The two Louisiana Knights premier travel baseball teams capped off another successful summer as they concluded their fourth campaign recently. The 17/18’s and 18’s held their annual summer awards banquet Sunday at Grillot’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar in Mandeville, the site where players, coaches, parents and family members have gathered for the past four summers to recognize the Knights’ accomplishments enjoying good eats and friendship.

The Knights, which were formed four years ago by former major league pitcher Jack Cressend, is an elite summer and fall program designed to give its players an opportunity to showcase their skills on a local and national level. The Knights strive to help each and every player raise their level of play and help them reach the college and professional ranks. A total of 20 Knights’ players off of this year’s roster have committed to play college baseball as they continue to pursue fulfilling their dreams.

Chris Pool and Derek Bickham helped lead the Knights’ 18’s, the older club, to a 28-11-1 record.

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Infielder Trey Rickrode, a graduate of Northshore High and member of the Class 5A Panthers’ 2009 state championship team, who will be attending McNeese State University in Lake Charles on a baseball scholarship, was selected the Knights’ 18’s MVP.

Rickrode talked about receiving the MVP honor.

“We had a bunch of good players. The thing that means the most to me is that it was a team vote. Of course, I didn’t vote for myself. We had a number of really good players including Logan (Peterson),” Rickrode said. “It was an awesome experience playing this summer. Everybody got along and we had good character,” We played hard and had fun.”

Rickrode said the Knights played a good level of competition and just played ball. Rickrode finished with a .378 batting average, third on the club, and scored a team-high 32 runs. He drove in 14 runs and excelled on the base paths swiping 16 bases, while being caught just three times.

Rickrode talked about his success as a base stealer.

“Coach Pool kind of gave me the go ahead and I just went,” Rickrode said.

Logan Peterson, a Fontainebleau High grad, who will attend Loyola and play for the Wolfpack, earned the Cy Young Award. Peterson, a stalwart on the hill, completed his third year and best season with the Knights, posting a 5-1 record with a 2.69 earned run average. He tossed a team-high 52 innings registering a club-high 44 strikeouts with 16 walks. Peterson also sparkled at the plate hitting .413 as the only Knight to surpass the .400 barrier. He knocked in 12 runs and scored 11 times.

Zac Hawkins, a Northlake Christian School grad, who will attend LSU-Eunice, walked away with the Knights’ 18’s Silver Slugger Award. Hawkins hit .341, leading the team with 19 RBI. He finished with one homer, six doubles and two triples. He also stole six bases being caught just once.

Northshore senior center fielder Chris Miller was named the Gold Glove Award winner. Miller and Rickrode were teammates on the Panthers’ championship club (2009).

Third baseman Elisha Settoon, a Ponchatoula High grad, who will attend the University of Texas at Dallas, nabbed the Hustle Award.

Settoon played a valuable role both in the field and on the mound. He batted .329 was second on the team with 16 runs batted in and scored 19 times. He also posted a 1-1 record with two saves, registering a 4.36 ERA.

Settoon, who also excelled in the classroom, graduated as the Ponch-atoula High valedictorian with a 4.0 grade average. He scored 33 on his ACT and was named a National Merit Scholar.

The Louisiana Knights 17/18’s put together a 18-17-1 record coached by Ryan Spencer and Ryan Core. The younger Knights dropped a number of one and two-run games that with a break here or there could have gone their way.

Michael Gilbert, who is in his senior year at Harrison Central High School in Gulfport, Miss., played shortstop for the Knights 17/18’s and was voted the MVP by his teammates. Gilbert doubled up also earning the Gold Glove Award. Gilbert hit .341with 13 runs batted in and tallied 22 runs.

“I give credit to all of my teammates who helped me try to win during the summer. The coaches did a really good job with us and I give them a lot of the credit and thanks,” Gilbert said.

“My dad (Bill) wanted me to play summer ball. We contacted the Knights’ coaches and came out for a tryout. My parents gave me the opportunity (financially) so I give them thanks. It was a blast playing with the Knights.

I enjoyed playing with my teammates and having fun throughout the summer,” Gilbert added.

“Most of the games we played were against college kids so I will use that experience. We had some really good coaching. They encouraged us throughout the summer,” Gilbert said.

Blake Dubuisson, a senior at Long Beach High School in Long Beach, Miss., earned the Cy Young Award for the younger Knights’ club. Dubuisson posted a 3-2 record with a 3.22 ERA. He struck out 26 and walked 15 in 41 and a third innings of work.

First baseman Trey Fortner, a senior, who starts for the Covington High Lions, received the Hustle Award.

Colton Caver, a junior at Gulfport High School, picked up the Silver Slugger Award. Caver batted .384. He hit one homer and six doubles with 16 runs batted in and scored 16 times.

Coach Pool finished his second season guiding the older Knights’ club.

Pool said he feels the awards the players receive recognizing them for their hard work are important.

“The fact that the players vote on it makes it special. Their teammates make those choices and it means that much more to them being selected by their teammates,” Pool said.

Coach Pool thanked and praised the parents for their support during the summer and their ongoing commitment to the program.

“If the parents would not have done a good job raising their sons we would have been faced with a ton of problems throughout June and July. The players’ tremendous behavior can only be attributed to their parents and the way they were raised. We could see first hand the influence the parents had on the players,” Pool added.

Pool said when it comes to game time the coaches are so focused that they didn’t have time for some of the other things.

“The fact that we had parents we could rely on to help with chauffering, concessions, handling the gate or going to get extra water when it was 105 degrees in Dallas helped make our coaching job a lot easier so we could focus on the baseball side of things,” Pool said.

Pool talked about it being an exciting summer because the Knights went to some new locations playing on college campuses including the University of West Florida, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, the University of Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Southeastern and LSU-Eunice, the defending Junior College National Champions.

“The places we were able to play at and the exposure our players got was great. The fact they were able to perform in those atmospheres gets back to just how good a baseball player each of them is,” Pool said.

Pool said both coaching staffs did a great job.

“It’s not just that they are coaches, but they are teachers. To me there is a big difference between the two. The fact they are willing to take someone and encourage them to learn as opposed to telling them how to be is important. I think athletes genuinely respect that type of a relationship between a player and a coach,” Pool said.

Pool and his wife Audrey were blessed with a new addition to the Pool household back in the spring, namely Hope Pool, who is almost four months old, joining her four and a half year-old sister Sophie.

The Pool girls attended the awards celebration with Nikki Peterson (Logan’s mom) doing some babysitting for the ever alert, smiling Hope Pool.

“I was excited because Audrey and the girls made the road trips this summer, which made things easier having them there,” Pool said.