FERRIDAY, La. — Garrett Jones and Gregory Ketchings have been playing baseball since they were old enough to walk, and a camp this week helped them learn to improve their game as they approach high school.

The Mitch Ashmore Baseball Camp, which is being directed by Walker (La.) High School head baseball coach Chris Soileau is geared towards teaching young men ages 7-18 everything from baserunning skills to the &uot;thumb-to-thigh, finger-to-the-sky&uot; technique of throwing a baseball. Soileau coached LSU shortstop Ryan Terriot in summer league ball.

Ashmore, the camp’s organizer, said he is pleased with the number of children who have come to the camp. &uot;Today we’ve got about 70 kids, and last year we had about 75 come out, so it’s a little lower, but not much,&uot; Ashmore said Wednesday.

Jones and Ketchings, both 14, said they thought the camp was very helpful to them as baseball players.

&uot;They taught me stuff I didn’t even know, and I’ve been playing baseball since I was real young,&uot; Ketchings said.

Ketchings, who plays baseball at Trinity Episcopal Day School, said he thought everything was helpful to him. &uot;I knew a whole bunch of the stuff, but there was also a lot of stuff that I didn’t know, and it was just unbelievable to me that there was that much to baseball,&uot; he said.

Jones was equally impressed, but since he attended the camp last year, he found most of the information and drills to be reinforcements of the skills taught last year.

&uot;I thought that the most helpful thing to me was the throwing drill (thumb-to-thigh, finger-to-the-sky),&uot; he said. &uot;Today we just went over the basics, like baserunning, and following the ball, and things like that.&uot;

Ashmore also had help from Sacred Heart head baseball coach Wayne Grenfell, who stressed the importance of baserunning and always keeping your eye on the ball.

&uot;The most important thing for these kids to remember is that baseball is a game of inches, and one split second or one fraction of an inch can be the difference in winning a state champioship and losing it,&uot;&160;Grenfell said.

&uot;The coaches just had a way of explaining the finer points real easy for us to understand,&uot; Ketchings said.

&uot;The coaches just got things across real well, by using illustrations and different stories, and they just made it easy to understand,&uot; Jones said.

Soileau told the campers the main thing to remember when playing baseball is to stay focused. &uot;When you play baseball, if you’ve got your mind on something else, you’re going to be in trouble,&uot; Soileau said.

&uot;He (Soileau) did a really good job in getting his point across,&uot; Ketchings said.

The camp concludes today.