New Iberia Senior High assistant coach Cody Boutte runs through pitching signals for the Yellow Jackets.

The lasting image most people have of former NISH and Louisiana-Lafayette standout Cody Boutte is of him pitching against Ole Miss in an NCAA Super Regional series in 2014.

The then-senior pitched his heart out and gave everything he had in two straight games, but in the end the Ragin Cajuns fell to Ole Miss, ending any hope of Boutte pitching in the NCAA Division I College World Series and adding a second national championship ring to the one he got pitching for LSU-Eunice in the JUCO World Series in 2012.

If you would have asked Boutte at that point what his plans were, it would have been moving on the minor league baseball and work his way up the ladder to have a chance to play major league baseball.

But a funny thing happened on his way to major league riches and glory.

The NISH grad wasn’t drafted by a major league team, went into the minors for a while and discovered while trying to grind out a living that playing baseball just wasn’t what he wanted to do.

Instead, the desire to coach and impart his knowledge to the next generation became stronger and stronger.

“I knew that playing was going to come to an end sooner or later and I’ve always been able to deal with kids. Younger kids, older kids, just people in general,” Boutte said. “Once I found out I was pretty good at that, I figured the only way I could use my special ability was the give it to somebody else — to teach.”

So Boutte approached New Iberia Senior High baseball coach Robby Norris about coaching and after a meeting in which both found out they had similar ideas on pitching, Boutte joined NISH’s coaching staff as pitching coach.

The route back home to where he first burst on the scene was, as they say, not a straight line.

“I was doing lessons and training to play some independent ball and watching the baseball around here,” Boutte said. “I’m not saying that it was bad baseball, but it was something that I wanted to put my hands on and change.

“I wanted to help out but I didn’t think I could because I wasn’t a coach.”

But after the meeting with Norris and working out some details, Boutte found himself back home at NISH doing what he wanted, teaching baseball to a younger generation.

“He’s been everything we expected,” Norris said. “The players love playing for him, they love pitching for him. He’s a guy that has been there and done that so he calls a great game.

“He understands what every pitcher had as far as their strengths and weaknesses so he calls the game according to that. There’s a science to it. There’s an art to it and he’s pretty good at it at a young age.”

The results so far have been encouraging as NISH has bolted out to a 10-5 record. The most runs the Jackets have given in a game this year was eight against E.D. White in the fourth game of the season.

The team ERA through the first 15 games is hovering around 3.5 runs per game, a solid number for high school pitching. 

Boutte’s hand on the pitching staff has resulted in NISH being able to hang around and win some games.

“I try to make them laugh and keep them up because pitching is mental,” Boutte said. “That’s what I told Robby (Norris) that’s what I would bring. I bring the mental side of the game and that’s what I think I have passed on.

“Our guys still have the physical but now they’re developing the mental. Not being a thrower but being a pitcher.”

Boutte relates the story of what he told NISH starter Trevor Benoit, who pitched his heart out in a 2-0 loss to Sulphur Saturday.

“I pulled him aside after the game and asked him what do you want, to lose this game as a junior in high school or be like me and lose the Super Regional game against Ole Miss with the College World Series on the line,” Boutte said. “I guarantee you’ll choose this over that.”

It’s sage advice for someone who has had close to 13,000 LSU fans screaming at him when he pitched against the Tigers at Alex Box Stadium.

It took a while for Boutte to get over the loss to Ole Miss, but the NISH grad decided that losing that one game wasn’t going to define him or his career.

Boutte has found his calling after playing some minor league baseball and feeling the desire to get into coaching.

“I explain to these guys that 99.9 percent of the time you’re not going to go into the bullpen and throw the best that you’ve ever thrown and you’re not going to get on the mound and throw the best you’re ever thrown,” Boutte said. “Something is going to be wrong. So the question becomes, how do you get over that hurdle? How do you make your other pitches better?

“You have one job and your only job is to give your team a chance to win. You don’t have the strike out 10 batters and you don’t have to pitch a no-hitter. As long as you give your team a chance to win, me as a pitching coach, will go out and shake you hand and tell you good job.”

Boutte’s playing career may be over, albeit one with three rings — a national title ring from LSU-E, a Sun Belt title ring from Louisiana-Lafayette and a third, very special ring that sums up what he did as a player and what he wants to accomplish while at NISH.

“That third ring came from UL and we got it for turning the program around,” Boutte said. “The year before, we were (ranked) like 200-something and a year later we made it to a regional, which means were were in the top 30. We call that the turnaround.

“I love that one the most. Being a part of something that turns the tide for a whole school. I was part of something that was bigger, being a platform for something bigger. I told these guys winning is great, but the most important thing is to set a platform for this program to build on.”

Boutte said he tells his players, “Let this year be the platform that we can build on so that every year after this guys want to come here and play. That’s the ultimate goal. Start something, put a platform down, show who we are and how we play and let the younger guys build upon it to where we have a successful baseball team every year. It’s being a part of something bigger than you.”