High School Baseball Previews: Sulphur Golden Tors

Sulphur, LA (KPLC) - The Sulphur Golden Tors had an impressive 2022 season as they finished with an overall record of 32-8 and were 10-4 against district opponents, but despite their impressive records, they finished second in the 5A District 3, and fell in the state semi-finals. Now, heading into 2023, the Tors have a chip on their shoulder, and have their goals set on “#finishing”.

“With our program and the culture that we’ve developed over the years, of course the State Championship is our number one goal, it’s to compete, and win a state championship, it’s a tough tough league that we play in, and so we’re excited for the competition, but we know how hard it’s going to be, but we’re up for the task. Our motto this year is #finish, because we’ve been there a couple of times in our program’s history, we would’ve been there in the COVID year, and we haven’t finished the deal yet and so, it was very simple this year, it’s time to finish” said Tors head coach Sam Moore about this upcoming season.

The Tors enter the season with a chip on their shoulders after not finishing the job over the past couple of years, and they also enter the 2023 season ranked as they are the 17th-ranked team in the nation according to Collegiate Baseball’s National High School Top-30 Poll, but as Sulphur senior, and LSU signee Jake Brown puts it, that’s not a surprise.

“Oh we expect that, we like being the underdog but at the same time I think everybody knows that we’re the team to beat this year, and we’re going to go out there, and it’s going to be hard to beat us. We have a lot of bats, I think our one through nine is the best in the state, I think our pitching is the best in the state, and humbly, I don’t think there’s a team that can match us right now” said Brown.

High expectations, and a lot of confidence from Brown as the Tors enter 2023, but it’s for good reason. Brown is one of 15 seniors on this 2023 Sulphur squad, and he is one of six Tors who have already signed their National Letters of Intent to continue playing baseball at the collegiate level. Brown is signed to play for LSU while Gage Trahan, Cooper Devall, and Kohl Navarre are signed to stay in Lake Charles and play for McNeese, while Luke Benoit is headed to the University of Texas at Tyler, and Cooper Bird is heading to Southeastern Louisiana.

“Ever since me, Jake, Cooper, Bird, a lot of the guys, we’ve been living for this moment since we were little and just coming to the games as kids we’ve been looking up to all of the other guys and just wanting to be here, it’s very exciting, and knowing that we’ve got a chance to be a very special group and do a lot of good things, it’s very exciting” said McNeese signee, and Sulphur shortstop Gage Trahan.

The Tors are chomping at the bit to get their 2023 season started, and that’ll happen in less than two weeks on Monday, February 20th on the road against North Vermillion.

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