SIDELINES with Tryve Brackin

Coach Heath Whittington has some interesting SJHS career statistics listed on the Eagle website.

Here are some notables:

…Over the last three prep spring seasons, college signee and recent All-State player Shea Ourso has the best Earn Run Average. He had a 1.45 ERA in 2009. Dakota Richard edged out Shea for the best ERA this recent spring: 2.04 for Dakota and 2.79 for Shea.

…Expected pro contract signee (according to several sources) Roddarick Jones had the highest season batting average over the last three springs with a .787 average in 2008. He was a three-time all-state honoree in both baseball and football. Shea Ourso was next in line with a .749 average in 2009. Southern University catcher Clint Ourso hit .721 in 2008. The trio of Corey David, Landon Landry, and Justin Hudson all hit over .600 in either 2010 or 2009. Over the three-year period two Eagles hit over .500 and ten hit over .400.

…This recent spring Shea Ourso led the Eagles with a .486 average, followed by Trevor Curry with a .419 average, Cole Verret with a .403, and Kaleb Campesi with a .393 average. Curry and Campesi return next diamond season at team leaders.

…Recent graduate Mike Martinez was the most sure handed glove man over the last three years with a .990 fielding percentage in 2010 at the first base position. Landon Landry was a standout shortstop fielder in 2010 with a .959 percentage. Corey David led all outfielders with a .944 percentage in 2008.

…St. John has had 11 all-state baseball players since 1973 and five District Most Valuable Players or record going back to 1978.

…Shelby Hemenway, who currently plays football at McNeese State, holds the school season records since 2008 for hit by pitches (13), stolen bases (34). He also led the 2009 team in home runs with 3 and is fifth on the list for sacrifices. Trevor Curry came up one short of Hemenway’s stole base mark last spring when he took 33 bases.

…Coach Whittington has steadily increased the schedule strength of competitors for his Eagle teams over the last four seasons, going from .678 in 2008 to .887 this recent spring.

…The 2009 team had the highest team batting average over the last four years with a .405 average. This spring’s Eagle club improved from .305 in 2010 to .327.

…This spring’s team led over the last four years in ERA with a 2.64.

…The 2008 club, led by Roddarick Jones’ four-year season high of 8, has been the best home run team with 27. Last spring the total fell to 13.

OOPS…I had a typographical error in last week’s IPRD all-star report in a final score of a district all-star tournament play. I typed in the final score of 181-13 for one of the losing local all-star teams. The local all-stars lost by an 18-13 score, not by 105 runs. Of course that type of score would never have been allowed in youth baseball, so it was a very obvious typo mistake. Still, the magic fingers let me down and I missed it with the not-so-magical eyesight I’ve got these days when I checked my article. Sorry.

PS SPORTS will begin to publish a number of the all-star team photos in next week’s issue. Also, upcoming is our annual IPRD leagues’ team photos section.