Local Legend is Making a Major Impact in the Big Leagues

Joe Lawrence may be the most celebrated baseball player ever to come out of Southwest Louisiana.

In 1996 Lawrence was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft straight out of Barbe High School. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays who he played for from 1996-2002, and finished his baseball playing career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2003.

It looked like his MLB career was over, but ironically, another sport reconnected Lawrence to the big leagues.

In the summer of 2003 Lawrence received a phone call from the LSU Football team. Lawrence, who had not played football since high school, was given an opportunity to play for the Tigers at the age of 27.

“It was something that intrigued me, and it didn’t help that I had some best friends that wanted to see that happen,” said Lawrence. “I got the family support that I needed to make the decision, so I decided to give it a whirl.”

Joe’s LSU Football encounter was short-lived as he suffered a devastating knee injury, but the experience was still extremely productive. That’s where Lawrence was introduced to Jack Marucci who is LSU’s head athletic trainer.

Marucci was a big baseball fan and spent some of his free time hand crafting wooden baseball bats for his son. Knowing Joe’s background, Jack sought the former major leaguer’s opinion on the bats, and Joe told the trainer that the bats needed to be in the hands of major leaguers.

Lawrence, Marucci, and Kurt Ainsworth, who is another former major leaguer, formed The Marucci Bat Company.

“In 2004 we got licensed by the major leagues,” Lawrence said. “We go from eight clients then, to now where we are in the hundreds.”

The Marucci Bat Company, which is located in Baton Rouge, has come a long way since 2004. Marucci is currently the second leading bat manufacturer in Major League Baseball behind the Louisville Slugger.

“If there is one marketing scheme we used, it was letting the right people swing our bats,” said Lawrence. “It has caused a ripple effect through the major leagues. We have clients from every organization in the league. Our clients are typically the better players on the team meaning character wise. They just happen to be great players as well.”

Marucci’s clients include Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are two of MLB’s top sluggers in the game today.
And while Marucci has well over two hundred major league clients, the company produces thousands of bats each year.

“We did close to 18,000 bats in 2008,” said Lawrence. “This year we projected 20,000 and we’re well ahead of that pace.”

Lawrence is still very actively involved with the Barbe baseball program. Last year Marucci developed a prototype aluminum bat called the Cat 5. Lawrence allowed Barbe to use the bat last year, and maybe it’s just a coincidence, but Barbe won the state championship.

“Our kids love it,” said Barbe head baseball coach Glenn Cecchini. We just have one bat because they are being manufactured right now and all of the kids say it’s the best bat they’ve ever used.”

“It’s the hottest bat on the market as far as technology,” Lawrence said. “If you get any hotter, that’s an aluminum bat term meaning how the ball comes off of the barrel, it’s going to be illegal. So we are right on that threshold. We’ve pushed it as far as we can push it.”

The future certainly looks bright for Joe Lawrence and The Marucci Bat family. With the launch of its new aluminum bat, Marucci expects to become a major player in the aluminum bat industry, just as the company has done with its wooden bat line.

How Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is making SWLA a safer place

The fastest growing sport in America is not football. It’s not baseball or auto racing.
It’s mixed martial arts.
For the past fifteen years mixed martial arts or MMA has steadily gained popularity.
However, the sport has never received more attention than it does today. Interest in MMA has also increased here in Southwest Louisiana. Thousands of lake area men, women and children train in mixed martial arts.

Some of them fight competitively, while others train strictly to stay in shape or to learn self defense tactics. And there are some that train in mixed martial arts because everything that is learned in the classroom can be applied to their careers.

Corey Manuel works as a deputy for the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office. Four years ago, while working the late night patrol, Corey found himself in a fight for his life.

“I got in a foot pursuit with a suspect,” said Manuel. “I chased him for about a mile and he decided he wanted to fight me. Not fight to get away, he actually wanted to fight.” In the process of fighting he tried disarming me, so it was very eye opening. And when I left the scene that night I told myself I was going to do everything I could to protect myself.”

That frightening experience led Corey to Lake Area Brazilian Jiu-Jisu in Lake Charles. The mixed martial arts training facility has become a second home for ten local law enforcement officers.

Each of the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s deputies, Louisiana State Troopers and Lake Charles Police Officers who train at LABJJ went through physical training at the Police Academy. But through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, they have developed so many additional skills and techniques that can help them on the job.

“When you’re in the police academy they just give you basic tools,” said Manuel. “It’s up to the individual police officer to expand what they know.”

Louisiana State Trooper Andrew Leonards said, “I felt that there were a lot of situations where I might not know what to do. I feel more comfortable knowing that if something would happen, that I have a higher skill set than what I had coming out of the police academy.”

Lake Area Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu owner Mike Ellender started seeing an influx of local law enforcement officers at his facility three years ago.

“We do a lot of clinch work, a lot of takedowns, a lot of groundwork, and basically it’s showing someone how to control an opponent without having to hit or strike the opponent,” said Ellender. “We’re teaching these officers how to control whoever they are arresting and to defend themselves at the same time.”

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art that focuses on ground fighting. It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger opponent using leverage and proper technique. Once the smaller person has control, they can administer a joint lock or choke hold to end the fight.

“With the things that Mike teaches us in here, I don’t feel there is any way joe blow on the street will have a chance with us,” said Louisiana State Trooper Justin Weeks. “If you don’t know brazilian jui jitsu and you go to the ground with someone who does, you don’t have a chance.”

“We’re all very professional,” says Manuel. “We don’t like using what we know. But I think the word on the street is that everybody knows who we are and what we do know. To be honest we don’t get tested much now.”

There is still a major misconception concerning mixed martial arts. Critics view mixed martial arts as a blood sport with a barbaric mentality. These law enforcement officers don’t train because it’s macho, or because they want to hurt someone, or because they are trying to prove something. They train five and six days each week for us.
Although they come from different branches of law enforcement, all of the officers share the same objective... Protect Southwest Louisiana.

“I think we’re depriving ourselves and community if we’re not the best at what we do,” said Manuel. “All of us give up times with our families to train and stay in good shape to go out on the streets and protect the public.”

Lake Charles Police Officer Mitch Sawyer echoes that sentiment. “It’s our job to protect the community,” says Sawyer. “And in order to do that to the best of our ability we need to take our training to the highest level that we can.”