Summer on the Cape is providing more than rest and relaxation for a couple of college baseball players from Southwest Louisiana who starred in the Cape Cod League’s All-Star festivities.
Sam Houston High graduate and current Baylor Bear Kameron Esthay won the league’s home run derby, while Gunner Leger pitched in the All-Star game. The CCBL is a summer wooden bat league for college baseball players.
Other locals in the league include Sam Houston grad Dayton Dugas (Wichita State), LSU’s Beau and Bryce Jordan (Barbe High) and Mississippi State’s Kale Breaux from Sulphur.
Esthay had one homer in league play before the All-Star break, but was picked for the home run contest based on batting practice displays.
“This whole year my team has been telling me I should do the derby,” he said. “The coaches picked three players from each five-team division and I was fortunate enough to be chosen.”
Esthay said he spends most of batting practice working on mechanics before aiming for the fences.
“I try to work on my game for the first two or three rounds, then try to open my swing up and get into some balls, he said. (Before the derby) “We worked on timing and swinging through the ball. I tried to keep my normal swing.”
At the derby, Esthay hit seven in the first round to advance to the finals, then four in the finals to pull out the win. He will receive a custom engraved bat as a reward.
“It is amazing here,” he said. “Great weather; it is constantly 75 degrees here. Baseball-wise, I feel like I am playing in the minors. The pitchers I am facing and hitters I am playing with are a high level of competition.”
Esthay has spent three years at Baylor, redshirting as a freshman after suffering a wrist injury. He has two years of eligibility remaining.
“I love it there,” he said. “I have learned more about the game and how you are supposed to play at the college level. I wasn’t happy with my power numbers this year, but I did learn how to have success on certain pitches.”
Esthay went to Cape Cod as a temp but earned a contract for the entire summer with Hyannis.
“It is different using wood, you can’t get away with some of the stuff you can with the metal bats,” he said. “It really shows your true ability. I have improved. I am seeing better pitching and learning how to hit with the wood bats which have a smaller sweet spot.”
Bryce Jordan was selected to play in the game, going hitless in his lone plate appearance. He is hitting .362 with nine RBIs. Leger pitched one perfect inning in the All-Star game, continuing a dominant performance in the CCBL play. In 17 innings pitching for Wareham, he has allowed nine hits, no walks and one earned run while striking out 23.
“I was lucky enough to meet the pitching coach up here, Jim Lawler,” he said. “We kind of built a relationship and he invited me to come play. I wanted to come up here to prove myself again. The best college players in the country play up here and I wanted to show MLB organizations that I could get them out and have success.
“Being at a mid-major, and not in one of the top conferences in the country, people can say that you wouldn’t have succeeded like you did in the SEC or ACC. This is a mix of the best players from every conference in the country — minus the 15 hitters on Team USA. I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to represent myself and my university. It’s also something a lot of people don’t get to do in their lifetime, it’s an honor to play in this league and I’ll have these memories forever.”
Hitters won’t be in a hurry to remember Leger.
“I think I’ve been able to mix speeds well and I’ve been able to control my fastball to both sides of the plate,” he said. “It also helps that these teams don’t have scouting reports or anything like that, they kind of come to the plate blind. They don’t know what to expect really. I’ve just been trying to come after guys and execute pitches. I’ve been lucky enough to miss some barrels along the way.”
Leger said he wants to make his junior year at Louisiana-Lafayette a big one.
“Obviously everyone wants to go to Omaha and win a national championship,” he said. “I want to be able to help bring the university and the city back to Omaha. Our fans deserve that. I think once you get to Omaha anyone can win. Coastal Carolina proved that this year; no one expected them to win.
“Personally, I want to keep getting better day in and day out — try to put together another good year and help my team win baseball games. My goal coming in to college was to get drafted after my junior year and that’s why I wanted to come up to the Cape. The exposure you get up here can’t be matched anywhere. I just have to keep getting outs and throwing well and the draft and all that will take care of itself.
“I love UL, I love the city of Lafayette, and I love weekends at the Tigue, so if the draft doesn’t work out I’ll have no problem spending another year in one of the best college baseball environments in the country.”
Leger said the number of locals in the CCBL speaks to the quality of high school ball in the area.
“I’ve been able to spend some time with all of them,” he said. “I think all of us being up here and having success speaks volumes for the type of high school baseball programs we have in south Louisiana, especially in the Calcasieu (Parish) district. Along with all those guys there are a number of guys from around the New Orleans area, like Cole Freeman (Lakeshore HS) and Greg Deichmann (Brother Martin HS), and the Lafayette area, like Hogan Harris (St. Thomas More HS) and Brennan Breaux (STM).
“The amount of players from south Louisiana up here is pretty high. It’s pretty cool to be a part of that and represent that area. South Louisiana has had great baseball players for a long time and that won’t stop anytime soon.”
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