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Catholic High Baseball team ranked No. 1 in country
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BATON ROUGE - The Catholic High School baseball team is looking down at the rest of the country right now.
Prep Baseball Report has ranked the 20-2 Bears as the No. 1 team in the nation.
“We know it’s out there, but (it’s) rat poison,” Catholic High head coach Brad Bass said.
“I keep my head down, I don’t know how everybody else perceives it, but I feel like it’s poison for us,” senior pitcher William Schmidt said.
There is a reason why the 20-2 Bears are getting the recognition. Six seniors have already signed to play college baseball, a few juniors already committed and another handful of talented guys are developing.
“One through nine in our lineup is crazy, there’s not a weak out, everybody protects everybody," Schmidt said. “If you plan to intentionally walk someone, you’re just going to have an even better hitter on deck.”
Schmidt is the most eye-popping prospect on this team. The pitcher tops out at 98 miles per hour. He’s an LSU signee and a potential MLB Draft pick.
But, Coach Bass says Schmidt nor any of the other guys on the team have big egos.
“This team has a motto of family, ‘Forget about me because I love you,’” Bass said. “The selflessness is one thing I think that makes this team so special. They are really pulling for each other, they really feel like they’re all in each other's inner circle. If it were a heavyweight boxing match and they went back to the corner it would be their teammates that they want back there with them.”
The ultimate goal for Catholic is to win a state championship after falling short in the semifinals last year.
“I think as a team, we’re kind of using that as a little bit of motivation to get back there and finish the job this year,” said junior catcher Andrew Clapinksi.
Catholic’s next game is Tuesday at 4 p.m. They host Liberty Magnet.
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