HLB, other locals, struggling to battle River Parish foes

It has been something of a tough year for many local 5A schools on the baseball diamond.

With the addition of tough competition from the River Parish region such as Destrehan and Hahnville, and several local teams offset by youth and inexperience, none of the Tri-Parish area schools from the Class 7-5A district entered the stretch run of district play with a winning record.

H.L. Bourgeois was no exception, but the Braves have shown flashes of good play at times and have what they hope is a good foundation in place despite their 6-18 overall record entering the week.

At the beginning of the season, the team suffered lopsided losses to Thibodaux (19-1), E.D. White Catholic (22-3), Berwick (10-1) and others while dropping 13 of its first 14 games overall – a dreadful start that coach John Gatlin attributes directly to pitching woes, namely walks.

“If I could change one thing about how our season started, it would be that,” Gatlin said. “We actually started off almost a little overconfident.”

Afterward, the Braves managed to go 5-5 over their next 10 games and entered the week at 4-5 in district competition.

That won’t be enough to get H.L. Bourgeois into the playoffs, but Gatlin points to the improvement of his pitching staff as one of the biggest reasons the team has leveled off after such a disastrous start.

“It’s the same old story: when your pitcher comes out and starts walking people, the defense gets back on its heels and starts worrying about if he’s going to throw a strike instead of getting ready for that groundball that’s about to be hit to him, and I think that’s what we’ve overcome,” Gatlin said. “If these guys put it together, there’s no limit to what we can do.”

Youth is a big reason why Gatlin remains upbeat about his team’s future.

In a recent 10-3 district win over rival Terrebonne, H.L. Bourgeois had four sophomores in its starting lineup, including Seth Boudreaux, who went 3-for-3 with two RBI.

The Braves are a team that’s aiming for the future, but for the present, their youth and inexperience has presented some hiccups along the way, said junior pitcher and INF/OF Todd Adkins.

“Sometimes (the younger players) get into situations where they don’t really know what to do,” said Adkins. “It’s just inconsistency and not doing what we need to do on a daily basis, and not getting up for every game like we should.

“Not getting up for every game I think goes with your preparation before each game. If you have a bad round of batting practice, you’re kind of sagging for the day.”

Going forward, the Braves are losing three notable seniors in Marcus Bascle, Nick Bonvillan and Jeremy Daigle, all of which are run-producers who also contribute heavily to their pitching staff.

But the team will return Adkins, a two-sport athlete who is the No. 2 hitter in the lineup and plays shortstop and centerfield when he’s not on the mound, and his battery mate, catcher Tanner Verdin, a junior who has been given added responsibility in the lineup of late.

“He’s been DH for about two and a half years and he’s finally starting to relax and see the ball well,” Gatlin said of Verdin. “We gave him a couple of opportunities, and he came through. He’s moving up in the lineup so it’s nice to see that.”

H.L. Bourgeois is still searching for its first playoff berth since 2007, but Gatlin said he believes the team has the nucleus in place to snap that streak going forward.

“These guys are starting to believe in each other and have some fun in the process,” Gatlin said. “This time of year, we talk about taking ownership and they’re starting to understand that.”