Colonels baseball signs 4 to national letters of intent

Staff Report
THIBODAUX — A former Major League Baseball draft pick out of high school, a Florida product and two Louisiana high school standouts will join the Nicholls State University baseball team in 2015.
Colonels head baseball coach Seth Thibodeaux announced the signings of Trent Giambrone, Gavin Wehby, Evan Hileman and Blaine Schexnayder to National Letters of Intent during the early period.
Thibodeaux, now in his fourth year as head coach, will add four talented athletes to the fold in 2015 as Giambrone will join the team from Jones County Junior College, while Hileman, Schexnayder and Wehby will complete their senior seasons this spring.
“Our coaching staff has worked hard all offseason to go out and find the type of players we know can compete in our system and want to be a part of this family,” Thibodeaux said in a news release. “I’m looking forward to having these four young men come in and compete for spots and make us better as a whole.”
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Giambrone, a 5-foot-10 infielder who bats left, as the Metairie native prepped at Grace King High School and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 30th round of the 2012 MLB Draft.
Last season at Jones County Junior College, he batted in the leadoff spot and did his part finishing the season with a .299 batting average, a home run and 19 RBIs on 47 base knocks and a team-leading 15 steals.
Giambrone will not be the only Louisiana native to play in front of family and friends in the class, as Hileman and Schexnayder hail from St. Rose and St. Amant, respectively. Hileman will wrap up his season at John Curtis Christian, while Schexnayder will have his last go-round this spring as a St. Amant Gator.
Hileman, a 5-foot-10 right-handed pitcher, was a Class 2A All-State selection after accumulating a 7-3 overall record on the mound for the 10-2A district champion Patriots. Along with being the district player of the year in his junior season, he also was selected as the New Orleans small schools Pitcher of the Year by Nola.com/The Times-Picayune in addition to his second stint on the All-Metro team.
Looking to capitalize on his final season and continue the improvements during the past year, Schexnayder will join the Colonels with a lot of momentum after a breakout junior season.
Known primarily as a defensive stop-gap, Schexnayder found his offense as he helped lead the Gators to the state playoffs and the team’s first postseason win since 2007.
He continued that play during the summer, playing for one of the best American Legion teams in the state, Gauthier & Amedee, and riding that success to a national runner-up finish at the American Legion World Series.
Wehby will bring a successful pedigree to the team in 2015, as he is coming off not only a Florida Class 4A state championship, but a 2013 MaxPreps National Championship after his Crusaders of Pensacola Catholic went 30-0 to finish in the top spot of Xcellent 50 baseball rankings.
Known for his quickness, Wehby could find himself competing for multiple spots outside his normal outfielder position.
Nicholls opens the 2014 season Feb. 15 against the University of Houston.