PREP NOTEBOOK: Local pro baseball players Cecchini, Chargois join new teams
Rodrick Anderson
A pair of former Southwest Louisiana high school baseball players recently donned new uniforms.
Former Sulphur Tor and Rice Owl J.T. Chargois returned to the major leagues earlier this month when the Seattle Mariners added him to their active roster after a year in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan. Meanwhile, former Barbe all-stater Gavin Cecchini signed with the Rocket City Trash Pandas, a Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels located in Madison, Alabama.
In his first game with the Trash Pandas, Cecchini went 2-for-5 with a three-run home run in a 9-1 win over the Tennessee Smokies on May
15. Through six games he was batting .296 with six RBIs and five runs scored.
Chargois has appeared in six games for the Mariners, posting a 2.35 earned run average with eight strikeouts and one walk in 7 2/3 innings.
Both were drafted in 2012, Cecchini in the first round by the New York Mets and Chargois by the Minnesota Twins in the second round.
CHASING A NATIONAL TITLE: The Barbe Bucs are still enjoying their 11th Class 5A state championships and could be in line for a second national championship.
The Bucs went 39-2, including an 11-inning 1-0 win over Sam Houston in the semifinals and shut out West Monroe 5-0 in the final.
The last time the Bucs went 39-2 was 2014, when they were named national champions by Baseball America, MaxPreps, Perfect Game and the National High School Baseball Coaches Association. They are ranked No. 1 by Perfect Game and the NHSBCA and No. 2 by MaxPreps.
DRAGON HUNT: The DeRidder Dragons are looking for a new head baseball coach after Dane Peavy left to take the same job at Benton High School in Northeast Louisiana.
Peavy spent three season as the head coach of the Dragons, capping his tenure with a 23-13 season and a trip to the Class 4A regional round.
He was previously head coach at North Webster and was named to the Arkansas American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016 after leading the Texarkana Razorbacks to four state title
ON THE MOVE: DeRidder native Domonique Davis is looking for a new team. After spending two seasons at LSU, the sophomore guard entered the NCAA transfer portal last week.
She played in 15 games this season, starting in seven, with a career-high 13 points against Louisiana-Lafayette on Dec. 14.
Davis led DeRidder to the semifinals in 2017 and the quarterfinals in 2019 when she was named the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 4A MVP. Davis’ high school career totals were impressive with 2,843 points, 716 rebounds, 613 assists and 458 steals. She has three years of eligibility left.
NEW TRAILBLAZER: Lake Charles College Prep has a new boys basketball head coach in Sean Andrus.
Andrus spent the last four seasons at LaGrange as an assistant under head coach LaKeem Holmes. He helped lead the girls basketball team to back-to-back Class 4A state championships. Andrus is a graduate of Sulphur High and McNeese State.