Joe Scheuermann was a 27-year-old assistant baseball coach at Tulane when he came to Natchitoches in June 1990 to present his father, “Rags,” for induction in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Curveballs are a part of baseball, and “Rags” delivered a dandy one that night. During his acceptance speech, he announced his retirement as Delgado Community College’s baseball coach.

Thirty-five years after following in his dad’s footsteps on City Park Avenue and with 1,207 victories on his record, Joe Scheuermann will join his dad to become the fourth father-son combination to be inducted into the LSHOF.

That culminates the Class of 2025 Induction Celebration in Natchitoches June 26-28. Information about the seven events over three days is available at LaSportsHall.com.

While most assume it was a done deal that Joe would replace “Rags” at Delgado, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The younger Scheuermann came back to New Orleans and soon met with then-Delgado president Dr. James Caillier. “I don’t want to have this job because I’m Rags Scheuermann’s son,” Joe Scheuermann told his future boss.

Later that summer, he became the second head coach of what is now the oldest junior college program in any sport in Louisiana.

In Joe Scheuermann’s first game as head coach in February 1991, the Dolphins faced Bishop State College from Alabama.

“The (Bishop State) head coach was Cleon Jones,” Scheuermann remembered. He asked the World Series champion from the 1969 “Miracle Mets” to autograph his lineup card.

Though the reins had been handed down, it was still hard for the new head coach not to look over his shoulder and in the grandstand. “The first 4-5 years I was more worried about making my dad happy than I was about being a coach,” he said. “I coached too much with exterior emotion. The last two years of his life I started to relax a little bit.”

“Rags” passed away in April 1997, a week shy of his 74th birthday.

Joe Scheuermann was preparing for his 16th season at Delgado when his program – and the entire city of New Orleans – was dealt a body blow named Hurricane Katrina.

The Scheuermanns, with their house and campus under water, evacuated to New Roads. A few days later, in Baton Rouge, he met with Delgado’s chancellor, Alex Johnson.

With the college in financial straits after a lost semester and significant rebuilding costs, the message about the spring 2006 season was simple – “We can’t fund it.” The only way to have a season, and save the program started three decades earlier by his father, was to raise the money himself.

Scheuermann got that program-saving donation from a longtime supporter and friend, and the task of resuscitating a season – and a ballpark, since Kirsch-Rooney Stadium had also been inundated with several feet of flood waters – began.

“I was looking at whether I should transfer,” said Kyle Beerbohm, a sophomore on the 2006 team. “We came back late in the fall and helped with cleanup and putting the field together. Pitchers were putting up a fence during (batting practice). It was definitely a wild fall and early spring.”

Added Scheuermann: “The fact we played the year after Katrina is probably my proudest moment. It would have been easy for Delgado not to have athletics, but it made them realize how important athletics is for the college.”

One year later, the Katrina freshman class would lead Scheuermann to his first-ever trip to the Junior College World Series, 22 years after “Rags” made his only trip.

“If you ask that ’07 team, they expected to win,” Scheuermann said. “If you expect to win, you win. You can’t hope for anything.”

In the district championship game in Missouri, Scheuermann recalled, “We won it on a guy that missed first base on a double that scored the go-ahead run. When that happened, we realized we were going to win this thing.”

Omaha, Nebraska, is the goal each year for LSU and other NCAA Division I programs. On the NJCAA Division I level, it is Grand Junction, Colorado.

“Once we got to the World Series, people bought into our program,” Scheuermann said. “Your kids remember the experience and they pass it down the line … Our expectations became Grand Junction.”

Delgado rattled off three straight trips to Grand Junction from 2014-16 and then returned for a fifth time under Scheuermann in 2023, finishing fifth.

In May 2024, Scheuermann won his 1,178th game to pass the late Tony Robichaux, a 2022 LSHOF inductee, and become the winningest college coach in Louisiana history. But that’s not how he sees it.

“I broke the junior college record for wins in Louisiana,” said Scheuermann, who played at Tulane the same time as Robichaux played at then-USL. “Every game I’ve won was at the junior college level. Tony Robichaux did it at the Division I level. That’s not the same.”

But, he added, “It’s something I will always share with him.”

On April 13 of this year – coincidentally, what would have been “Rags” Scheuermann’s 102nd birthday – Scheuermann registered his latest milestone, career win No. 1,200.

Another milestone happened in January – his 50th Sugar Bowl, for whom he has worked part-time leading up to the annual game since serving as a mail courier as a teenager.

It was there he first met longtime Tulane sports information director and future LSHOF member M.L. Lagarde, who served as a media liaison.

Lagarde “sat me down and said ‘what do you want to do?’ ” Scheuermann recalled. Those conversations led to an opportunity to work Tulane events, beginning in high school.

“I really thought I would work in (athletic) administration,” he said.

After stepping away from baseball for a couple of years in middle school, Scheuermann began attending now-defunct Redemptorist High School, where baseball coach Wilfred “Skeeter” Theard convinced him to return to the game.

“Coach Theard said, ‘You need to play.’ Skeeter took a liking to me and kind of taught me the game a little bit.

“He kind of got me back on path. I started to enjoy myself with baseball a little bit.”

In 1980 – the school’s last year on its Uptown campus and known as Redemptorist – the Rams won the Class 2A state baseball title.

“Joe was more like the player/coach,” said Tommy Mathews, his teammate at Redemptorist, Delgado and Tulane. “He knew more about the game than we did. He was more focused, talking to Skeeter about situations of the game. We were just teenagers playing the game.”

Scheuermann went on to play for his dad at Delgado for two years, and his performance in American Legion ball following his freshman year and then as a sophomore with the Dolphins led Tulane assistant Mickey Retif to take notice.

“Delgado gave me the avenue and the desire to play,” said Scheuermann. “Academically, I got my feet on the ground and was able to get into Tulane.”

After playing for the Green Wave in 1983 and 1984, Lagarde, baseball coach Joe Brockhoff and athletic director Hindman Wall gave Scheuermann a unique opportunity to stay at Tulane, splitting time between the sports information office and baseball staff.

Scheuermann would spend six years as an assistant under Brockhoff at Tulane, helping the Green Wave reach the NCAA Tournament three consecutive times from 1986-88, before heading to Delgado.

How has he gotten to this point? By being himself and convincing other families to do exactly what he did – starting your path on the two-year college level.

“Nobody understands how beneficial it is to go to junior college as an athlete,” Scheuermann said. “We’ve been able to convince Mom and Dad that Delgado isn’t a trade school.

“I’ve placed over 400 kids in four-year programs and continue to get their baseball skills developed and get their education.”

One of them was Sean McMullen, who played at Delgado in 2011 and 2012 before becoming a two-year starter at LSU.

“You never looked there,” McMullen said of Delgado. “(Scheuermann) sat me down and said, ‘How about you give us a shot … If you come here and perform, I will put you in touch with where you want to go.’ I trusted him.”

McMullen became a Pied Piper of sorts for the Dolphins, helping to recruit many of the key local pieces in the program’s three consecutive trips to Grand Junction.

“I told them, if you want to play (Division I) baseball, come here,” McMullen said. “If you hate it, you can leave and just go to college. But nobody does that. This is family. This is different.”

Not one of Scheuermann’s former players has played a day in the major leagues, which may be even a bigger credit to the coaching job he has done in 35 years.

“We’ve been able to do this with blue collar guys,” he said. “We don’t … recruit nationally.”

That itch for administration never left. Scheuermann added the title of athletic director at Delgado in 2013, has been a part of the staff at NCAA baseball regionals at LSU for decades, and this year served as an NCAA liaison for the Hattiesburg Regional.

As Delgado’s AD, he led the fundraising efforts to build the Gayle and Tom Benson Athletic Complex, which opened last fall, steps from the left field foul line at Kirsch-Rooney.

Scheuermann already is a member of the NJCAA Baseball Coaches and the All American Amateur Baseball Association halls of fame. Tulane’s athletic hall of fame will honor him in September with its career achievement award.

Joe and “Rags” join the trio of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning; “Dub” and Bert Jones, and Glenn and Billy Hardin as the only fathers and sons enshrined in Natchitoches.

“Archie texted me and said ‘welcome to the fraternity,’ ” Joe Scheuermann said. “When Archie Manning sends you that, it kind of hits home.”

As much as Joe Scheuermann has followed in his father’s footsteps, there’s one thing he won’t do – go on stage at the Natchitoches Events Center and announce his retirement.

“I get asked all the time, when are you going to get out?” Scheuermann said. “I’m 62, I feel great, I enjoy coaching.

“I remember my dad saying, ‘You’ll know when it’s time.’ I really don’t feel it’s time yet. It’s an occupation but I do it more for the kids and the school.”

New Orleans native Lenny Vangilder has been a part of the team behind Crescent City Sports since it originated in 2008 as NewOrleans.com, and before that spent 20 years leading publicity teams for Tulane athletics and Fair Grounds Race Course. An LSWA past president, he has received more than 35 national and state awards for writing, publications and broadcasting.

For updates on the 2025 Induction Celebration, use this link:

lasportshall.com/InductionInfo

or text “InductionInfo” to 41444

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Justin Morgan was a 26-year-old assistant coach in his first season at Dutchtown High where Chris Schexnaydre was also in his first season as head coach. Schexnaydre had been an assistant to Mike Toups when the first school first opened in 2002, and the Griffins were Class 4A state champions two years later.

Morgan wanted to impress Schexnaydre and arrive early at the field for a 1 p.m. Saturday game. He believed an 8 a.m. arrival was appropriate only to see Schexnaydre’s truck already parked.

He began searching for Schexnaydre, first looking in the press box to see if his boss may be filling out a lineup card ahead of the game. What startled Morgan, though, was not only was Schexnaydre already on the job, but he found him scrubbing toilets in the restroom.

“I’m thinking I was going to beat everybody there,” Morgan said. “He wanted to make sure the bathrooms were clean. He wanted the perception of his program to be first class all the time. He challenged the parents, that by looking at our facilities, to the way we treated them, he wanted them to leave, knowing this is a first-class program, and we do things the right way.

“He wasn’t a finger-pointer and telling somebody to do something he’s not willing to do,” Morgan said. “He took too many things on his own. He has elbows and toes in it. His commitment to the program has been remarkable to watch.”

That level of devotion has remained a staple where the 52-year-old Schexnaydre, nicknamed ‘Shake’ as a youth, remains the head coach after 17 seasons and 23 overall since the school became the newest in Ascension Parish.

He remains a staunch proponent of his players and empowers parents to take a sense of ownership in the success of the program which has never missed the state playoffs.

No. 10 Dutchtown (25-11) travels to No. 7 Natchitoches Central (27-7) for the start of the best-of-three Division I non-select regional series which begins with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Friday. A third game, if necessary, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.

“They need to understand that baseball’s a small part of their lives,” Schexnaydre said of his players. “If I’m someone they’re looking up to as a leader I try to go about my business and do it in the right way. I try to treat parents with respect, I try to treat umpires with respect, I try to treat the opposing team with respect. As they see me doing those things they try to copy that. I feel like I’m a good leader in a lot of different ways.”

Morgan said Schexnaydre brought the exact blueprint on how to run a program from his playing days under legendary Delgado Community College coach Joe Scheuermann, the state’s winningest coach who will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in June.

Scheuermann, now in his 35th season, fostered a family environment at home games where his late sister worked the gate, his daughter and wife handled the concession stand, and his son handled publicity for the team and ran the scoreboard.

Photo Courtesy: Chris Schexnaydre

Schexnaydre, 425-207-2, has employed a similar approach at Dutchtown where it was common to see his parents and siblings (he’s one of seven children) working games.

“It’s a family-oriented program at Delgado,” said Morgan, who took over Toups’ teaching spot in January of 2008 and became the program’s pitching coach. “Chris runs Dutchtown just like that. I don’t remember in my seven years that I didn’t see a family member of his. He comes from a super tight-knit family. That’s what I love about him the most and what I got to appreciate about him the most. I knew he was a family guy, but I didn’t know to what extent. To see that side of him was great.”

Schexnaydre is the product of a father, Elmo, who coached baseball at Archbishop Rummel, East Jefferson, and Grace King.

He attended St. Amant where he pitched and helped the Gators to the first of the school’s five state championships in 1991 – a convincing 18-4 victory over Airline High and future LSU All-American Todd Walker.

There’s never been an element of self-absorption on Schexnaydre’s part. He believed he topped out at 82 miles per hour on the mound, but he retained a quick tempo and command of the strike zone that endeared him to his teammates and coaches.

“I worked extremely hard,” he said. “I wasn’t the most talented, but I worked really hard.”

Head coach Brian Moreau also appreciated Schexnaydre’s organizational skills where after the season, Schexnaydre collected the team’s uniforms, bats, and balls and stored them in a closet until the following season.

Moreau also had a direct impact on Schexnaydre’s future.

“He was kind of like a dad to me,” Schexnaydre said. “He and his wife didn’t have any kids at the time. Coach had a good time with us. He was a really good coach. I felt he got the most out of his players. I felt I always wanted to be a coach. Just the way he handled us and allowed me to kind of be a player-coach. I figured that’s what I wanted to do the rest of my life.”

Despite his own self-deprecating style, Schexnaydre was a college pitcher, first at Delgado and then at the University of New Orleans.

“I wasn’t a hard thrower, but I could dominate the strike zone,” he said. “I got an opportunity to go to Delgado and it wasn’t because I was the most talented guy.”

He enjoyed a standout summer season in American Legion competition, going 13-1 for a team that advanced to the World Series, before enrolling at Delgado and playing for Scheuermann.

His ability to pitch and throw strikes landed him a spot at UNO and played for Tom Schwaner from 1995-96.

Schexnaydre set a school record with 13 career saves, a mark that’s since been surpassed by Reeves Martin’s 26 and Ryan O’Shea’s 18 in three seasons. He’s tied for fourth with 10 saves during the ’95 season, and his career earned run average of 2.64 (33 earned runs in 112.2 innings) is still fifth best, and 45 career appearances is tied for 16th.

“I threw strikes, I wasn’t special, but I knew how to play the game,” Schexnaydre said. “My teammates knew that when I was on the mound, they were going to get a lot of strikes, so they were always ready to go. My teammates and coaches had a lot of confidence in me. They didn’t have radar guns back then while I was pitching. There were no scouts in the stands.”

Schexnaydre was exposed to coaching high school players in a fall league from teams around New Orleans, giving him valuable experience, working with a group from Rummel in the All-America League played at Delgado.

Upon the conclusion of his playing career, Schexnayder continued building his resume as a student-coach at UNO before joining the high school staff at Grace King as an assistant.

“When I played, I watched and paid attention to the coaches,” he said. “I picked up a lot of stuff from coach Moreau, from Joe Scheuermann (1,178 wins before this season), coach Schwaner (school’s second-winningest coach with 462 wins), and other coaches from UNO. I felt like I had some really good mentors when I was growing up.”

Toups was among that aforementioned group of teachers, hiring Schexnaydre to assist him on the school’s first team. The Griffins defeated St. Thomas More, 1-0, to win the Class 4A state title two years later and when Toups left to take over his father’s business, Schexnaydre was elevated to interim coach and then head coach where he’s been ever since.

Dutchtown remained a major player in Class 4A. The Griffins were 23-16 in Schexnaydre’s first season and lost 7-6 to Catholic High of Baton Rouge in the state quarterfinals. A year later, they were in the state title game for the first in five years with a pair of shutout victories, followed by two one-run wins, to oppose Northshore which won the Class 5A state championship, 7-2.

Among Schexnaydre’s fascinating traits is his recall, which is the ability to dissect games with an eye toward pivotal plays from games played more than a decade ago.

That ranges from a painful 8-6 loss to eventual state champion Catholic High of Baton Rouge in a 2010 semifinal to another trip to the state semifinals where Dutchtown led eventual state champion Barbe 1-0 in the top of the sixth.

Schexnayder can still see Barbe’s speedy center fielder Trey Quinn, who went on to play for five teams in the NFL, recording outs in left field, including a key catch with the bases loaded and two outs. He also came up in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs and it was his ground ball that was thrown away into the dugout, allowing two runs to score in a 2-1 defeat for the Griffins.

“(Pitcher) Troy Lewis was dominating the game,” Schexnayder said. “We had (future Ole Miss and Major League pitcher) Jacob Waguespack ready to throw the next game. We had some chances.”

Schexnaydre has won 67% of his games at the school, putting together 14 20-plus win seasons with a best record of 35-4 in 2022. Dutchtown’s won seven district championships and advanced to the state tournament five times, but to hear him tell it, it certainly hasn’t been a one-man production.

Assistant coaches such as Morgan have coached alongside Schexnaydre along with former assistants Bob Lemons, Max Richter, and Bill Mitchell. Troy Templet, Caleb Ricca, and Chris Harrell make up his current staff who are given total autonomy in their areas of expertise.

“To his credit, I was 26 and fresh out of pro ball,” Morgan said. “I had never really coached true high school baseball. He told me to take the pitchers and call pitches. He never questioned me in seven years. That’s the type of trust he has in his coaches. He’s done that with multiple guys.”

Schexnaydre, winner of the Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association’s Tony Robichaux Ethics Award in 2024, believes in allowing his coaches to coach without casting a shadow.

Chris Schexnaydre

“I tell my coaches that if they want to coach, come to Dutchtown and you’re going to get a chance to coach,” he said. “I’m going to take care of the other outside distractions. There are a lot of things that go into being a head coach, especially in today’s time. I absorb that stuff and allow my coaches to coach. I trust them. I’ve had some really good coaches because I feel they enjoy working with me. It’s been good for me.”

Schexnaydre is regarded as a player’s coach, a coach who doesn’t believe in cutting players so that, regardless of their role, can be part of the team fabric and can have an enjoyable high school experience.

When observers questioned the number of players Schexnaydre would retain in his entire program (he dresses out 36 varsity players this season), he’s remained committed to those players.

“He’s been told by guys in the area, including myself, we were carrying too many guys (65 to 70) in the program,” Morgan said. “LSU doesn’t dress out that many in the dugout. It’s because of his love for kids. He wants them to be part of something because he knows how important the high school athletics experience is. He’s a soft-hearted dude that doesn’t want to leave anybody out of that opportunity.

“He truly cares for them as young men and how they carry themselves and how they represent not only the program but now they represent themselves, their families, and the school,” Morgan said. “He wants them to be great men when they leave his program. He wants to win games. He’s a super competitive guy, but he has such a big heart for his players and kids in general.”

Schexnaydre takes a keen interest in the future of his program. Not only does he handle scheduling for his freshman and junior varsity, but he’s also the one driving the bus to road games and watching intently.

It’s another area of a demanding profession that makes him unique.

“There aren’t many games that I don’t go to,” he said. “I want to be able to see them grow and see what we’re going to have for the next year. That’s allowed me to put eyes on some kids, seeing what kids have had success and who we could count on in the future.”

His relationship-building in his two-plus decades at the school extends to the parents who are made to feel special and feel compelled to give back.

“Nobody would do that for anybody,” Morgan said. “I give Chris a ton of credit because of that. What Chris has done is take a good and a great program and still found a way to make it better with the facilities, camaraderie, and family atmosphere they have in the program.”

Two staples of a Schexnaydre-coached team – pitching and defense – have been two of the pillars in the success of this year’s team which finished a game behind Live Oak in the race for the District 5-5A championship.

“Always stress to our guys that we’re going to get solid pitching; we’re going to make routine plays and we’ll give ourselves a chance to be in the game,” said Schexnaydre, who is 57-29 against parish rivals St. Amant and East Ascension. “I like our guys (pitchers) to work with a fast tempo. That’s how I was, and you keep your defense on their toes, and it allows them to play a cleaner game.”

The Griffins have a deep and talented staff led by Louisiana Tech signee Casey McCoy (4-1, 3 saves, 0.91 ERA, 11 BBs, 22 Ks). Caden Hill (4-3, 2.30, 12 Bs, 50 Ks) is a South Arkansas College signee and Danny Sears (3-1, 2.80, 18 Bs, 27 Ks) has signed with Louisiana Christian University.

Cason Johnson (4-0, 1.71, 12 Bs, 49 Ks) is also among the team’s starters with contributions from Tucker Suire (3-0, 1 save, 1.80, 9 Bs, 9 Ks), Ian Young (2-0, .084, 4 B, 5Ks) and Dillon Wilson (1-0, 0.58, 8B, 9 Ks).

“We’ve been really good with our starting pitchers,” Schexnaydre said. “Casey’s been really good as our closer.”

McCoy’s among a group of players batting above .360 (.354, 8 2Bs, 5 3Bs, 2 homers, 20 RBIs, 8 stolen bases) with left fielder Dawson LeBlanc (.356, 10 2B, 2 3B, 23 RBIs, 7 SBs), catcher Cooper Pickett (.357, 5 2B, 14 RBIs) and Cason Johnson (.352, 7 2Bs, 24 RBIs).

Pickett’s been a big key this season when last year’s starting catcher Dylan Champagne suffered a season-ending knee injury while playing quarterback in the fall.

“Cooper Pickett’s stepped up and did a tremendous job,” Schexnaydre said. “We’ve had other juniors that have stepped up and have experience now.”

Because Dutchtown’s home field doesn’t yield many home runs, it’s considered more pitcher-friendly and demands a more fundamental approach than a more station-to-station style, coupled with standout pitching and defense.

The Griffins have followed the formula, becoming the 17th consecutive team under Schexnaydre to reach the playoffs with designs on becoming Schexnaydre’s ninth team to advance to the state quarterfinals.

“I’m super proud of him,” said Morgan, who was 225-103-1 in 10 seasons, leading U-High to its first state title last season before entering the business world. “As a young head coach, I thought it was about how much baseball that I knew. When I took over the program at U-High, I realized all of the things Chris was doing and helped me along the way from a management standpoint. It’s the administrative part of it that’s the hardest part. The grind of it.

“He’s a great communicator; he’s a hard worker,” Morgan said. “He’s been their head coach for 17 years and is still early on a Saturday morning and he’s still going to be there late. Not many people are willing to do that. He’s not going to give himself any credit. He’s the guy at the team banquet to say if we had a successful year, it’s because of the assistant coaches. That he doesn’t know as much baseball as well as they do.”

Among his greatest thrills in coaching came for Schexnaydre last summer when he was on the staff of the East Bank All-Stars that won the Little League World Series in Livermore, Calif.

With Ascension Parish not carrying an Intermediate Team all-star team in his son Tanner’s age group, Schexnaydre moved heaven and earth to find a spot for his talented right-handed pitcher to play.

He eventually got a response after three weeks from an official in the Little League International headquarters in Williamsport, PA to agree to allow his son to be a part of the East Bank 11-13-year-old team.

With his father helping out, Tanner and the East Bank squad rolled through regional competition in San Antonio and qualified for the World Series.

With the Schexnaydre’s traveling as a family, they roomed together while in San Antonia with Tanner sleeping on the floor because his sister was in the one available bed adjacent to their parents.

Schexnaydre was aware of the wishes of the East Bank head coach for players to store their cell phones in the evening to get rest for upcoming games. When he noticed his son was still attached to his phone, Schexnaydre instructed him to save it up, setting off a tense exchange.

“He said that’s why he didn’t like me coaching him,” Schexnaydre said of his son, a seventh grader at St. Theresa Catholic in Gonzales. “I left to check on our laundry and my daughter, who is intense, lit into him. When I came back, I scrolled down my phone and saw he had sent me a text and that he loved me. He’s sitting right there at my feet.”

The younger Schexnaydre, with his dad at his side, enjoyed one of his biggest baseball moments, helping to lead East Bank to the World Series championship. He pitched two complete games, the first in a 4-2 win, and allowed two unearned runs on three hits with eight strikeouts – a performance in which he landed 61 of his 73 pitches for strikes.

Tanner was called on the U.S. Championship game against the host team and delivered another complete game effort. He gave up one unearned run and struck out 11 – throwing 58 of 74 pitches for strikes – in a 3-1 victory to advance to the final where they defeated South Korea, 8-7.

The younger Schexnayder, who was named the Sugar Bowl’s Co-Athlete of the Month, retired 15 straight batters and 18 of the last 19 he faced in the second game. He also batted .333 for the tournament.

“He’s a little more talented than I was,” Schexnaydre said of Tanner. “He knows the game. I talk about pitching with a sense of urgency on the mound. A lot of umpires have told him to slow down. He has a really good tempo. He does a lot of the things I stress to our guys because he’s around our team all the time. I think it will be fun to coach him and see how he responds to me helping with him.”

The rise of Tanner Schexnaydre has brought into question his father’s coaching future.

With the impending retirements of David Jordan at Catholic High-New Iberia after 34 and Scott Phillips at Eunice after 33, Schexnaydre has looked ahead and would like to coach his son when he arrives at Dutchtown in two years.

“My plan is to coach him his freshman year and see how he responds to me coaching him,” he said.

Schexnaydre, who also taught Career Readiness until recently handling in-school discipline cases, looks to begin the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) once he reaches 30 years in the state system in six years. After that, he’ll render a decision about his future prospects.

“There are fewer guys that are staying at one place for 20-plus years and to do it at a high level as well,” Morgan said. “People are quick to be critics and not credit a guy who’s done it for 17 years (as head coach) at the school the size of Dutchtown. Kudos to him. It’s his personality. How much he cares about kids and parents, and how much he wants them to appreciate the time in a Dutchtown High School program.

“It’s not an easy job, it’s a thankless job, Morgan said. “In Ascension Parish, baseball is kind of the No. 1 sport there. There are guys growing up playing at a high level and some of them have coached it. The expectation is pretty high on what you bring to the table as a coach. He’s had opportunities to go and take over other programs. He loves that school.”

Delgado defeated Nunez Community College 14–10 on Sunday at Noel Suarez Stadium, avenging a Saturday doubleheader sweep by the Pelicans.

Delgado batted around in the first inning, posting six runs on six hits. The inning was highlighted by a two-run home run from Rhett Centanni, an RBI double by Eli Booth, a two-run homer by Frank Randol, and an RBI single by Cooper Dailey, giving the Dolphins an early 6–0 lead. In the second inning, a single by Everett Denny scored Josh Hoffmann to extend the lead.

The offense continued to shine in the third when Eli Booth walked with the bases loaded to score Reed Duthu. That set the stage for Frank Randol’s grand slam, which put Delgado ahead 12–1.

Nunez responded with a solo home run by Cohen Veron in the second, and a two-run homer by Conner Stelly in the fourth. A single and an error later in the inning allowed another run to score. The Pelicans continued to chip away at the lead, adding one run in the sixth, three in the seventh, and two more in the eighth to pull within striking distance.

Delgado countered with a run in the bottom of the eighth after Jack Marcantel walked and later scored on a single and an error. Eli Booth added insurance with a solo home run in the ninth to bring the score to 14–10. Michael Hotard pitched into the sixth to earn the win, while Morgan Sauber and Brady Schmidt closed out the game, with Schmidt earning the save.

The win marked Head Coach Joe Scheuermann’s 1,200th career victory as Delgado’s head coach. Now in his 35th season, Scheuermann continues to expand his record as the winningest college baseball coach in Louisiana history.

Scheuermann surpassed the late Coach Tony Robichaux’s 1,177-win mark last May. Scheuermann reached his 1,000th win in April 2019, becoming the first college baseball coach in Louisiana to reach that milestone at the same school. He was inducted into the NJCAA Coaches Hall of Fame later that summer.

FINS WIN! Delgado takes a 14-10 win over Nunez Sunday at Suarez Stadium, also marking Coach Joe Scheuermann’s 1,200th win as Delgado’s Head Coach! pic.twitter.com/VCQXuK5009 — Delgado Athletics (@delgadodolphins) April 13, 2025

Scheuermann succeeded his father and program founder, Louis “Rags” Scheuermann, as Delgado’s head coach in 1990. Fittingly, Joe Scheuermann’s 1,200th win came on April 13—what would have been Rags Scheuermann’s 102nd birthday. Coach Scheuermann is set to be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame this June, where he will join his father.

In his postgame remarks, Scheuermann credited his current and former players for helping him reach the milestone, emphasizing the important role family continues to play in the program year after year.

Delgado Chancellor Dr. Larissa Littleton-Steib shared her congratulations, stating:

“Our Delgado family shares its immense pride and congratulations as Coach Scheuermann marks his 1,200th win as Delgado’s Head Coach, expanding his record-setting tenure with the Dolphins. We’re grateful to Coach for representing the college at a local and national level while continuing to impact the lives of our student-athletes and their families. We look forward to celebrating his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame this summer.”

Delgado will host Baton Rouge Community College this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at “Rags” Scheuermann Field at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium as conference play continues.

Joe Scheuermann has been there and done that. He has been recognized for his excellence in leading the Delgado baseball program for 35 years.

As the longest tenured college or junior college coach in Louisiana, among his massive credentials are being inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame and induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame this June.

Scheuermann has amassed 1,179 victories and has taken the Dolphins to five NJCAA Division I College World Series appearances in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The last appearance was in 2023, where the Dolphins won two games but fell short of the ultimate goal of winning a first-ever national championship.

The 2025 Dolphins will again be a force.

Delgado is ranked 25th in the nation in the preseason NJCAA Division I rankings.

The Dolphins have a host of position players to replace but have some good assets returning offensively.

“I have just three guys who are returning starters as position players,” Scheuermann said. “I have four guys who had at least 25 at-bats. We’re going to have a very inexperienced club, a very young club. Here’s the key, though. I’ve got four returning pitchers and others who can pitch joining us.”

Southeastern Louisiana signee Rhett Centanni returns.

A sophomore and former Archbishop Rummel star, Centanni stepped in at third base, played solid defense, and hit .315 with a home run, 13 doubles and 45 RBI.

Another sophomore, Eli Booth, a former Brother Martin star, returns after a good freshman season at first base and as a designated hitter. Booth hit .290 with 11 doubles and16 RBI.

Sophomore Josh (Eames) Hoffman of John Curtis Christian returns behind the plate. Hoffmann hit .309 with three home runs and 21 RBI last season and did a good job defensively.

Will Delaune also returns with some experience behind the plate.

While the offense needs a boost from new additions, the pitching should be a clear strength for Delgado.

Leading the way is freshman Giancarlo Arencibia, who was a star at Archbishop Rummel. Arencibia originally signed with Tulane before transferring to Delgado recently.

Closer Brady Schmidt, now a sophomore and former Rummel star, was outstanding a year ago with seven saves.

Connor Achee won six games in 2024 with 42 strikeouts in 46 innings.

Michael Hotard, a former St. Charles Catholic star, was 7-0 with a 3.59 ERA as a freshman.

Alex Laiche won four games last season while Bryce Pitts of Jesuit was good down the stretch a year ago.

“We’re very blessed to be in the state of Louisiana with great talent,” Scheuermann said. “We have tremendous high school coaching in the New Orleans area. We’ve been blessed to live here on New Orleans talent.”

The Dolphins have a new challenge this year.

Traditional NJCAA Division II power LSU-Eunice has moved up to Division I and is now part of Region 23 with Delgado, Baton Rouge Community College and Nunez Community College.

Delgado has dominated the region over the past two decades but must now deal with a program that has won eight national championships, including last season, in Division II.

Region 23 will advance two teams to the regional competition in Oxford, Alabama, where Delgado finished second a year ago.

Additionally, Delgado received a big boost with the completion of its Benson Athletic Complex, a state-of-the-art facility with a plush locker room, offices training room and leisure room.

“We cannot thank Gayle Benson enough for her generosity and what she’s done for us,” Scheuermann said. “It’s something we’ve been trying to get done for the last 34 years. We have a new scoreboard as well.”

As is the expectation annually, look for Delgado to approach or exceed the 40-win mark with a strong possibility of reaching the regional round. How quickly its offense matures could determine its chances of making it all the way to Grand Junction.

“The thing about Grand Junction is that it’s contagious,” Scheuermann said. “It takes a while to get there. Once you get there, your kids feed off of it and they understand what it takes to get there and they have a hunger to get back. We want to get there and win.”

The risks of increased regional instability, terrorism, and cyberattacks, and the possibility of dragging us into another never-ending war were too great for us to have joined this conflict, operating against our own intelligence sources.

I believe it was the right move. We can’t allow Iran to come close to having a nuclear weapon. We’ve set back Iran’s nuclear program and possibly set the stage for the Iranian people to topple the regime.

I’m not sure what to think. I have to wait and see how this all plays out.

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