Dutchtown baseball won over 30 games last season and lost to West Monroe in a heartbreaking semifinal game. That team lost several standout players to graduation including Nathan Monceaux (Loyola) and Nick Gisclair (LSU-Eunice) who combined for 20 wins.
This years’ team is off to a 10-0 start and has new names and faces., One thing is for sure, pitching has been lights out so far.
“We graduated 12 seniors from last year, ten of them played almost every day,” said coach Chris Schexnaydre. “We have 22 seniors, not a young team, just inexperienced in a lot of places, just need the guys to get game experience and the better they will get.”
Through eight games, the pitching staff has been excellent, yielding 20 runs, just over 2 runs a game. Top pitchers include Jace Bennett (2-0), William Kibbe (1-0), Owen Dupuy (2-0) and Max Heintze (2 saves).
“Bennett, Kibbe, Jordan Oberle, Ethan Aucoin and Scott Recile have all started games for us this year,” Schexnaydre said. “Eli Fuselier, Paden Pitre, Heintze and Dupuy have thrown in multiple games, and all have worked out of the bullpen.”
Success with a pitching staff usually comes from talented and hardworking kids plus good coaching, those factors are obvious to the head coach. “Troy Templet has been with us for the last 3 years, he has done a tremendous job with our pitchers. He works with all of our guys from the freshmen, junior varsity and varsity. Coach Templet is organized with a plan for each pitcher. Coaches motivate kids’ in different ways and Schexnaydre sees it with his pitching coach.
“Coach Templet’s motto to the pitching staff is ‘I fear not the man who practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who practiced 1 kick, 10,000 times, Schexnayder said. “He preaches to dominate the strike zone and control the tempo of the game.”
Behind a good pitching staff is usually a good defense, that has certainly been the case so far.
Schexnayder said on the defensive side, players have done a great job adapting and accepting their roles on the team.
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