MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / March 4, 2000

BOUTTE – Hahnville is a hungry team as the 2000 baseball season gets underway.

The Tigers captured the District 6-5A title in 1999, beating out East St.

John and defending champion Thibodaux. But while East. John and Thibodauxboth advanced to the Class 5A state tournament in New Iberia, Hahnville was defeated by Sulphur, 5-1, in the regionals.

Five starters return from that team, including three starting pitchers. Themajor change comes in the dugout where Mark Sims replaces Britten Oubre as head coach. Oubre left at the beginning of the year to become anassistant coach at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Sims comes to Hahnville from Ouachita High School, his alma mater. The lasttwo seasons, he was the pitching coach for West Monroe which won the Class 5A state championship in 1999.

“That was something I could never forget,” Sims said. “Two years of hardwork and dedication and it paid off last year. It is something you can neverforget.”Now Sims is looking to have the Tigers have the same feeling. With themajority of the team back from a 23-8 record in 1999, he knows it will be anything but a rebuilding project.

“I couldn’t wait until Jan. 3,” Sims said of the first day of practice. “I wantedto see what I had. “I wanted to teach them certain aspects of the game Iwant them to learn and then let them go play.”Leading the way will be the pitching staff. Senior right hander Brian Risingeris back after being named all-district last season. Risinger went 10-3 in 1999with a 2.63 earned run average and 64 strikeouts in 63 innings.”He throws the ball pretty crisp,” Sims said. “We’re expecting good thingsout of him.”Senior right hander Erik Donnaud was also named all-district last season after going 6-2 with a 3.71 earned run average. Donnaud could also handlethe bat, batting .342 with three home runs and 28 runs batted in.”He comes right at you,” Sims said of Donnaud, who played middle linebacker for the Tigers’ football team. “He has that middle linebacker mentality onthe mound. He can play anywhere on the field and he will play till he drops.”The third starter will be junior left hander Matt Caire.

“Matt’s got a good, live arm on him,” Sims said. “He could move up to the No.2 spot, he has that type of stuff. And the best thing is that I’ll have him fornext year.”With Sims having been a pitching coach in both high school and in the minor leagues, one could expect him to emphasize the pitching and defense aspects of the game.

“To me, whether its a profes- sional game or a high school game, pitching and defense is the game,” Sims said. “In high school, when you come down to a one-game situation, say onegame to win district or one game to get to the state tournament, my No. 1 isgoing to face your No. 1. So the chances of it being 10-9 or 12-11 are very,very slim. It’s going to be a one-run, close game. And in a high schoolsituation, the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.”The Tigers will be led in the field and in the lineup by senior center fielder Kade Rogers.

“He has speed and he puts the ball in play,” Sims said. “He’s a good centerfielder and he can go get them. I think he could play center field for anybodyin the state.”Senior Brandon Kelly will bat second and play second base. Donnaud will batthird and play third base when he is not pitching. Senior Chris Hawkins, ratedas one of the best catchers in the area, will bat cleanup. Caire will bat fifthand play first when he is not on the mound. Risinger will bat sixth and be inright field.

Junior shortstop Jeff Williams combines with Kelly to provide solid defense up the middle and will bat seventh. Junior Tim Sirmon will be in left field. JuniorLee Tregre and Ronnie Petit will also be in the outfield rotation. Junior MichaelPicard will be at the corners when Donnaud or Caire is pitching.

Sims can bring his experience of playing baseball to the Tigers. He played highschool ball at Ouachita and was drafted right out of high school by Philadelphia. Sims went on to play minor league ball in the Phillies, Minnesotaand Cleveland organizations for almost 10 seasons.

While pitching in the Minnesota organization, he got hurt playing winter ball so the Twins made him a pitching coach for their rookie league affiliate.

“The passion for the game, having a love for the game,” Sims said of what he can teach his players based on his minor league days. When you are in theminor leagues, you are not making money, you are away from your family and if you don’t have a love for the game, then you are in for a long year. Itmakes you grow up and have a respect for the game.”After his playing days, Sims went to college and volunteered at Ouachita, working with the pitchers and defense. He then moved on to West Monroe towork under coach Jeffery Schexnaider who he had known during his high school days.

Sims was going back to Ouachita this year when he found out about the opening at Hahnville. He interviewed for the job and was hired at the beginningof the 1999-2000 school year.

Sims knows it will not be an easy task to repeat as district champions. EastSt. John and Thibodaux return solid teams after making the tournament lastseason. Sims said the Wildcats have as good a team up the middle as he hasseen. Destrehan is always solid as is South Lafourche. And Central Lafourchehas a new coach which makes them unpredictable.

But Sims does not want his player worrying about who they are playing. Hewants them to play fundamentally sound baseball while having fun.

“I want them to play the game with enthusiasm and respect, as hard as they can and to have fun,” Sims said. “It’s baseball. You don’t win them all. It’shard to win them all, but of course the ultimate goal is to win that last one.

“I want to teach them to respect the game and to love the game. We haveone little saying that we are trying to instill in the kids. You don’t play theopponent. You play the ball. When the ball is hit, it doesn’t matter if KenGriffey hits it or somebody across the street hits it, you still have to play the ball.” Hahnville got off to a good start, defeating Ponchatoula, 13-3, in the season opener last Monday. The Tigers are playing Baker and Denham Springs todayin the Destrehan/ Hahnville Tournament.

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