the area.

In a six-game stretch from March 7-March 19, the Lions scored 74 runs. They’ve since had a bit of a dry spell, dropping a couple games last week to St. John and Franklinton, but the team still scores 8.6 runs per game on the year.

Olivier has home run pop and has taken the ball over the fence several times this year. 

“We have good at-bats,” Teuton said. “I think that’s been a big key for us. We work the count, see pitches and when the pitcher makes a mistake, the kids have been good about making them pay. The top of our order sets up the heart of our order, then the bottom of our order has done a nice job setting back up the top and it’s been a good balance for us. We’ve had a lot of production from all of the kids at the plate.”

On the mound, the Lions have also been stout. CCA has just one shutout on the season — a season-opening 2-0 victory against Lakeshore.

But the Lions have been awfully stingy, allowing 4 or fewer runs in 9 of their 16 contests.

Teuton said the success of his pitching staff has been multi-faceted — a combination of his pitchers throwing strikes and his defense making plays to record the routine outs.

Teuton said Caleb Bergeron is one of the team’s top arms with several wins this season.

The Lions also use Adam Jenkins, Roth John, Hunter Coffman and others to get outs — just a handful of names on a pitching staff that Teuton said is as big as he’s had during his time with the Lions.

“We like our arms,” Teuton said. “We feel like we have a lot of guys we can count on to come in and throw strikes and I think if we challenge the opponent to put the ball in play, we play great defense behind our pitchers, which saves runs for us, as well. It’s been a strong suit of our team this season.”

But perhaps more important than the talent on the field is the mindset of the team in the dugout — both, after and even during games.

These Lions have a camaraderie and a brotherhood not often seen, according to Teuton, who said this is a tight-knit group that enjoys the company of one another — even when the going gets tough during a game.

In scrolling through photos of the Lions’ season on social media, we located several young men wearing goggles in the dugout, a stack of rally caps piled atop one another in the dugout — just before it was collapsing.

And in them all — lots and lots of smiles.

“We have a great group of kids,” Teuton said. “It’s been a pleasure to be around them and we want to see this group make it to the State Tournament and, who knows, hopefully we can make a little noise while we’re there. That’s the goal. That’s what we’re working toward and we know that it’s going to be a lot of fun every step of the way.”

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The Lions will continue their season this week with a very busy week.

They took on St. Charles Catholic on Monday and Varnado on Tuesday with no score available at press-time for either game.

They take on West St. John today, Terrebonne tomorrow and Ascension Catholic on Saturday.

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ELSEWHERE IN THE AREA:

There is a lot of good baseball being played locally.

In addition to CCA’s run of success, E.D. White is also on an unbelievable tear, starting the season on an 18-0 surge – enough to be listed as the No. 2 team in the state in Division II.

The Cardinals have hitting and pitching both. They return several starters off last year’s group which made a deep playoff push.

Also faring well locally at press-time is South Lafourche (No. 7, Class 4A), Vandebilt (No. 9, Division II) and South Terrebonne (No. 13, Class 4A). •

CCA baseball

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