Raceland’s Jeff Ledet Pilots his own course

Imagine being fresh out of high school, traveling over 300 miles away from home just for a chance to continue doing what you love.

Now, imagine getting that chance, but also having to overcome two surgeries and a few other nagging injuries in the process.

For Jeff Ledet, that was the reality. After playing three sports in high school, Ledet just wanted an opportunity to play the sport he loved, baseball, at the next level.

Ledet was fortunate enough to have a coach who had played under LSU-Shreveport Head Coach Rocke Musgraves, when he coached at Nicholls State and therefore was invited to Shreveport for a tryout with the Pilots.

That’s when things started to sink in. He joined the team as a walk-on and suddenly the transition began.

Ledet had never been away from home, and now he had to deal with being hundreds of miles from family and the friends he had known his whole life.

“The biggest thing I had to adjust to was making new friends,” he said. “Trying to find new people to hang around with. It’s like going to school for the first time all over again.”

It wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Sure, Ledet knew how to play baseball, but the speed of the college game was beyond what he was used to.

“The base runners are quicker, pitchers throw harder, they have better pitches to throw,” he explained. “I had to adjust and learn how to hit the off-speed stuff as well. There is a big difference in playing high school ball to playing college ball because the competition is better.”

Ledet added, “Everyday you battle for position for conference titles, regional titles and hopefully national championships. We go out there and have fun but at the same time we were all competing while having fun.”

Ledet made it work however, adjusting to the speed of the game and making friends and finding hunting buddies along the way.

Despite not being offered a scholarship until his junior season, Ledet continued to do his part as a walk-on, making the most of his playing time.

During his first full season in 2004, Ledet concluded the season with a .271 batting average with two home runs and 11 RBIs. Just as his next season was beginning, it came to an abrupt end.

“I tore my labrum in the third game of the year and my season was finished,” he said. “I had surgery and was awarded a medical red shirt, which enabled me to get my year of eligibility back.”

He returned the next year and posted a .321 batting average with 17 RBIs when again another setback came his way. This time, Ledet needed pins in his wrist just after his junior season. It meant he’d have to go through yet another surgery.

“It got frustrating because everything seemed to be happening,” he said. “At times, I would be down so I would turn to family, they were always there.”

Ledet continued to work hard, getting himself back healthy. His hard work caught the eye of everyone around him, including his coach.

“So many kids would have just given up but not Jeff,” Musgraves said. “He kept fighting through it and wanted to play baseball. I don’t know how he did it, but the team saw it and fed off of watching him work hard. He just didn’t let anything, not even two surgeries bring him down.”

This past season, Ledet led the Pilots in batting average (.427); RBIs (55) and slugging percentage (.688). He also belted a career high seven homeruns.

Ledet was named to the All Gulf Coast Athletic Conference

team as a designated hitter and helped lead the Pilots to the Regionals of this year’s NAIA tournament.

“The grand slam he hit in the regional championship game this year will be something I will always remember,” Musgraves said. “We didn’t win, but that shot put us in position to win.”

Now that Ledet’s adventurous playing career is through, he is looking to get into coaching. He has already accepted a job being an assistant coach at Mcleod High School in Texas, which he hopes is the first step of a long coaching career.

“I love being around baseball and I want to take what I’ve experienced and what I’ve learned and pass on to someone else,” Ledet said. “I learned how not to only be an athlete, but a student athlete. Hopefully I can help the high school kids understand that too.”

In the end things, worked out well for the small town boy with big dreams. Even though his career didn’t go the way he planned, Ledet said it was a learning experience.

“It was a difficult transition coming from a little town to a bit bigger city so many miles away,” he said. “Living away from home was new to me and something I had to get used to. The school work itself was tough but I learned so much and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”

Musgraves agrees that Ledet has learned from the experience.

“He came here a boy and he is leaving her an honorable man,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed watching him grow as an athlete but he has become so much more.”

Raceland’s Jeff Ledet is trading in his playing time with LSU-Shreveport for a coaching job at McLeod High School in Texas. * Photo courtesy of JEFF LEDET