2015 Perfect Game High School Baseball Preview Index | Southeast Region Preview
The history of the baseball program at Alfred M. Barbe High School in Lake Charles, La., is as rich, storied and decorated as any prep program in the country.
The results of the 2014 season served only to enhance that illustrious past with last year’s team winning the first Perfect Game High School National Championship in the school history. Barbe was named the national high school champion by several other outlets, as well.
Barbe High School has won seven Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) state championships since 1998 and four LHSAA Class 5A state titles since 2006; it fielded state runner-up teams in 1999 and 2002.
In the three seasons since the current seniors were freshman, the Buccaneers went a combined 107-12, with state titles in 2012 and 2014. They finished No. 9 in Perfect Game’s final 2012 rankings (32-6 overall record), No. 34 in 2013 when they lost in the LHSAA playoffs’ third round (36-4) and No. 1 last year (39-2).
The Bucs actually lost two of their first 13 games in 2014 before closing the season on a 28-game winning streak. That included wins of 11-6 and 3-2 over Baton Rouge Catholic in the best-of-3 Class 5A quarterfinal round, a 2-0 win over St. Amant (La.) in the semifinals and, finally, the 7-1 win over Watson Live Oak in the championship game.
“It was just crazy the love that everybody had for each other,” left-hander Tyler Booth, a sophomore last season, told PG this week. “We all had each other’s backs, and every game that we would win we just knew that we were going for that goal to be national champions. That’s what we looked forward to after every game, after every victory.”
It was, in short, a season for the ages. One in which the goal of winning a national championship was stated right from the beginning by 29-year head coach Glenn Cecchini and after some early adversity, accomplished with flair and style.
“It was an amazing year playing with some of my best friends; it was truly a great year for us,” outfielder Shane Selman, a junior in 2014, told PG. “(The 2014 seniors) taught us to work hard and to never give up, and to always chase our dreams.
“They taught us how to handle the pressure and the nervousness that comes with a big crowd like there was at the state championship game. We knew how much it meant for them so (the younger players) were trying to give it our all for them.”
The 2013 Buccaneers are a relatively youthful group, but despite that they open the 2015 season in the No. 9 spot in the Perfect Game High School National Preseason Top-50 Rankings.
Barbe is the third highest ranked team among those from the PG High School Southeast Region (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee) behind only No. 1 Lambert (Georgia) and No. 3 St. Thomas More (Louisiana). Barbe opens the season at St. Thomas More on Saturday.
It will be the start of what promises to be a season of adjustment, one in which it seems likely more dreams will be realized then discarded. That, at least, is what the history books tell us, and the Barbe Buccaneers have always seemed set on making history.
THE 2015 BARBE ROSTER CONSISTS OF SEVEN SENIORS, two juniors and 14 sophomores (eight freshman are also listed on the program’s overall roster), and many of the sophomores will be relied on to contribute mightily this season.
The top returning seniors are Selman, a PG top-500 national prospect who has signed with McNeese State; shortstop Braden Comeaux, a Texas Christian commit ranked No. 366; top utility man Addison Armand and right-hander Braden Bethea. Right-hander Brant McNeese, catcher Hunter Feduccia and outfielder Marshall Alexander are among the other seniors Cecchini will look to this year.
Selman hit .271 with five home runs, 10 doubles and 35 RBI in 41 games as junior; Comeaux was at .354 with two home runs and 39 runs in 41 games; Armand hit .373 in 40 games and Bethea was 3-0 with a 1.16 ERA in 23 2/3 innings.
The lefty Booth is the top returning junior (4-0, 1.91 ERA, 25 2/3 IP, 19 Ks, 4 BBs) and left-hander Adam Goree, third baseman Kirkland Banks and right-hander Slate Fuller are the top sophomores that contributed as freshmen.
Goree, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound southpaw ranked 168th nationally in the class of 2017, was 11-0 with a 1.54 ERA in 68 1/3 innings, throwing six complete games in 15 starts and striking out 63. Other sophomores expected to contribute this season include second baseman Peyton Doumite and outfielder Tanner Littleton.
Looking ahead, Cecchini projects that at least seven members of that sophomore class will be D-I caliber players, and he talks excitedly about the pitching depth in the class.
“With this new group, we really believe they’re going to play their own way,” Cecchini said this week. “With all due respect to our seniors, who are very good, we feel this sophomore class – and time will tell – is going to be very similar to the (2014) class.”
The Bucs’ championship roster from a year ago was rocked by graduation. Six of the 2014 senior position players got at-bats in all 41 games and two combined to go 16-1 with a 1.90 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 107 innings pitched.
“I loved this last senior group. They were unbelievable,” Cecchini said. “They were really united, unselfish players that just cared about winning, and with those guys, we were just very, very close.”
The team’s top two hitters, twin brothers Bryce and Beau Jordan have moved on to Louisiana State after combining for 107 hits, 16 home runs, 22 doubles, 95 runs and 82 RBI last spring. Kennan Fontenot (.434, 6 HRs, 15 2Bs, 52 RBI) is at Oklahoma State and Gunner Leger (.438, 3 HRs, 17 2Bs, 36 RBIs; 11-0, 1.94 ERA) is at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Additionally, Brandon Barrett (.427, 2 HRs, 4 3Bs, 12 2Bs, 31 RBI, 33 runs) is at Northwestern State and right-hander Erin Baldwin (5-1, 1.80 ERA) is at LSU-Eunice. That’s a lot of firepower to have move along, but at Barbe there always seems to be someone waiting for his chance to shine.
“They were the best role models that you could have,” Booth said. “Every day, it seemed like they could have been the coaches; they were all so driven to be the national champions. Once Coach Cecchini put that in our heads that we could go all the way, they just made it happen.”
With the loss of so many prominent position players to graduation, a lot will be expected from the guys who did see their share playing time last spring.
“It’s definitely going to be big shoes to fill, trying to do the same thing that (last year’s seniors) did for us,” Selman said. “We’re teaching (the sophomores) a lot right now but they already know a lot; they’re a very good class. I think they’re going to be great just like the senior class was above us. We’re really depending on them and we’re going to need their help because we can’t do it alone.”
CECCHINI IS WELL-KNOWN AND WELL-RESPECTED FOR CALLING all of his team’s pitches during games. He has developed his own pitching chart with detailed reports on each batter in the opposing team’s starting lineup. It’s a system that seems to have pretty well through the years.
In a September 2013 interview with Collegiate Baseball, Cecchini emphasized that it was important he explain to his pitchers why he’s calling a specific pitch in certain sequences and how he forms a strategy based on past results for each batter. “We want communication between the pitcher, catcher and myself throughout the game,” he said in the interview.
Cecchini has always relied heavily on his assistant coaches and one of his top assistants throughout his tenure has been his wife, Raisa. She might not spend much time in the dugout or out on the field these days as she once might have, but she still helps out behind the scenes.
“She’s not officially on-staff but she’s always coaching,” Cecchini said of his wife. “She’s there all the time and the kids love her. My boys, whenever they struggled with their hitting, they always called their mom. She really studies the game; she’s really good.”
With all the winning Cecchini has done in his 28 seasons at Barbe, it would be foolish for anyone to question his tactics or who he wants alongside him, especially his current young players.
“Our coaching staff is the very best; they work hard and they’re the best at what they do,” Selman said. “They help us out a lot and they’re really here for us. They’re really good guys and they’re all great coaches.”
Dozens if not hundreds of players have graduated from Barbe and gone on to play baseball either in college or at the professional level, including 16 that were selected in the MLB amateur draft and three that made it to the major leagues (according to Baseball Reference).
Two of the most prominent Barbe baseball alumni are Glenn Cecchini’s aforementioned sons, third baseman Garin (Barbe class of 2010) and shortstop Gavin (2012). Garin attended the 2009 PG National Showcase and played summer ball with the Texas Sun Devils; Gavin is an alumnus of the 2011 PG National and also played with the Sun Devils.
The Boston Red Sox made Garin, who had signed with LSU, a fourth-round pick in the 2010 MLB amateur draft and then gave him basically first-round money at the time. He has played four minor league seasons and made his major league debut with the Red Sox last June 1. He played in 10 more big-league games in 2014 and hit a home run and three doubles in 31 at-bats.
Gavin had signed with Ole Miss but that went by the wayside after the New York Mets made him a first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2012 draft. He played in his third minor league season in 2014 with stops at low-A, high-A and Double-A.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SUCCESS ACHIEVED BY BOTH THE PROGRAM and its alumni isn’t lost on Barbe’s current players. “This is the greatest experience I’ve ever had playing baseball in my life. I would not rather be anywhere else than right here,” the junior Booth said.
“Our guys are very respectful (of the program’s history),” Cecchini said. “We’ve got a culture here where the pro guys and the college guys always come back; we embrace the past. Our two boys (Garin and Gavin) are always here and they’re working out, and it’s not just them.
“We’re really blessed,” he said. “I am as a coach, and the kids are because they’re constantly are surrounded by professional guys and they’re real positive people.”
As this season’s Buccaneers move forward in their attempt to replicate the accomplishments of the 2014 team, they will continue to appreciate the lessons the seniors in the class of ’14 taught them. “This year we’re just going to try to take it one game at a time, one step at a time, trying to play our best every game. If we do that then we should be successful this year,” Selman said.
It is indeed a rich, storied and decorated history this year’s Barbe Buccaneers will be trying to add their own bookmark to. Winning another LHSAA Class 5A state championship has been part of the conversation, as has the possibility of winning another PG national championship.
“We’ve talked about it and we’re set on winning state again this year; that’s definitely our goal,” Booth said. “Winning a national championship, we’re trying to go for that again, and if we can get everybody to commit to doing that I’m sure we can make it happen.”