David McChesney has endured a few bumps on his road to college baseball success, but now the marketing junior seems to be in perfect position to succeed as a member of the Wolfpack.
McChesney, a native of Kenner, La., attended Jesuit High School where he played right field for the varsity team. During his senior year in 2006, Jesuit won the State Championship.
McChesney was a three-year letterman there, and his school won district championship honors every year he attended. McChesney also won All-State, All-Metro New Orleans, All-Legion, and Clarion Herald Elite Baseball Team accolades his senior year at Jesuit.
It was a dream scenario for a student-athlete’s senior year of high school. McChesney was offered an athletic scholarship to Delgado Community College, where he played the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
He then went on to play at NCAA Division-I McNeese State last year, but a pulled hamstring and several other injuries kept him from the starting lineup.
“The injury wasn’t too severe, but it kept me out long enough that it made it really hard for me to get any playing time. They wound up making roster cuts and I was the odd man out. Then Loyola wanted me and it was close to home, so I figured why not,” McChesney said.
“Coach (Gee) Cassard got me to visit and toured me around and I liked what I saw and heard from him. He told me that he wanted to rebuild the program and get this team a good reputation. He wanted me to be the centerpiece for that, which got me really interested in coming here. I was homesick and hadn’t really found that comfort zone yet, so the university being local was a big plus,” he said.
McChesney was always a gifted athlete, but realized his potential for baseball once he was able to stick on the varsity team at Jesuit, and decided he was going to focus all of his efforts on an athletic scholarship for his best sport.
“Growing up, I played football, baseball, basketball and soccer so I was always real athletic, but once I got to high school I basically just settled on baseball as my main focus. I wound up sticking on varsity for baseball, so the other sports took a backseat,” he said.
McChesney, who is second on the team with a .476 batting average, ranks first on the team in almost every other batting category, including slugging percentage, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, and even at-bats. He also boasts a perfect fielding percentage, with no drops or errors.
Loyola has never been known for having a particularly stellar baseball program, so it’s not surprising that, even though McChesney grew up in the area, he knew very little about the program and the situation he was coming to.
“Growing up in the area and knowing very little about Loyola athletics, I didn’t really know what to expect, but ever since I got here, I’ve liked it a lot. I really like all my teammates, and everyone has a good head on their shoulders,” he said.
In his first season at Loyola, McChesney is excited about his role in the future of the program, and thinks that the team has a lot of potential for success down the line.
“Coach Cassard has really recruited well, and we have a lot of young talent. About half of our team is new, with a lot of freshman and transfer players. I think with these young guys we have, there’s a lot of potential for individual improvement,” he said.
A cum laude graduate at Jesuit, McChesney was on the Dean’s List in each of his three semesters at Delgado. At McNeese, he was named to the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll. He feels comfortable at Loyola and is finally in a situation where he can flourish and be a leader on the team.
“Ever since I’ve stepped foot here I’ve liked it a lot. The people here are easy to get along with and it’s a small community with a family atmosphere, which I really like,” he said.
Dan Pitta can be reached at [email protected].
