Speaker 1: Louisiana Baseball continues to build towards team number one thirteen.
Let's talk about it right here on Rage and Rundown.
What's good, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode
of Rage and Rundown, the show where you will know
all things ul sports. I'm your guys, you Marcus Fitzpatrick,
but you know you can always call me fits. And
in today's episode, we will be talking about the latest
editions that the Raging Caguen's baseball program have added to.
Speaker 2: Their transfer portal class.
Speaker 1: We'll also talk about Louisiana football adding their tenth commitment
or picking up their tenth commitment after their second weekend
of official visits. I know I've been out of action
for the past couple of days. I had to get
a little bit of time off, man, I know, I'm
a guy that is busy. Got a little bit of
time away, so I was seeing all the information. I
just wasn't dropping any episodes on it. But we're back
and we're going to recap everything that took place over
the last week. With that being said, Louisiana Baseball going
into if I can pull it back up on my
Google sheets guide that I had going into this past week,
they had about twenty eight guys that were totally encompassing
this entire team, from your returners to your freshman, your
transfers that you had already signed previously, and the guys
that you had already worked with through the transfer portal
up until this point. But last week was a four
man signing commitments, a group of commitments that you got
for your twenty twenty seven roster going into next season.
Speaker 2: Them now brings your.
Speaker 1: Total up to thirty two total players that you have
going into twenty twenty seven. So the guys that you
added to the mix was Texas State's Manning Salas, you
have Kansas State's Michael Kendrick, you have utsa picture Kendall Dove,
and I'm missing one more as I'm looking around on
the sheet. Griffin Miller was the other picture that you
had for Marshall. So you got three pictures coming from
Marshall that all played under Taylor Sanderfford. And their reason
for coming to Lafayette outside of head coach Matt Diggs
and the culture and the fans and all those things
like that was literally Taylor Sanderfford. I had one of
the pictures. I believe it was Blaine Albright that literally
said I would fight and die for Taylor Sanderfford like
getting that type of commitment, and they hadn't even visited
campus before they announced those commitments.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about Blaine Albright, Charlie Cribbs.
Speaker 1: They had not visited campus before deciding to come to
a place that they had never seen more. Obviously, probably
played there being an opponent, but as far as the
facilities and being around the area at an extensive level,
they'd never seen it before. So kudos to coach Sander
for just being himself and allowing these guys to trust
in him enough that they would be able to commit
off the strength of just his name and who he is.
So we'll talk about the guys that are going to
be coming in. We'll start off with many Salas. He
arrives after earning second team All Sun Belt Conference honors
at Texas State. He's six foot one, two hundred and
thirty five pounds. He was also a infielder and designated hitter.
Probably gonna be your first option at first base, depending
on what you decide to do. From a defensive standpoint.
You obviously want his bat so maybe you could try
Michael Kendrick in that position, or you could utilize many Salaz.
Somebody's gonna have to DH, but you definitely want this
guy in your lineup because he started in sixty two
games for the Bobcats. He batted, He had a three
nine batting average with sixteen home runs and forty two RBI.
He has one more year of eligibility remaining and will
be playing for his fourth collegiate program, which you know,
to some people that may look like a red flag,
but situation change, Coaching staffs change, aspirations for players change,
and what I've seen from a couple of these guys
is that they're coming from multiple different situations and ultimately,
what these guys are trying to do is get an
opportunity to play and they want to win, and that's
what it's really going to bail down to. So you
get a huge back in Manny Salaz. The next is
Kendall Dove, the UTSA pitcher. He is six foot five,
two hundred and thirty pounds. He's a right handed pitcher.
He spent the twenty five and twenty six season at UTSA.
This past season, he had fourteen appearances eight starts, he
had a four and on a four and one record
with a six point seven o ERA across forty three
innings pitched. He will have one year of eligibility and
he will be attending his third school with Louisiana being
in the mix. The era obviously is not something that
you love, but we've seen what Coch Sanderford is able
to do bringing guys in and developing them, working with
them to try to make them much better and bring
the best out of what they could be. But looking
at some of the notes that he was posting, he
has a really really good fastball. I think the fastest
that it got up to was like a ninety one
mile per hour fastball, and he had different options the cutter,
the splitter, and all of those different options that he
can utilize. So in the hands of coach Sanderford, there
could be somebody that you can mold another very big
body pitcher. You think about a Sawyer Preud who's six seven,
two forty. He has a similar build and he's much older,
so he could probably start it as a bullpen kind
of guy for you that can help you be you know,
a Segway type of player. Or somebody that slams the
door shut a closer or even a midweek starter. You know,
just trying to figure out what you can do to
develop this type of player and him just being a
multiple player as you bring him into your program. The
next player is Mike Kendrick, who is come from Kansas State.
Last year with the Wildcats, he started in twenty to
thirty six games, excuse me, thirty six games this past season.
He had a two to ninety batting average, five home runs,
twenty two RBI. He's five eleven, one hundred and ninety
five pounds, and he has two years of eligibility playing
for his fourth collegiate program. I believe he went to
a Juko at one point as well. So another experienced
baseball player that you're going to be adding to the mix,
that gives you an option on the infield, that gives
you an option with his bat, that has a solid
batting average, and that can go out there and potentially
do something special for you depending on how you want
to utilize him across your system. And then the last
player is Griffin Miller, which you know, I didn't know
about it, but I was looking at his stats and
I saw the twenty twenty six season. He didn't log anything,
so I asked him what happened, and he told me
that he had suffered a partially torn or small tear
in his rotator cuff, and so he missed the entire season.
He did undergo surgery, went into surgery in November, and
he said that it feels great and he's fully recovered
and ready to play and compete for the twenty twenty
six season. I do believe he has two years of
eligibility because of that medical red shirt.
Speaker 2: Yes he does.
Speaker 1: He is a right handed pitcher and he's going to
provide another experienced arm for you. What does that look
like when he's at full health. When I was looking
back at his stats in his previous seasons, one of
the things is that he was named a twenty twenty
five Pitcher of the Year watch list member near the
April mark of last season, so under the tutelage of
Taylor Sandeford. At that point, he had a two eighteen
RA which was third in the Sunbelt at the time,
thirty second in the nation, and he had a four
and one record. So when he is at his best,
he is really really good for you. So he gives
you an option that could potentially be somebody that you
bring into the early rotation as a starter, and he
can also be an option for you in the bullpen
that can extend for a very long period of time
as well. So twenty twenty five season, he had a
three point four to six ERA. He pitched in eighty
three innings and he had seventy one strikeouts, so he
was really solid for you, and he only gave up
one home run, seventeen doubles and so he was really
really solid for the Thundering Herd at that point. So
now he's back healthy, it'll be interesting to see how
coach Sanderford is going to be able to mold him
as they moved towards the twenty twenty seven season. So,
like I said, you have twenty or excuse me, thirty
two toll guys that you are now have on your
total roster, and it is as follows. In your pitching staff.
You have Ty Rowman coming back, Gary Carter, cam Riley,
Parker Smith, Hayden Pearson, saw your prewitt, Chase Morgan who
will be coming off of injury Jr. To lead Landon,
Victorian Bryce Wilson from a freshman standpoint, Evan Vincent, and
then you transfers Trent Lape, Dagan Kubat, Maddix Sullivan, Charlie Cribs,
Blaine Albright, Griffin Miller, Kendall Dove. So that is a
total of eighteen pitchers that you currently having your bullpen.
From an infielder standpoint, you have eight guys that are
listed as infielders. Obviously you could cross train guys in
different positions Drew Marco, Blaze, Rodriguez, Josh Lim, Miles Lado
as the freshman. Then your transfers Eric Fernandez, Jeremy Kuiper,
Micah Kendricks, Manny Salaz. Your outfielders again, guys that you
can potentially cross train. Because Donovan Lasal, who is listed
as an outfielder, also played infield for you. You have
Donovan Lasal coming back, Mark Collins, Noah Lewis, and then
the transfer Cale Pizzano is your transfer, So that is
four outfielders. And then you have two listed catchers and
Cole Brown and Stevenspalita. From what I've been told, this
team will be looking to try to add another catcher
into the mix.
Speaker 2: And if I'm not mistaken. They played with thirty four.
Speaker 1: Guys on their roster last season, so they're probably right
around in that sweet spot of the number of players
that they would want to have. I think you're about
as solid as you can get from a bullpen standpoint.
So now it's about adding some depth at the outfielder
positions and then in the catcher's position as well, because
obviously Steven Spalda was a designated hitter for you. He
didn't get many opportunities I don't think at all as
a catcher for you, but his bat was very solid.
Speaker 2: For you in the moments that he was in the
lineup as well.
Speaker 1: So it'll be interesting to see how the offseason continues
to shake up. And you know we're gonna be talking
about it right here on Rage and Rundown. I'm gonna
step aside for one quick second, but when I come back,
we're gonna talk about the football class that is shaping
up for twenty twenty seven for the Ragin Cajuns. We'll
discuss it when we come back here on Rage and Rundown. Hey, guys,
thank you so much for tuning into another episode of
Raging Rundown. We're gonna get back into the action in
just a second, but before we do, please do me
a favor. Like this video, share it and leave a
comment down below, But most importantly, make sure you subscribe
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rate the show, and leave us a review because that
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just like yourself.
Speaker 2: So we talked about.
Speaker 1: Baseball, but now moving over to the gridiron, Raging Cagun's
football picked up yet another commitment towards the.
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty seven class. They had an.
Speaker 1: Extremely active weekend for official visits this past weekend as
they had a ton of guys to come in in
their second weekend of official visits. And if I can
go back on our website, which I'll probably link some
of these stories down in there in case you're more
of a visual person and you want to see it
listed out of the players that were coming in, the
commits and all those things like that, you will be
able to see that based on the stories that I'll
have linked down in the description. But they, like I mentioned,
they were able to add another commitment in a safety
from Archbishop Rummel. But this past weekend, among Some of
the guys that were visiting was Plaqumin wide receiver John Walker,
who is already committed, Angleton offensive lineman Noah Ernst who's
already committed, Covington linebacker Derek Dunbar, Westbrook quarterback Tam Anderson
already committed a Royals D lineman Kobe Smith, already committed
Lafayette Renaissance defensive lineman aj Charles, and then Hanville running
back Fabian Celestine.
Speaker 2: But the commitment that you.
Speaker 1: Got, who I was unaware that he was on a visit,
but he did take a visit, was your recent commitment
that you got in this class, which was the safety
from Archbishop rummel In Gavin Cooper Junior. So you have
positioned yourself now to now have ten total commitments here
in this twenty twenty seventh class and they are as follows.
Shadow Creek tight end Coleman of Oyls D lineman, Kobe Smith,
Faraday wide receiver, Rob Taylor, Westbrook quarterback, Tam Anderson, offensive
lineman Angleton from Angleton, Nor Ernst, Blackman, wide receiver John Walker,
University lab defensive lineman Mason Smith, Saint Thomas More safety
land and Ordy Summer Creek dB, Caleb White, and then
finally Gavin Cooper coming here into the mix for you.
So a little bit about him. He is a six
foot somewhere between one ninety five to two hundred. I've
seen a couple numbers two oh four, two hundred, one
ninety five. Let's put him right there at around two hundred.
He's six foot tall, he's two hundred pounds, and he
can find the football. He is kind of a nickel guy.
So think about kind of the star position that UL has,
the Marion Illiams, those players that are are kind of
like that is the type of player that they're gonna be.
I assume they will be utilizing him at because that's
how he's played in the system at Rummel. He initially
received his offer from the Cagents back on May the seventh,
and like we've seen multiple times in the recruiting process
for the football program, once they hone in on a target,
it doesn't take them very long to land a commitment
from them.
Speaker 2: When these guys are really.
Speaker 1: Interested in the type of program that it is that
is set in front of him. If I'm not mistaken,
he beat out or the Cajuns beat out multiple Sun
Belt members.
Speaker 2: I think it was Old Dominion, Troy.
Speaker 1: Or two of them that I can remember right off
the top of my head that he committed over those
programs in Georgia State, So it's Georgia States, Old Dominion
and Troy were just a handful of programs that he
had offers from that you beat out and a head
to head recruiting battle. You keep him and you bring
him to your program, keep him in the state, and
you keep him from going to somebody else that you
would see him in Sun Belt playing later down the line.
So statistically this season, he had eighty six total tackles,
he had an interception, he had I think four past breakups,
and eleven tackles for loss. So again, a player that
has a nose for the football, very similar to what
we saw from Landon Ordy, who is a safety at STM.
But after I talked to him last week, he told
me that they planned to move him to inside linebacker,
which is very interesting because we've seen how that's worked
out in the past. You think about a Jadon Dugger,
which obviously is a completely different body type than Landon Ordy,
but Jaden Dugger came from Georgetown as a safety, he
was moved to defensive line and eventually became an inside linebacker,
and now he's playing for the San Francisco forty nine ers.
That's not to say that that's what Landon Ordy will
or will not become, but it just goes to show
that when the Cajuns see a skill set and a player,
whether that's his ability to cover or his ability to
have a nose for the football and tackling, and they
switch him to a different position, they've been pretty solid
and being able to evalue wait that talent and move
them to different positions.
Speaker 2: So that'll be interesting to see. But Gavin Cooper.
Speaker 1: Joins this class, bringing the number to ten total commitments
on the twenty twenty seven docket for Louisiana.
Speaker 2: They have another weekend coming up of official visits.
Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure who some of those guys will
exactly be coming up, but you know, I'll be keeping
my eyes and ears out to find out who those
young men will be that could potentially be coming to
Lafayette this upcoming weekend, and we'll be discussing it right
here on Raging Rundown. That's gonna wrap up this episode
of Raging rundown. If you've made it to this point
in the video, thank you guys so much. Please do
me a favor. Please like this video, share it, and
leave a comment down below. But most importantly, make sure
you subscribe to the channel. If you're listening, please follow
the podcast feed, rate the show, and leave us a review,
because that will help us get in front of more
raging Cajun fans. Just like yourself. I'm your Guyja Marcus Fitzpatrick.
We'll see you guys next time.