U-High ready for 2A clash with Evangel

• By DAMIAN FOLEY
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: May 6, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The last time the University High School baseball team was in the state playoffs, LSU was about to win its fifth and final NCAA championship under Skip Bertman and the current crop of Cubs seniors was totally oblivious to it all.

“The last time we made it was in 2000 when it was held at Episcopal,” said UHS coach Burke Broussard. “The last couple of weeks we have been talking about playing in the state championships, and it occurred to me that our seniors were in fourth grade playing with their trucks then.”

Far from leaving Broussard feeling dejected at University High’s eight-year drought, it gave the former LSU infielder a chance to give his current players a motivational history lesson.

“I had a poster at home with clippings from the 2000 season that I brought in to show them, to show them that U-High is an amazing school and that they can be a part of something special,” Broussard said. “I promised them that if they made it I would make them their own board, so I was up until midnight (Sunday night). Hopefully we will be able to add some more clippings after this tournament is over.”

University High’s (24-8) quest for a state championship resumes at 4 p.m. today at ULM Warhawk Stadium in Monroe when the No. 2-seeded Cubs face No. 3 seed Evangel (22-12-1) in the first Class 2A semifinal.

The winner will face the victor of the second semifinal between No. 1 Sterlington and No. 5 Calvary in the championship game Wednesday at 7 p.m.

After crushing Welsh 22-6 in the opening round, UHS had to survive a pair of hard-fought two-run battles with Loyola and DeQuincy to reach the semifinals.

Evangel has been a team on a tear, defeating Lakeview, Menard, and Lakeside by a combined 39-6. Adding lagniappe to the matchup is the fact that the Cubs and the Eagles have already met once this season, with UHS picking up a 10-9 victory in Shreveport on Feb. 29.

Broussard admitted that game may be a motivating factor for Evangel, but said at the same time his own team bore little resemblance to the one that took the field against the Eagles in the second week of the season.

“We’ve grown up a lot,” he said. “We have a lot of first-year starters, and only five or six guys back from last year. We’ve learned to compete more, and we don’t let the negatives affect us.”

Left-handed pitcher William Newton is expected to start for the Cubs, and while his record is only one game above .500 at 3-2, it is only a handful of runs away from being much more impressive.

“He’s had a lot of hard luck this year,” Broussard said. “We were winning a lot of ballgames but couldn’t hold a lead in them. His record could easily have been 10-1 or 9-2.”

In addition to Newton, who throws four different pitches for strikes, the Cubs can do plenty of damage at the plate as all nine starting University High batters have an average above .300, led by Arthur Southall, who is hitting at a .480 clip with seven home runs and 50 runs batted in. Troy Collins also has clubbed seven homers and collected 45 RBIs for the Cubs, while Jake Stockinger has shown a flair for the dramatic, hitting a two-run home run against DeQuincy that gave the Cubs the lead in their 5-3 quarterfinal win.