BATON ROUGE — LSU baseball coach Smoke Laval announced Wednesday that 13 prospects have signed national letters-of-intent with the Tigers.
Six of the signees are Louisiana natives — pitcher Chase Dardar of Delgado Community College in New Orleans; outfielder Reid Brignac of St. Amant High School; pitcher Ryan Byrd of Denham Springs High School; infielder Michael Hollander of Jesuit High School in New Orleans; pitcher Blake Johnson of Parkview Baptist High School in Baton Rouge; and outfielder Trey Simon of Destrehan High School.
The out-of-state signees include shortstop Derrick Arnold of Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College; pitcher Bobby Cassevah of Pace (Fla.) High School; pitcher Nolan Cain of Tate High School in Cantonment, Fla infielder Keegan McCamment of Greensburg (Ind.) High School; infielder J.P. Padron of Clear Creek High School in League City, Texas; infielder Brett Sager and pitcher Anthony Swarzak, both of Nova High School in Davie, Fla.
The signees are scheduled to enroll at LSU in the fall of 2004, and they will be eligible to compete in the 2005 season.
LSU has a total of 18 draft-eligible players on its roster for the upcoming ’04 season, necessitating the signing of a large class this fall.
Dardar is a 6-0, 190-pound right-hander who posted a 32-5 career record on the mound during his prep career at Shaw High School in Marrero, La.
Brignac, a 6-2, 170-pound left-handed batter, earned all-district and all-metro honors last season St. Amant’s center fielder. Byrd is a 5-10, 165-pound left-handed pitcher who earned all-state recognition in 2003 after recording a 10-3 mark and a 2.03 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 72.1 innings.
The 5-11, 180-pound Hollander, a right-handed batter, has displayed tremendous versatility, playing third base, second base and shortstop at Jesuit High. Johnson, a 6-5, 200-pound right-hander, was dominant on the mound last season for Parkview, recording an 11-1 mark with a 0.45 ERA and 122 strikeouts.
Simon, a 6-1, 190-pound left-handed batter, helped lead Destrehan last season to the Class 5A championship game.
Arnold, a 5-9, 160-pound right-handed batter, enjoyed a stellar prep career at Pace (Fla.) High before enrolling at Tallahassee Community College. Cassevah is a 6-3, 195-pound right-hander currently enrolled at Pace High, where he earned 2003 all-state honors.
Cain, a 6-3, 235-pound right-hander, is a product of Tate High in Cantonment, Fla., which has produced major league players Jay Bell and Travis Fryman.
McCamment, a 6-3, 215-pound right-handed slugger, batted .423 last season for Greensburg High with nine homers, nine doubles and 45 RBI in 30 games. Padron, a 6-1, 205-pound right-handed batter, was a 2003 all-district and all-Galveston County selection, and he plays quarterback for the Clear Creek High football team.
Sager, a 5-7, 160-pound right-handed batter, and Swarzak, a 6-3, 190-pound right-handed pitcher, are all-star teammates at Nova High in Davie, Fla., located in the Ft. Lauderdale area.