Press Release via Lake Charles Gumbeaux Gators
LAKE CHARLES – Fresh off their 2025 Texas Collegiate League championship season with the Baton Rouge Rougarou, head coach Stephen Klein and pitching coach Carl Labit will move west to take over the Lake Charles Gumbeaux Gators for the 2026 season.
The Gumbeaux Gators franchise was recently acquired by a pair of minority groups and Ronnie Rantz, who also owns the Baton Rouge Rougarou. Established in 2024, the Gumbeaux Gators play their home games at McNeese State University’s Joe Miller Park, affectionately known as “The Jeaux,” which recently celebrated its 60th anniversary. The team reached the Louisiana Division TCL playoffs in its first season, finishing 20-29. This summer the team finished 9-37, but still saw record crowds, twice topping the 2,000 mark in attendance.
The Baton Rouge Rougarou won its first TCL championship this summer in its fourth season under Rantz’s ownership, its sixth season overall, finishing with a record of 40-11. Klein, the Rougarou’s fourth head coach in four years, will be replaced in 2026 by Mike Forbes, who has signed a three-year contract.
“It was a big decision,” said Klein, who won the TCL championship in his first year as a head coach at any level. “The big thing for Carl and me was, we won it in our first year and we were like, ‘What’s next?’ We just said, ‘Let’s go for two.’ We just want to run it back and win it again. We’re ready for the challenge. We’re going to give it everything just like we did with the Rougarou.”
“Stephen Klein and Carl Labit did a fantastic job last season working together and leading the Rougarou to its first TCL championship,” Rantz said. “They were committed to winning and built a culture where players enjoyed being with each other and coming to the ballpark each day to compete.”
It was Klein’s first season as a head coach, but he has extensive experience. A graduate of De La Salle High School in New Orleans, Klein spent three seasons at Delgado University under the tutelage of Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame coach Joe Scheuermann. From there he went to Samford University in Alabama, where he was a Rawlings Gold Glove winner as a first baseman. He won a Division II National Championship at the University of Tampa. He spent one season as the hitting coach at Jesuit High School in New Orleans and was named as an assistant coach at Delgado in August.
Labit is a graduate of Archbishop Rummel who spent several seasons as a coach at De La Salle, including the time when Klein was a player. He went on to a stellar career at Loyola University in New Orleans before venturing into private lessons and coaching.
“Stephen showed tremendous leadership and brought a fiery competitiveness that permeated throughout the ballclub,” Rantz said. “The move for Stephen and Carl to Lake Charles will be exciting for them and the organization. Lake Charles fans are getting two young, energetic, winning coaches who are looking forward to turning around a team that won only nine games last season. Also it will be an opportunity to coach at a first-class facility at McNeese.”