Summer no vacation for Bengal baseball

By Tom Dodge
tom.dodge@eunicetoday.com

While the field is vacant and the halls are quiet, there is plenty of action in the LSU Eunice baseball program.
“We are in the middle of finalizing our fall and spring schedules,” head coach Jeff Willis said. “We are also finalizing our recruting class.”
Willis said he and assistant coach Alan Orgain have been recruiting since the Bengal season concluded.
“We go to weekend tournaments,” Willis said. “The talent is spread all over the place as we watch at least 30 teams play in every tournament.
“We have to plan ahead to look for certain players but we can miss other kids,” the coach said.
Willis said they sent out questionaires to every high school program in the state looking for any players with possible college baseball talent.
“We have a list and we try to see as many as we can,” the coach said.
Willis said the 2016 class has already been offered scholarships and they are visiting the campus this month and August.
“We are working a year ahead of time,” Willis said. “In the spring we are looking at juniors that we would want to play for us.”
The Bengal coach said it is always a challenge to recruit the best talent, competing with all the schools in the state as well as Texas and Mississippi, all trying to get the kids.
“We are constantly going up against those schools trying to recruit the same kids.”
The four national championships, the number of players that moved up to the next level and the players picked in the MLB draft all help get attention on the Bengal program, Willis pointed out.
“Our facilities also have to be good because that is a selling point,” he said. “You would think tradition and history would matter,” Willis said.
“But with kids that doesn’t matter as much now.
“It comes down to what does the weight room and facilities look like - those things seem to matter.”
The Bengal coach said present and former players are the best recruiters.
“If I am a high school kid being recruited all the coaches start to sound like used car salesmen,” he joked. “But they will trust a player they know more than any coach.
“That has been one of our biggest keys as our past players have been our best recruiters.”
Willis said he is spending the rest of the summer break making facility improvements, ordering new equipment.
Willis said this fall he is excited about the future including the upcoming 2014-2015 team.
“We have some key guys back and some quality transfers,” he said.
The team reports on Aug. 18 with the fall season beginning two weeks later.
The Bengals finished 42-13 overall and fell short of their goal of a return trip to the NJCAA Division II World Series as LSUE went 1-2 in the Region 23 tournament.