SKOWHEGAN -- Former St. Joseph's College baseball star Jesse LaCasse knew he loved hitting with wooden baseball bats way back during his days of playing at Madison High School, in the late 1990s.

There was a "sweet spot" on maple and ash bats that an aluminum or alloy baseball bat just couldn't match.

LaCasse liked wooden bats so much that he started making his own bats on a lathe above his father Dick LaCasse's shoe-repair shop on Water Street in downtown Skowhegan. Some of the ash and maple trees are harvested in central Maine.

His company, LaCasse Bats, was formed this past February.

"Starting in high school, I only practiced with wood," he said. "I don't like the sound of metal. I never liked the sound of metal.

"The main reason for hitting with wood is it makes you a better hitter. It's proven. With a metal bat, of course, you can hit the ball anywhere on the bat and get a hit out of it, and your bat won't break. But with wood, if you're not hitting the ball on the sweet spot, you're not going to get the best hits. You have to be more selective when hitting with wood."

LaCasse, 28, who had set or nearly matched all baseball records at St. Joseph's in Standish when he graduated in 2003, went on to play ball two summers with the Carolina Warriors in the Southern Collegiate Baseball League, where only wooden bats are used.

A year later, in the summer of 2004, he was hired as a player-coach for the Neunkirchen Nightmares baseball team in Germany, where he also coached women's softball. He stayed in Germany for two summers and met Anna, the woman whom he later would marry.

These days, LaCasse, who grew up on Wesserunsett Lake in East Madison where he is now building a home with his wife and their 19-month-old son, Brady, is returning to his love for wooden bats and that "sweet spot."

"With aluminum bats, you can swing, swing, swing. Who cares where the ball hits on the bat?" he said. "You see people swinging a lot more in an aluminum game than in a wooden game."

He said the "sweet spot" -- the best spot to hit the baseball on the bat -- is a section 2 to 3 inches from the top of a wooden bat.

LaCasse said he bought his first lathe -- a cheap, $100 machine -- at the end of the 2005 season, when he returned from playing in Germany.

He now uses a high-end Jet lathe, which takes lengths of maple or ash, forming a baseball bat from 3-by-3-inch pieces of wood.

LaCasse said he cuts his own ash for the bats, and the logs are sawed into planks at a small sawmill on Molunkus Road in Cornville. Everything is then kiln-dried.

He said he can "free-hand" a bat on his lathe in 15 to 20 minutes. The product then is sanded and ready for his label -- LaCasse Bats -- to be burned onto the barrel.

Anna LaCasse designed the label, the right side of which bears the word "Maine" and the outline of a moose.

LaCasse said he uses calipers to check the diameter of each bat every 2-3 inches along the entire length. They are made in different models, varying weight and length ratios, and barrel and handle styles.

"Typically, most people are looking for a lighter bat, I think that has to do with the metal bat craze, people are so used to light bats," he said.

He said St. Joseph's College has gone to all wooden bats, and other colleges and universities are not far behind.

These days, to earn a living, LaCasse installs artistic lighting in Portland and does carpentry in Madison.

He plays in men's wooden-bat senior leagues with teams in Waterville, Winslow, Augusta, Pittsfield, Fairfield, Portland and elsewhere around the region.

He is to be inducted in November into the St. Joseph's College Hall of Fame, in his first year of eligibility.

His bats are sold at games and baseball tournaments during the summer and at stores in Maine, including LaCasse Shoe Repair in Skowhegan, Joseph's Clothing in Fairfield, Game Day Athletics in Augusta and Coastal Athletics and Frozen Ropes training facility in Portland.

LaCasse bats sell for $40 to $60 for baseball and softball, depending on the wood used and the model chosen. In 2008 he made and either sold or donated 150 bats, in all.

He said he and his wife plan to expand the business over the coming winter.

As for a career in baseball, LaCasse said his future probably is aimed more at making the bats than swinging them.

"I've definitely moved on," he said.

"It's more of a hobby sport for me now, but I don't think I'll ever stop playing."

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534, ext. 342

dharlow@centralmaine.com