The McNeese Cowboys baseball team is a mystery headed into the 2024 season.
Justin Hill’s group is expected to be near the top of the Southland Conference standings every year and has finished in the middle of the pack or better in almost every season since becoming the head coach of the Cowboys.
An issue that has arisen for McNeese is the amount of unknowns within this group. “I honestly don’t know what to expect,” Hill mentioned in a recent interview about this 2024 version of the Cowboys.
This will be the 11th season for Hill with the program as he has led McNeese to at least 30 wins each year except for two: in 2018 when the team was sixth in the standings with a 25-33 record and in a shortened 2020 season, they were 10-7 and didn’t play a single game in conference play.
This 2024 Cowboys baseball team had some major turnover this past offseason. Almost half of the roster left Lake Charles as there were 18 departures after last season ended for the Cowboys. Half of those who left weren’t pitchers and six out of the nine were consistent starters in the batting lineup, including John Leslie and Brad Burckel who tied for a team-high in home runs while Leslie also led the team in RBIs with 57.
The pitching staff didn’t get off easy either as the team lost their ace Grant Rogers, who was 12-1 in 15 starts and had an ERA of 1.82, .94 WHIP, and struck out 88 batters. Others such as Christian Vega, Bryson Hudgens, Burell Jones, Derrick Cherry, and others are no longer on the team as well. Ty Abraham is one of the few main pitchers to stay in Lake Charles but there have been plenty of players who’ve come in to replace what was lost in the departures of Rogers and company.
The big get for McNeese out of the transfer portal was grad transfer RHP Daelan Caraway out of Jackson State. Senior infielder Peyton LeJeune, who spent time with the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and LSU Eunice Bengals as well as senior catcher Parker Stroh are veteran players who’ll likely be key contributors in 2024.
McNeese continued to recruit players in the transfer portal who played ball in Louisiana as Grant Mangrum is another LSUE transfer while Jordan Thompson is a junior infielder from Nicholls.
“It is kind of exciting because we have a lot of guys who have been here and now are looking forward to getting their chance,” Hill said. “It reminds me a lot of my first year when we were kind of getting to know one another.”
Hill and his staff didn’t forget to grab talent from the local high school levels either as Sulphur’s RHP Kohl Navarre, catcher Cooper Devall, and Gage Trahan signed with the program over the offseason.
McNeese was picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll that was released last week, which is the lowest the Cowboys have been selected since 2019. Utility player and Moss Bluff product Brayden Duhon has returned for his senior season and is excited about this season even with most of their starters from last year missing.
“We have got a lot of good guys with talent that are looking for their chances to play,” Duhon said. “They have been around a long time, just didn’t get much of a shot because we had a lot of talent in front of them. That makes this really exciting. Nobody is expecting anything from us and I think we can shock some people.”
Of the 58 games that McNeese played in last year, Duhon appeared in 53 and was a starter for 51, hitting .258 while stealing 19 bases in 22 attempts. “We have a lot of guys who know their roles,” said Duhon. “I think we are a more complete team. I think it is going to be fun.”
The aforementioned Abraham was also available to the media and mentioned that the Cowboys, “have a bit of a chip on our shoulder being picked fifth. We do have a lot of older guys who want to go out with a bang.”
Abraham contributed as both a starter and relief pitcher as he had a career-high strikeouts as a starter in one game with 13 and also led the club in saves with five. On the season, Abraham had 75 Ks, an ERA of 3.15, and a WHIP of 1.28.
One Cowboy who was selected to step up this season is senior outfielder Cooper Hext as he was named to the preseason second team. “It is an honor for Cooper and he certainly deserves the recognition,” said Hill.
Hext is McNeese’s top returning hitter as he finished 2023 with a .291 batting average and was tied for a team-high eight homers in 57 games started. Other seniors who are expected to step up are Elliott Hebert and Dean Bittner after seeing limited action at the plate action, appearing in 38 total games and starting in 21. Those two could be crucial elements to the team’s hitting success this upcoming season. “We have a lot of guys who have been waiting for their chance to show what they can do,” said Hill. “That makes this exciting.”
RHPs Kainin Morrow and Zach Voss will be expected to have expanded roles and elevate their play after posting records of 2-1 and 1-3 while also having ERAs of 3.95 and 4.95.
The McNeese Cowboys open their 2024 baseball season on the road. Hill’s team will travel to College Station to face eighth-ranked Texas A&M. First pitch for game one of a three-game series against the Aggies is set for Friday, February 16th at 6:00 p.m.