In 2005, when Clint Wilkerson was in his first season as St. Aloysius’ coach, he had to kick his starting catcher off the team for disciplinary reasons.

If you go

What: Class 1A second round, St. Aloysius vs. Cathedral

Where: Liberty Park, Natchez

Time: Today, 6 p.m.

The starter, a senior, was one of the best players on the team. His replacement was a skinny eighth-grader named Sean Weaver. It didn’t matter to Wilkerson.

“He was going to be a four-year starter. Now he’s going to be a five-year starter,” Wilkerson said at the time.

Weaver made a prophet out of his coach. In those five years, the skinny eighth-grader has turned into a baseball-blocking, line-drive hitting, baserunner gunning machine. Now a senior, he’s in his second season as the team captain and is an indispensable leader for the Flashes.

“He’s gone from an eighth-grader whose gear didn’t even fit him snugly, to one of the top three defensive catchers in the state. He’s a fourth coach. He’s our team captain and a great leader on and off the field,” Wilkerson said, adding that Weaver’s potential was evident immediately. “I could just see it. At such an early age he understood the game of baseball. He would stay after practice with me and he would pick my brain. And I would pick his. With an eighth-grader, you just don’t see that.”

That doesn’t mean there weren’t a few growing pains. Although St. Al had several starters in seventh and ninth grade when Weaver got the starting job, there were still enough upperclassmen on his own team and among the Flashes’ opponents that it took some getting used to.

“When I was in eighth grade, I was just an eighth-grader going onto the field with guys older than me. A bunch of teammates put me under their wing and after about a week everything was fine,” said Weaver, who has committed to Hinds Community College but hasn’t signed yet as he weighs his options with four-year schools. “It made me grow up really fast. With Coach Wilkerson, the excuse of being young was never an excuse.”

Although Weaver quickly became adept at the defensive part of the game, hitting was a different animal.

Wilkerson often used a designated hitter in place of Weaver for his first two seasons, and the catcher hit .281 in 2005 and 2006. He kept working on his hitting, though, and had his best season at the plate as a sophomore, with a career-high .398 batting average.

This season, Weaver’s average is down a bit at .357 but his power numbers are up. He has a team-high five home runs, has scored 28 runs and driven in 27 more.

“In eighth grade I wasn’t a great hitter at all. If I wanted to be a good hitter, I was going to have to work at it,” Weaver said. “I didn’t want to be labeled as a guy who could play but couldn’t hit.”

As his hitting improved, Weaver didn’t slack off on the other parts of his game either. He continued to master the tough mental demands of being a catcher — knowing signs and what defenses to call in what situations, among others — and the rigorous physical demands.

Weaver’s ability behind the plate has helped the entire team, pitcher Ryno Martin-Nez said.

“He makes me look like a 10 times better pitcher. With his framing and his blocking, he makes all of our pitchers look so much better,” said Martin-Nez, a junior who also became a starter in 2005. “It’s just been a steady progression. Every year he’s gotten better and better.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com