Wolves Have New Baseball Coach

Hall said, “I’m excited to be at a school with such a great tradition.  I believe we are a sleeping giant in this city who is about to wake up.”

Hall was varsity pitching coach last year at Live Oak High School in Watson.

“Our goal as a coaching staff is to get our boys bigger, stronger, and faster as well as teaching them the right way to play the game.  Every little thing we can do better than our opponent will give us that much more of an edge on the diamond,” he said.

Redemptorist will be a young team this year with only one senior.  However, it has a strong nucleus of junior and sophomore talent.  “Without question, our ultimate goal every day is to be State Champions.  Beyond that, we want to see our athletes come into the program as 14-year-old boys and leave as 18-year-old men — men with strong character and a second-to-none work ethic that will have them ready to take on the next chapter of their lives.”

Hall is a native of Crystal Lake, Illinois, where he was a Baseball Factory All-American before accepting a scholarship to play baseball at Northern Illinois University.  At NIU, he was the school’s all-time leader in innings pitched and games started before turning professional.

After two years in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization, Hall played one season of independent baseball in Chicago before being picked up by the San Diego Padres at the end of the 2009 season.

Speaking of his coaching staff at Redemptorist, Hall said, “I don’t think there’s another high school baseball program in the state that has three Division I coaches on their staff.”  In addition to Hall, the Wolves will have former NIU teammate and outfielder Daniel Jewett and former Nicholls State third baseman and Baton Rouge native Anthony Wray on the coaching staff.

Jewett will be assistant head coach and hitting and outfield coach.  In college, he hit .324 his senior year, which was good enough to finish in the top 20 in the Mid-American Conference.  In high school, he was All-State in football and baseball.

Wray will be assistant hitting instructor and infield coach.  At Nicholls State, he led the 2008 team with 10 doubles and three home runs.   He graduated from Bishop Sullivan High School in Baton Rouge in 2004.  At Sullivan, he was a four-year letterman in baseball, earned All-State honors twice, and was All-District MVP.

Redemptorist is hoping to bounce back after a 14-16 season last spring.

Coach Hall teaches history and civics at the North Baton Rouge school, which is located at 4000 St. Gerard Ave.  Redemptorist is currently classified as 2A.