J. EDMUND BARNES

LAPLACE – Brandon Mason, formerly of East St. John High School, recently signed a letter intent to attend Southern University of Baton Rouge in the fall. “I’m excited to be playing baseball for Southern,” said Mason. Mason, who will be playing under Jaguar’s baseball coach Roger Cador, has spent the summer preparing himself for the upcoming collegiate season by working out every day and playing in a summer league. One major difference between Mason’s high school career will be a position change – instead of playing shortstop, as he did when playing at East St. John, Mason will play second base. Mason said he is attending Southern for two reasons: the school’s winning baseball program and its good engineering department. Mason said he will study computer engineering while in college, and to get ready for the academic side of his college career he has been hitting the books. Mason said while discussing the scholarship considerations before signing for Southern back in June he was offered the chance to play football for the Jaguars, but turned it down. “I played (football) for the fun of the game, but I never thought that I could play at the pro level,” he said. Mason then indicated he might walk on the football team after his freshman year. Mason expects the biggest challenge he will face in college will be fighting for and then winning a starting position on the Jaguars team. “I expect to play a lot,” said Mason. “I enjoy the competition.” Mason said he is going to prove his worth to the team by working hard and staying after practice to hit balls. Mason counts among his strengths the ability to field, hit and steal bases. To make himself more valuable to the team, Mason said he will work on focusing throughout the length of the game. “I’ve never spent much time on the bench,” said Mason. “I’m looking forward for (my son) getting whatever the Lord has in store for him,” said Valerie Mason, Brandon’s mother. “I’m going to make (all of my son’s games).” Brandon, who has been playing baseball since he was 5 years old will be sharing a dormitory room with his cousin, Shane LeBoyd, formerly of Destrehan High School. Brandon indicated a possible source of animosity between him and his cousin. “I might be a little junky. I don’t clean up.”