LAPLACE, La. (WGNO) — Wayne Stein enters his 8th spring as St. Charles Catholic Head Baseball Coach, his first as Head Football Coach.
“When I took over the baseball program, my comment was I feel like somebody gave me the keys to a Porsche and said “don’t wreck it “and I feel the same way. I think that Coach Monica held us all to a high standard and that’s not going to change,” says Coach Wayne Stein.
While one of his job titles did change, Coach Stein says his approach to the Comets’ baseball season and football’s offseason has not.
Coach Stein says, “I think we have 51 baseball players in the program and 41 of them play football. So, it’s not like there are a bunch of kids hanging in the wind, not doing anything. We’re able to do a lot of stuff during the school day. What is different is that we are not going to do any spring football practice until baseball is completely over.”
The 2021 seniors on the St. Charles Catholic baseball team were part of the Comets 2019 Division II title team.
They’ve led the charge through one of the tougher non-district schedules in the state with a 13-9-1 record.
“8 of our 9 losses are to 5A schools, a lot of them by 1 run. So, we are trying to establish ourselves as one of the better baseball programs in the state, not just in the class,” says Coach Stein.
Coach Stein says he sees starting to see flashes of this team’s potential.
It all starts with bringing the juice.
“All 29 guys have an impact on the game. Whether I’m in the lineup or I’m on the field, we talk about if you’re juiceless you’re useless,” says Coach Stein.
Coach adds, “We always talk about if we’re not the most talented team in our Division, how do we win? We’ve got to win by having more intensity by playing the game harder. That’s just kind of our selling point. Everyone can have juice it doesn’t matter your talent level, your height, your weight. So, that’s something that we’re learning to do.”
Coach Stein says it’s not a distraction, but something crucial to success.
The 2021 seniors did the same thing coming up in the program and the tradition lives on with the next great group of Comets.