“Family” is the word that came up most frequently among a group of Teche Area athletes when describing the 2012 LSU-Shreveport baseball team this season.

LSUS is ranked No. 1 in the NAIA and won its first game in the opening round of the organization’s 56th annual baseball national championship Thursday in Paducah, Ky., to improve to 49-4 overall. The Pilots’ four losses have all been by one run.

Three Catholic High graduates — pitchers Jason Mouton and Ben Suit and outfielder Ridge Gonsoulin — along with infielder Jacob Lopez of Westgate and redshirt freshman Ross Durke of Loreauville are members of the team this season.

“We’re all family up here,” said Mouton, a sophomore right-hander who’s been a middle reliever for the Pilots since returning from Tommy John surgery on his elbow performed in 2010. “We’re blessed to be able to play baseball.”

Being with a gruop of guys he’s known for years is an additional blessing, he said.

“I’ve been playing baseball with these guys since Little League and high school, some guys since we were 6 or 7 years old,” said Mouton. “I’m treasuring it.”

Lopez, a junior, is at his fourth school in four years after starting at Mississippi Valley State.

“This is the best group of guys I’ve been around,” said Lopez. “Everybody’s close. We all have separate groups (away from the field) but at practice, it’s just like a family. We tease each other and clown around.”

Suit, a junior right-hander, said he thinks the key for the team’s success this year is how close the players are, on and off the field. They’re also pretty good baseball players.

“We hit the ball, we pitch the ball, we play really good defense,” said Suit. “I think we just have a special group of guys. We all get along, we all have the same mentality, we all want to be successful.”

Gonsoulin, a sophomore, said there’s a lot of camaraderie among the teammates.

“We jell,” said Gonsoulin. “We enjoy going to practice together, and we enjoy the perks of winning.”

Each contributes in his own way. Suit and Mouton are relief pitchers. Gonsoulin is batting .375 and leads the team in at-bats. Lopez has taken over as the team’s courtesy runner for the catcher and leads the team in stolen bases.

Suit is a situational reliever, typically coming into games with runners on base. In 16 innings pitched, he’s allowed only 14 hits and six runs, four of them earned, for a 2.25 earned run average. Suit has saved one game and has a 2-0 record with 15 strikeouts and only five walks, allowing opposing teams to hit just .226 against him.

“I enjoy the pressure of being put in there in those situations,” said Suit, who was a starting pitcher at CHS. “Really the only difference (in being a starter and a reliever) has been the mentality. Coming in games for only an inning or two you can really put it all on the line.”

Mouton said he had some setbacks last spring after trying to come back too quickly from surgery, but that’s only made him fight harder to return. In Thursday’s 9-3 win over Peru State (Neb.), the fourth seed in the Paducah Bracket, Mouton pitched 11⁄3 scoreless innings to close out the game.

This season he’s 1-0 with one save in 18.2 innings pitched, allowing 17 hits and 11 runs — eight earned — with eight walks and 16 strikeouts. His ERA is 3.86, and opposing batters hit only .254 against him.

“For the most part it was a long road,” said Mouton of his rehabilitation, adding that God has helped him get through it. “It’s been a blessing to be able to pitch.”

Since an injury to the team’s courtesy runner about halfway through the season, Lopez has taken over that role, running whenever the squad’s catcher gets on base, which gives him one of the more interesting stat lines you’ll see for a baseball  player — one hit, 28 runs and 26 stolen bases for the season.

“I started courtesy running and I just never lost that role,” said Lopez. “Every now and then I’ll get some playing time at shortstop, whenever we’re up by 10 in the last two or three innings. It was hard for me to get my first hit because I don’t bat much, but the whole team was so excited for me when I got it a couple of weeks ago.”

Gonsoulin has had plenty of hits, 76 of them including one in Thursday’s win over Peru State. At .375, he’s fourth on the team in batting average, but his 204 at-bats is 22 more than the next batter on the team. He also is tied for the team lead in runs (62), is first in hits and triples (3) and third in doubles (15) and RBIs (56). Gonsoulin has more walks (15) than strikeouts (11) for the season and has a .951 fielding average.

“I’m really happy with the way I’m performing,” said Gonsoulin. “I just try to go out on the field and not worry about my batting average. I try not to look at my stats too much. It’s winning that counts.”

Durke is redshirting this season and hasn’t played.

Gonsoulin said the Pilots get every opponent’s best shot, but that motivates the team.

“Whenever you play somebody who’s No. 1, you’re definitely going to bring your ‘A’ game,” he said. “You’re going to throw your No. 1 pitcher, and play your best. We enjoy that (level of competition from opposing teams). It’s definitely been the funnest season I’ve been a part of, in high school or college.”

The team doesn’t feel pressure to live up to its top billing, either, he said.

“We put zero pressure on ourselves,” Gonsoulin said. “It’s a little kids’ game, and that’s how we play it. We like the No. 1 ranking, but it’s just a number.”

Playing in the Red River Athletic Conference, comprised mostly of teams from Texas, with two schools from Oklahoma and one from New Mexico in addition to the one Louisiana school (LSUS), the Pilots haven’t had too many long road trips. The players said their families get to games when they can, usually home games or ones against LSU-Alexandria.

“They’ve been up to see us, but my little brother (Rhett) has been playing for Catholic High, so I told them to go to his games, and come see me when they can,” said Gonsoulin. “His games come first.”

“Normally for a home series, they’ll make it up here, or when we’re in Alexandria against LSU-A,” said Mouton of his family.

The group of local players is enjoying this season, and they hope to keep winning. LSUS plays No. 2 seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) at 2 p.m. today in a second-round game with the winner playing in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Saturday and the loser playing an elimination game at 1 p.m.

“It has been a blessing for me,” said Gonsoulin of the season. “I couldn’t ask for much more.”

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Mouton of the season. “We’re just going at it each day not worrying about the World Series.”

“It’s been real exciting,” said Lopez. “We have an incredible winning record right now.

“This has been a really good experience for me. I consider myself  blessed to be part of this.”

“We’ve just got to stick to what we’ve been doing,” said Suit.

Opening round winners will join host Lewis-Clark State at the 56th annual Avista-NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, beginning May 25.