D. Dixon
C. Dixon
Siegel
Walker starting pitcher Noah Danburg went 4 strong inning against Rummel before running into trouble.
In a state where college baseball stacks up with any place in the country, there are plenty of roster spots to fill and a bevy of in-state high school players eager to get their opportunities.
LSU-Eunice fits nicely in the scheme of things in Louisiana as one of the premier NJCAA Division II programs in the country, and that success has been largely built on in-state players who took the JUCO route.
When the Bengals began practice last month for the 2017 season, longtime coach Jeff Willis welcomed a quartet of Livingston Parish freshmen to the fold as LSU-Eunice takes aim at a sixth national championship in his tenure.
Recent Walker graduates Noah Danburg, Chance Dixon and Dane Dixon and Denham Springs’ product Jacob Siegel are all first-year walk-ons for the Bengals. They join former Live Oak star Michael Claverie, who is entering his sophomore season.
“We’ve always had a lot of luck with the Livingston Parish area because the players who come from there are talented and have a very tough mindset,” Willis said. “To be able to win at a high level and do things the way we want to do, we have to get kids who have been raised right away and put them on the baseball field. We know they will work hard and play the game the right way.”
Willis certainly seems to have found four players who fit that description from the parish.
Danburg was the 2016 All-Parish Pitcher of the Year and Chance Dixon was the Position Player of the Year. Dane Dixon and Siegel were on the All-Parish first team.
As a senior, Danburg was 5-3 with 58 strikeouts and a 2.87 ERA to earn All-District 4-5A honors.
“He was kind of the glue that held us together on the mound,” WHS coach Randy Sandifer said. “When he rolled out there, we knew he was going to keep us in the game. He was a true No. 1 guy and gave us a chance to win against anybody.”
The Dixon twins were two-year starters for the Wildcats who batted from the top of the batting order for a team that was in contention for the 4-5A championship until the final game.
Chance Dixon manned center field for Walker and batted .340 with a .438 on-base average, 24 runs, 14 RBIs, 3 doubles, 3 triples and 11 stolen bases.
“He was our mainstay,” Sandifer said. “How he went offensively, we followed. We moved him into the two-hole and once he kind of relaxed, he became a much better player and much more consistent.”
Dane Dixon was the Wildcats’ leadoff hitter most of the season and was also a regular on the mound. He hit .318 with 17 runs, 7 doubles, and 13 RBIs, while logging a pair of saves with a 3.35 ERA on the mound.
The Walker trio was part of a 13-man senior class that keyed a resurgent season. Willis said Danburg has a chance to be an effective left-handed reliever and said he is intrigued by how the 6-foot-4 Dixon twins will fill out.
“Their upside is really unknown,” Willis said. “They are nowhere close to the kind of players they’re going to be two years from now. They are going to fill out physically and that’s when I think we’ll see their complete transition into a lot better players than they are right now.”
Siegel heads west as a polished player after starting for two years at Denham. He garnered All District 4-5A recognition as a utility player last spring after swinging at a .284 clip with a team-best 22 RBIs.
“It’s a testament to (DSHS coach) Mark Carroll for the kids he’s put out over the years,” Willis said. “With Jacob, we know he’s going to have the mental toughness we want.”
Claverie set a recent high bar for his new parish teammates with a solid freshman season in 2016.
The 2015 All-Parish Silver Slugger recipient, Claverie started at shortstop for the Bengals last season and batted .343 with 54 runs, 52 RBIs, 15 doubles, 4 triples, 4 home runs and 16 stolen bases.
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Randy Rosetta is Sports Editor of The Livingston Parish News.
You can reach him at (225) 610.5507 or RandyR@LivingstonParishNews.com.
Follow on Twitter: @RandyRosetta | @LPN_Sports
