Published: October 06, 2008 08:12 pm      

BC baseball star Hicks enrolls at Barbe HS in Lake Charles, La.

BRIDGE CITY — For two seasons Matt Hicks has given his all to the Bridge City Cardinals baseball team.

Hicks confirmed a very tough decision on Monday that the junior has enrolled at A.M. Barbe High School in Lake Charles, La.

“None of the rumors were true up until about a week ago,” Hicks said. “I made the final decision about two days ago. It was not a spur of the moment decision. Right now this is the best situation for me. I wanted to go to Barbe for my education, baseball and future college plans.”

Hicks, the Defensive Player of the Year on the 2008 All-Orange Leader Baseball Team, has always said his No. 1 goal is to play baseball at Louisiana State University.

“That is the main reason for this move,” Hicks said. “It was an extremely hard decision to make.”

Hicks’ family, like so many others in Bridge City, was hit hard by Hurricane Ike. Hick’s mother, father and sister all lost homes to Ike, including a beach house in the Crystal Beach area.

Hicks’ father, Tom, will move to Lake Charles, La. so the family can make the transfer possible.

“Everything was looking great with Chad (Landry) being the new coach and then it all goes away,” Hicks said. “If I didn’t think this was not better for me, I would never have done it. I loved my time at Bridge City. Those were two of the greatest years I have ever had. My biggest deal is I did not want to leave my friends. I will still be down a lot because I will only be 45 minutes away.”

Hicks had great success with the Cardinals as a freshman and sophomore.

The Cardinals reached the regional finals when Hicks was a freshman and it was Hicks who took the mound in Game 3 against Jasper who went on to win the state title. Hicks went 5 2/3 innings giving up two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and just one walk.

A year ago Hicks and the Cardinals again lost to the Bulldogs, this time in the regional quarterfinals in a 5-1 decision. Hicks did his part on the mound giving up just six hits with six strike outs and one walk.

The Bucs won the 5A Louisiana state championship in 2008 after reaching the state finals in 2007. Barbe won the state championship in 2006 after only reaching the regionals in 2004 and 2005.

Before that the Bucs had reached the state championship round every year since 1998; with championships in 1998, 2000 and 2001.

The Bucs finished last year No. 7 in the nation and have been nationally ranked every year since 1993 except 2004.

Bridge City Athletic Director Cris Stump said there has been a concern within the department of athletes forced to move after Ike.

“We have had only a couple go to other schools right now,” Stump said. “You just hope it ends up not being a bunch of them. It is a concern because you would like to keep all of them.”

Stump and other Bridge City officials have tried to ensure all Cardinals students and parents school would resume at Bridge City and sports will be played.

“What is hard with some of the younger players is when mom and dad are working,” Stump said. “Then the kid has no way of getting to school. We have told them if they need a ride we will come get them. Bridge City is not a huge place and everyone seems to know everyone so it becomes word of mouth.”

Stump reported the Cardinals are even set to play a JV football game this week.