Trio of area players to participate in all-star game

A trio of Tri-City area baseball players will get one last shot to play on the high school level this weekend to display their skills before beginning their preparations for baseball at the collegiate level.
Berwick’s Cameron Wiley and Central Catholic’s Gregory Leger and Blake Hidalgo, three of the area’s standout pitchers this season, will participate this weekend as members of the West squad in the Louisiana High School Coaches Association All-Star game. They will be joined by West Assistant Coach Tyler Jensen, who coaches Central Catholic High School The two games will be played Friday and Saturday at North Park in Denham Springs. Game 1 will be played at 7:30 p.m. Friday, while game 2 will be played at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.
Wiley, an LSU Eunice signee, was a key part in Berwick’s run to the Class 3A semifinals this season. He finished his senior season with a 10-3 record and a 1.54 ERA. In 72.2 innings, he surrendered 27 runs (16 earned) on 29 hits with 44 walks and fanned 99.
Offensively, he hit 0.352 with three home runs and 24 RBIs, 31 runs and 15 stolen bases. Of his 38 hits, nine were doubles and two were triples.
“I’m actually pretty excited about it,” Wiley said of playing in this weekend’s game.
He noted that he will be able to play against a talented group in his final high school action.
“It’s actually a really good way to go out,” he said.
Berwick Coach John Menard said it’s a huge opportunity for Wiley to be able to participate in this game.
“It’s an honor for him and for the school for him to represent us over there,” Menard said. “He’s well-deserving. He’s worked very hard.”
One of his teammates will be fellow LSU Eunice signee Chance Clark from South Beauregard, who earned the win in the Knights’ semifinal victory against Berwick.
Other local members of the West team include Leger and Hidalgo.
“This is our first two all-stars that we’ve had,” Jensen said. “It’s kind of ashamed that we haven’t had more with some of the guys that have come through (the program), but it’s awesome. It’s an awesome experience for those guys. It’s an awesome for our program, and it kind of puts us on a big level with some big schools and some big names. … I’m really proud of them. I think that any one of our seniors could have played in that game. It’s very rare that they take two players from one school, especially two pitchers.” Leger, who during the offseason signed with Wharton County Junior College, finished his senior season with a 7-3 record and a 2.35 ERA. He recorded 77 strikeouts and walked 27.
Offensively, he hit 0.427 with seven doubles, three home runs and collected 27 RBIs.
“It’s a tremendous honor to play in this all-star game,” Leger said. “I’ve never really played in an all-star game before other than when whenever we were little, and now that we’re older, I just feel like it’s a really great honor. I can’t wait.”
Hidalgo, who recently agreed to be a preferred walk-on with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, finished his senior season with an 8-1 mark and a 0.78 ERA. He struckout 95 and walked 20.
“It’s a huge honor to be a part of this all-star game, and I hope that Greg and I can go out and compete our best.”
Jensen led the Eagles this season to an undefeated District 7-1A title with a 14-0 mark, while overall, his team finished 27-8 and was the Division IV state runner-up.
Jensen said his selection is more indicative of the type of program Central Catholic has and the type of talent.
“It’s not anything I’ve done,” he said. “It’s just the things that our kids have done that have just made our program one of the top one’s. They asked me to participate because of the kids that we’ve had."