A good foundation

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Baseball is alive and well in New Iberia, and Catholic High head baseball coach Tim Comeaux is happy to see it.

Comeaux said about 75 players who will be entering grades 4-9 this fall are taking part in the Panthers’ three-day baseball camp on the CHS campus this week. Forty-seven pre-registered and another 30 or so showed up the first day of camp to register in person.

“It’s a good thing for the Catholic High baseball program,” said Comeaux. “There’s interest not only in baseball but in Catholic High baseball.” 

Comeaux said the camp is basically an exaggerated version of what the CHS baseball team does in practice, focusing on the fundamentals of the game from fielding to baserunning to warming up properly, stretching and throwing the ball correctly.

“We try to cover it all,” said Comeaux. “Pretty much we try to touch on everything that players do.”

Of course, every player at all levels of the game loves to do one thing more than anything else.

“Pretty much all baseball players, their favorite thing to do is hit the baseball,” said Comeaux. “We try to install as many hitting stations as possible. Monday we had them hitting on the field. When they weren’t hitting they were in the field and shagging fly balls.”

The camp covered bunting on Tuesday, with four stations set up covering sacrificing, suicide squeezes, bunting for a hit and other aspects of the bunt game, said Comeaux.

Players are very receptive to what they’re being taught, he added.

“For the most part they’re really into it,” said the coach. “You overhear some little conversations, like a 10-year-old saying, ‘I didn’t know that!’ That’s the most rewarding part.”

The camp concludes today with a scrimmage to allow players to show what they’ve learned. 

Parents and family members have been invited to watch the scrimmage.

Comeaux said he plans another camp over the Thanksgiving holidays.

“They get a feel of what the campus is about, what the ballpark is all about,” said Comeaux. “They have the thrill of walking into the locker room where the varsity dresses. We try to give them that atmosphere of a high school situation.”