The North Vermilion baseball team has reached the Class 4A state championship the past two years, and the Patriots are having another outstanding season.
North Vermilion has gone 84-15 record dating to its state championship run in 2021. Last year, the Patriots went 37-4 and finished as runner-up to South Terrebonne.
This season, North Vermilion is off to a 13-3 start with a veteran team that includes 13 seniors.
"We're trying hard to keep our success at the same level," coach Jeremy Trahan said. "It's great having so many seniors who are able to be leaders. They know what's expected of them. It's a really good group."
The pitching staff is deep and experienced.
Aiden Leonard, last year's Acadiana Advocate All-Metro Most Outstanding Player, was 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA heading into last weekend. Last season the Northeast Texas Community College commitment was 9-1 with an 0.96 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 66 innings.
Trahan said Leonard reaches 88 mph with his fastball and is consistently in the mid-80s.
"He creates a lot of swings and misses and has that bulldog mentality," Trahan said.
Another senior right-hander, Cole Veronie, is 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA. Veronie, who was 5-1 last year with a 1.05 ERA, closed the state title game against Tioga as a sophomore. Blaze Duhon, a 6-foot-4 freshman left-hander, is 2-1 with a 1.87 ERA) is also in the starting rotation. Issac Russell and Cole Lejeune have combined for three saves out of the bullpen.
Baton Rouge Community College commitment Allen Johnson (8-1, 1.67 ERA in 2022) and LSU-Eunice signee Tyson LeBlanc (9-1) haven't pitched this season because injuries, although LeBlanc is having a banner season in the field at shortstop and at the plate (.391 batting average, six doubles, 11 stolen bases and 16 runs).
"Tyson has been one of our most consistent hitters for three years," Trahan said. "We moved him to leadoff hitter while we try to figure out the lineup we want. We have bunch of guys hitting for a pretty high average."
Trahan can juggle the lineup with a solid group of hitters in Brandt Fontenot (.463, 10 RBIs), Cody Breaux (.412, seven RBIs, nine SB), Braxton Savant (.395, four HRs, 24 RBIs), Ian Erbe (.366, two HRs, nine RBIs), Northeast Texas CC commitment Camden Breaux (.333, seven SBs), Ethan Frederick (.314), Landon Duhon (.308, HR, eight RBIs) and Evan Deshotels (.275).
"Offensively, we've been really good," Trahan said. "We're hitting .360 as a team and have stolen a ton of bases. We just need to be a little more consistent defensively."
The Patriots are second in the LHSAA's Division II nonselect power ratings behind reigning Class 3A champion Lutcher (13-3). Class 3A runner-up Brusly (11-4) is third, followed by Eunice (13-3) and Assumption (12-5). South Terrebonne moved up to Division I.
"We could easily be undefeated," Trahan said. "We lost by two runs to Sulphur and by one run to Southside and University Lab."
North Vermilion, which took two of three from University High, is in its first year in District 4-4A, which includes Teurlings Catholic, St. Thomas More, Lafayette Christian and Westgate.