Portal door swinging at ULL, Ragin' Cajuns keep ties to SW Louisiana
Although a few players have transferred out, the Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team is maintaining its strong connection to Southwest Louisiana.
The team released a list of 10 transfers on social media on Tuesday, which included a pair of former Barbe High School standouts in two-sport star Landon Victorian and 2023 Louisiana Sports Writers Association Mr. Baseball Donovan Lasalle.
Three area players — former Sam Houston High players Luke Yuhasz and Sam Ardoin, and former Singer High pitcher Tate Hess — entered the NCAA transfer portal. They are part of a group of 14 Ragin' Cajun players who started searching for a new school on June 2 when the portal opened.
With the addition of incoming freshmen Cole Flanagan, who helped lead Sam Houston to its first state championship since 2001, the Cajuns will have six area players on their 2026 roster, including Griffin Hebert (Sam Houston), Owen Galt (Barbe) and Kasen Bellard (Barbe). The trio started a combined 67 games as freshmen.
After two seasons at Oklahoma State, Lasalle announced on June 12 his intention to transfer to Louisiana-Lafayette with two years of eligibility remaining.
As a senior at Barbe in 2023, Lasalle hit 10 home runs, including a grand slam in the Bucs' 10-4 state championship win over West Monroe. He batted .510 with 43 RBIs, 57 runs scored and 33 stolen bases. The outfielder batted .194 for Oklahoma State with three home runs and eight RBIs in 43 games.
Victorian, who signed with LSU coming out of high school, played for Oklahoma last season. The 6-foot-3, 178-pound right-hander appeared in one game for the Sooners, against Texas Southern in February. He pitched two innings with one strikeout and one walk and allowed no runs.
At Barbe, Victorian was the star on the mound as a junior during the Bucs' championship run in 2023. He went 8-0 with a 0.98 earned run average. He had 80 strikeouts and six walks in 50 innings.
After playing three seasons for the Cajuns, two in the outfield and one at first base, Yuhasz, who played baseball and football in high school, is transferring to South Carolina. Yuhasz, who made the Sun Belt Conference all-tournament team, hit .320 with 25 runs, 26 RBIs and six home runs.
Right-handed pitcher Hess is headed to Dallas Baptist with two years of eligibility left. He went 6-3 in 2025 with 65 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings and a 5.68 ERA.
After starting in 27 games as a sophomore at second base for the Cajuns, Ardoin is headed to Northwestern State in Natchitoches. Ardoin, the son of former MLB catcher Danny Ardoin, played for Texas as a freshman.
The Cajuns also lost their pitching coach, former ULL all-American pitcher and Barbe standout Gunner Leger. He resigned last week after two seasons to take the same position at Southern Mississippi.
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