Jesuit American Legion baseball team to be honored at MLB World Series

Mike Strom, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, October 15, 2012 9:20 p.m.

Jesuit baseball is World Series bound, again.

The Jesuit-based Retif Oil & Fuel team, which captured the American Legion World Series in August, is scheduled to be honored by Major League Baseball prior to Game 2 of the World Series in either San Francisco or St. Louis on Oct. 25.

A 22-man contingent of Blue Jays players and coaches are scheduled to travel to the host city of the National League champions on Oct. 24, attend Game 1 of the Series against the American League champions later that night and then do some sight-seeing the next day prior to being recognized on the field before Game 2.

Potential stadiums for the opening two games of the Fall Classic are AT&T Park in San Francisco and Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

St. Louis defeated San Francisco, 6-4, Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in the National League Championship Series that continued Monday night in San Francisco.

?Either city is going to be such a great experience,?? Jesuit and Retif Oil Coach Joey Latino said. ?St. Louis has such a rich (baseball) tradition and San Francisco is such a great city. And if it?s San Francisco, we?ll get a chance to meet Will Clark.??

Clark is a Jesuit product, who starred for the Giants as a six-time All-Star first baseman and now serves as a special assistant in the team?s front office operation.

The Jesuit and Retif contingent is scheduled to include 18 players and four coaches, Latino said.

Retif?s roster included four former Jesuit players, who were college freshmen, six graduating seniors and eight underclassman who will return in 2013.

The college players were shortstop Tony Fortier-Bensen, catcher Luke Voiron and center fielder Brady Williamson, all who play at Delgado, and second baseman Jonathan Lee, a LSU student.

Pitchers Emerson Gibbs and Jonathan Hess, outfielder Armand Daigle, third baseman Matthew Braud, first baseman Michael Gogreve and catcher Matthieu Robert were the graduating seniors while pitchers C.J. Avrard, Cody Migliore, Andrew Mitchell, Brett Leonhard and Will North along with utility man Spencer Miller, outfielder Mitchell Alexander and infielder Michael Cusimano were the underclassmen.

In addition to Latino, the coaching staff includes assistants Kenny Goodlett, Jeff Chappuis and Dr. Joe Licciardi.

The Jesuit and Retif entourage is scheduled to be accompanied by American Legion First District Chairman Sidney Parfait and travel back to New Orleans on Oct. 26.

Retif captured Jesuit?s third American Legion World Series championship on Aug. 22 with a 4-0 victory against Brooklawn, N.J., in Shelby, N.C.

Retif finished with a 41-7 record while winning a Louisiana state title and Mid-South Regional Championship. Gibbs was named Most Valuable Player of the Series.

?This is something that many of us and maybe all of us will only experience once in our lifetime,?? Latino said. ?We certainly are appreciative of the American Legion and Major League Baseball for making this happen.

?I just think that this is going to be a tremendous experience for the boys and coaches and we certainly are looking forward to it.??

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Mike Strom can be reached at mstrom@NOLA.com or 504.232.2517. Follow him at twitter.com/MikeStromTP.

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Source: http://highschoolsports.nola.com/news/article/-3910511760454331412

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