Lawson Raiford, center, surrounded by his dad Kevin Raiford and mother Karen Raiford, signs a letter-of-intent to play at Nunez Communit college on Monday morning at Ponchatoula High School. Photo by Richard Meek
Lawson Raiford, center, surrounded by his dad Kevin Raiford and mother Karen Raiford, signs a letter-of-intent to play at Nunez Communit college on Monday morning at Ponchatoula High School. Photo by Richard Meek
Ponchatoula High School baseball coach Scott Tribble stood to the side, watching two of his Green Wave players ink scholarships to play on the next level
Perhaps through their youthful eyes, Tribble, who has been the Green Wave’s diamond boss since 2020, saw a glimpse of his own past, the Florida native first signing with a junior college in Alabama before transferring to Southeastern Louisiana University in 1992 to culminate his college career and launch his own future in coaching.
During a ceremony in the school’s library Monday morning, outfielder Lawson Raiford, son of Tangipahoa Parish assessor Kevin Raiford, signed to play with Nunez Community College in Chalmette, and Peyton Biondi committed to play at LSU-Alexandria.
In fact, four of the Green Wave’s 12 seniors are headed to the collegiate level, with pitcher Ethan Laurent and outfielder D.J. Bess signing with Baton Rouge Community College.
“No doubt this is satisfying,” said Tribble, whose team will play Brother Martin High School at famed Kirsch-Rooney Stadium in New Orleans in the playoffs later this week.
“They are all hard workers, and they are reaping the reward for that now,” Tribble said of his four signees. “We talk about culture all of the time.
“We want to do things the right way on and off of the field.”
He said with pride that the team has a composite3.19 grade point average, the highest among male sports at the school.
“We don’t have discipline issues because we have established the culture that we want to be excellent in everything that we do and when you do that, good things turn out because of that.”
Raiford, who checks in at 6’-2,” has alternated playing right and center field. Tribble has predominantly played Raiford in right field because of his arm strength, which is the strongest on the team.
“He is one of those guys that if there is a runner on first or second base, and a base hit comes to him, you want (the opponents) to make an attempt to take the extra base because you know it will be a bang-bang play.”
Trible said Raiford leads by example, which has earned the respect of his teammates. He does not jog down the line and sprints to where he supposed to be, the coach said
“All of the things you would ask a leader to do he exemplified that, and the guys look up to that,” Tribble said.
Raiford, a .300 hitter who was raised in a baseball family, said he works on his arm strength daily, focusing on hitting infielders in the chest with his every throw. And that commitment to perfection is what he said he will bring to Nunez.
“I want to continue to learn life lessons and prepare myself for the future,” he said. “I am going to try to be the best that I can and improve.”
He is hopeful to one day play on the Division I level and has already worked out at several D1 programs who have expressed interest.
‘It is good for him to go to junior college,” Tribble said of Raiford. “He has a ceiling that could be at that level.”
“It depends on how he adjusts to the speed of the game, whether it’s the pitchers’ throwing, the runners running, the ball off of the bat.
“That is a different level.”
He said universities are recommending to an increasing number of high school players to attend junior college, knowing that in the new world of college athletics those players will have four years of eligibility remaining.
Tribble said Raiford, similar to his teammates, is polite and a good student without any disciplinary issues.
“It’s a little different in today’s world but it is a pleasure to coach (these players),” Tribble said.
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