SportsNet college football Preseason Top 25 poll
May 29, 2012
Terrebonne hosting fundraising tournament
May 29, 2012
With a combination of powerful hitters, dominant pitching and elite defense, the South Terrebonne baseball team was easily one of the best in the Tri-parish area this season – they have a district championship to prove it.
But with names like Zachary LeBeouf, Josh Trujillo and Britt Pellegrin gone from the Gators’ roster, the 2013 season is a bit more of a mystery.
With a young, inexperienced roster, South Louisiana Bank (South Terrebonne’s summer league sponsor) heads into the Swampland Baseball League season hoping to mesh as a team.
After all, the Gators know a little bit about what summer success means to a team. South Louisiana Bankl won the Swampland title last year – paving the way for South Terrebonne’s varsity success.
“Success over the summer just gives you confidence,” South Louisiana Bank coach Matt Dardar said. “We were successful last summer and I think our guys fed off of that because we played and won over the summer, so we knew we could beat everybody from around here. This year, we’re looking to do the same thing – have a productive summer and put ourselves in a position to have a solid season.”
Take a quick peek around the South Louisiana diamond and even a local high school baseball purist won’t see very many recognizable faces.
The Gators lost more than half of last season’s starting lineup and most of its pitching staff to graduation.
Of the departing players, a handful will extend their careers into the collegiate level.
“We lost five,” Dardar said. “And three have already signed and one more will be signing shortly. … You always miss kids when they are gone. That’s not just here. That’s any program.”
“We lost a lot of key guys from last year’s team,” pitcher Sam White said. “This summer is all about building up our depth chart and seeing some new players successfully move into some new positions.”
But Dardar and his players insist that there is plenty enough talent left in the team’s dugout to do just that.
Start on the mound where White will team up with Seth Cadiere and Jarreth Sevin to give the team options throughout the summer.
The trio will strive to replace Trujillo, who was the team’s bell cow last season.
South Louisiana Bank will also be without pitcher James LeBlanc, who is resting his arm during the summer.
He will be back in the spring to pitch his senior season for the Gators.
White said even without LeBlanc, he believes South Louisiana Bank has enough arms to compete on the mound.
“We have guys who can get outs,” the pitcher said. “If we throw strikes, we definitely could have a good staff.”
Offensively is where the Gators could be even more potent.
South Louisiana Bank returns White, outfielder Cullen Bergeron, catcher Matt Benoit and infielder Kurt Arceneaux – all players capable of swinging the bat.
That showed in a big way in the team’s opening summer game, as the Gators pounded XLR8 Sports (Ellender) pitching in a 15-11 win.
Sure, some of the runs were unearned because of XLR8 Sports errors, but the Gators did punch several balls into the outfield gaps for doubles.
“We really did a good job hitting today,” White said. “Offensively, we did a pretty good job showing what we could be capable of doing.”
“We hit the ball pretty solid considering this was our first game,” Benoit added. “When we get to the end of the summer, I really think that’s going to be something that’ll be one of the strengths of our team.”
But everyone around the Gators program knows the transition will have both good and bad days.
Start with Thursday’s game as an example.
Sure, South Louisiana Bank walked away with a win.
But it was far from pretty.
The Gators walked countless Patriots hitters and booted a couple of balls in the infield.
Offensively, South Louisiana Bank was better, but base running mistakes cost the Gators a few runs. Those problems were so troubling that Dardar told his team following the game that its effort on the bases was “miserable.”
“We’ve got to get better,” Dardar said following the game. “But it’s still very early. I think we’ll clean a lot of these things up.”
If they do, another successful summer could be had for South Louisiana Bank.
If that happens, 2013 success is likely soon to follow.
After all, the Gators won the Swampland last season and took home the district title. The runner-up was Central Lafourche and they also were district champions.
League semifinalist and regular season champion E.D. White did one better and made it all the way to the Class 3A state semifinals.
“This is about chemistry and getting our lineup and everyone’s roles together for the new season,” Benoit said. “We know if we do that, we’ll be OK.”
“And if we do well in the summer, it usually carries over into the next year,” White added. “We’re sort of proof of that.”
South Terrebonne pitcher Sam White lungs to field a ball during a summer league game against Ellender.
