Ask Catholic High head baseball coach David Jordan about Hunter Dugas and he’s quick to give glowing praise.

“He’s kind of been under the shadow of some of the other guys in the senior class,” the CHS coach said. “He’s a quiet kid, doesn’t make any waves and definitely flies under the radar.

“But every year his numbers are great. He’s one of those guys that you don’t realize his value until he’s gone or he’s injured. He’s a great leader for us on and off the field.”

Playing shortstop, some second base and doing a little pitching for the Panthers, Dugas has shown his worth as someone who has just worked hard and earned his starting role for CHS.

“He basically won that shortstop position,” Jordan said. “When I got back here, there were a couple of guys who were really good at shortstop.

“But consistency is the most important thing. At shortstop, you’re going to have more opportunity to shine but you’re also going to have more opportunity to make mistakes. We put him there and he’s always done the job for us.”

Jordan said Dugas probably doesn’t have the best arm and isn’t the fastest player on the team, nor is he the best athlete on the team, but without a doubt he’s the most consistent when it comes to batting and defense.

“He’s proven to me day in and day out that he’s a gamer, a clutch guy,” Jordan said.

That is one of the better superlatives a coach can give to one of his players.

Dugas just takes it all in stride and continues to do his job the best he can every day.

“That’s kind of how it’s always been,” Dugas said. “I’ve always been overlooked by other teams. It’s kind of been motivation for me.

“Sometimes it gets to me but I really don’t make too big a deal about it. I just go about doing what I do best. Play baseball as hard as I can.”

Dugas will play a big part for the Panthers this weekend when CHS plays host to Riverside Academy in the quarterfinals of the Division III state baseball playoffs. The first game is tonight at 5 p.m., followed by the second game Saturday at 1 p.m. A third game, if necessary, is at 4 p.m.

It’s the second straight year the two teams have met in the quarterfinals. 

Last year, Catholic High traveled to Riverside and won the first game Friday night, but lost two games Saturday and was knocked out of the playoffs.

“We beat Calvary (Baptist) pretty bad the week before,” Dugas said. “We were really confident going to Riverside and were feeling pretty good after that first win Friday.

“I think after that everyone slowed down a little bit on Saturday and that’s how they were able to come back.”

But the series loss to Riverside, as painful as it was, did come with a glimmer of a silver lining.

“We knew that we’d have a bunch of returning seniors and that this would be the best year that we had so far,” Dugas said. “I knew that we’d have a good club this year but after that loss to Erath (earlier this season) I was feeling down but we’ve been able to bounce back and this is what we’ve been able to do so far this season.

“I knew we would get at least this far. After losing in the quarters last year to Riverside, I knew that coming back this season we’d have a good team and would make a run.”

So far this season, the Panthers have won 20-plus games, claimed another district championship and blew past Patrick Taylor in the first round of the playoffs last weekend.

Now CHS is only two wins away from going back to Sulphur for the semifinals, a place they haven’t been since 2014, when the Panthers beat Opelousas Catholic in the semis before losing a heartbreaking eight-inning game to Kinder in the finals.

To be able to help lead the team back to the state tournament this season would be a great way to close out his career, Dugas said, and to do it by going through two teams that Catholic High has a history with, Notre Dame in a potential semifinal matchup and potentially St. Thomas Aquinas in the finals, would make it even better.  

“To bring home a state championship would be a great thing,” Dugas said. “To do it against those two teams would make it even better.”