Langevin named SBC Pitcher of the Year
ABC alum LP Langevin (Quebec, Que.) posted a 6-1 record for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns this season and has been named the SBC Pitcher of the Year. Photo: Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
May 20, 2024
By Matt Sullivan
Director of Athletics Communications
LAFAYETTE – The Sun Belt Conference champion Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns earned four of six specialty awards and placed five players on the 2024 All-Sun Belt Conference Baseball team, the league office announced on Monday.
Led by SBC Player of the Year Kyle DeBarge, Louisiana claimed four of the six specialty awards with LP Langevin (Quebec, Que.) named the SBC Pitcher of the Year, Chase Morgan the SBC Freshman of the Year and Matt Deggs as the Ron Maestri Coach of the Year.
Louisiana (40-16), the No. 1 seed in the 2024 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University, placed four players on the All-SBC First Team with DeBarge, Langevin and Morgan joined by first baseman Trey LaFleur. The Ragin' Cajuns added a fifth player on the 28-member team as left-handed pitcher Andrew Herrmann was a second-team selection.
DeBarge, a Dick Howser Award Semifinalist and SBC Preseason Player of the Year, finished the regular-season with a .361 average with a team-high 21 home runs and 67 RBIs.
Rated as the No. 1 shortstop nationally by D1Baseball and the SBC's No. 2 Draft Prospect, DeBarge finished second in the league in slugging percentage (.730), OPS (1.159), home runs (21) and at-bats (230). His 83 total hits during the regular season was third overall and he was fourth in RBIs.
DeBarge, who joined Jace Conrad (2014) and Blake Trahan (2015) in earning SBC Player of the Year honours, belted 13 homers and drove in 45 RBIs in SBC games while becoming the first player in school history to break the 20-home run mark.
Langevin, a Dick Howser Award Semifinalist and named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List, posted a team-best 6-1 record on the mound in his first season in a Louisiana uniform while leading the team with seven saves.
The Quebec City native became the school's sixth player to earn SBC Pitcher of the Year honours, joining Scott Dohmann (2000), Austin Faught (2005), Hunter Moody (2006), Carson Baranik (2014), Gunner Leger (2017) and Colten Schmidt (2018).
Rated the No. 5 overall relief pitcher by D1Baseball. Langevin finished as the SBC leader in strikeouts (97) and was 25th nationally. The right-hander was third nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (15.22) and sixth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.07).
Four of his six wins on the season came in SBC play and he recorded two games during the season with 10 or more strikeouts. Langevin struck out 10 in 4 1/3 innings in a win over Old Dominion and fanned 10 batters in five innings of relief in a win over Coastal Carolina.
Morgan, who joined Trahan (2013), Gunner Leger (2015) and Nick Lee (2016) in being named the SBC's top freshman, finished the regular season as the SBC leader in ERA (2.76) as a true freshman and posted a 4-2 record on the mound with one save. The left-hander was named a Second-Team Midseason Freshman All-American by Perfect Game and was ranked second among SBC pitchers in opposing batting average (.202), runs allowed (25) and earned runs allowed (20).
He allowed just one home run in 65.1 innings on the mound, the fewest among SBC pitchers, with all four wins during the season coming SBC games.
Morgan allowed one hit and fanned 11 in 8.0 innings against Marshall and carried a 2.57 ERA in 49.0 innings with opponents hitting .201 in SBC play.
Deggs, named Coach of the Year for the second time in his career (2016 – Southland), led a nationally-ranked Louisiana squad which finished with the top batting average (.301) and ERA (4.24) in the SBC. Joining mentor and four-time SBC Coach of the Year Tony Robichaux, Deggs guided a team which finished as one of 13 teams nationally to win 40 games in the regular season.
The Texas City, Texas native led Louisiana to its first outright SBC regular-season title since 2016 and its 17th overall 40-win season. The Ragin' Cajuns won 16 consecutive games, including 14 straight in SBC contests.
LaFleur, who finished 1-for-25 at the plate in 2023, finished second behind DeBarge in hitting during the regular season at .360 with 10 homers and 37 RBI. The Pensacola, Fla., native ranked among the SBC leaders in batting average and slugging percentage (.673) and recorded 15 multi-hit games and nine games with multiple RBI
The senior posted eight, three-hit games for the Ragin' Cajuns and ranks among the team leaders in batting average, home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage (.426), doubles (15), RBI and stolen bases (9).
Herrmann, Louisiana's Friday night starter for the majority of the season, posted a 5-3 record on the mound and finished second behind teammate Chase Morgan in the SBC in ERA (2.90). The southpaw tied for first in the league in fewest earned runs allowed (20) and was second on the team in wins and innings pitched (62.0).
Herrmann was third for the Ragin' Cajuns in strikeouts (58) and was tied for the team lead with 12 starts. He led team with four quality starts on the season, with a season-high 8.0 innings pitched in games against Tulane and Southern Miss.
Louisiana will open play in the 10-team field at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday at 4 p.m. against the lowest remaining seed from Tuesday's single-elimination action.
No. 10 seed Georgia State and No. 7 seed Coastal Carolina will meet at 3 p.m. on Tuesday with No. 9 seed South Alabama and No. 8 seed Old Dominion facing off at 6:30 p.m.
2024 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kyle DeBarge, Louisiana (Jr., SS – Kinder, La.)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
LP Langevin, Louisiana (Jr., RHP – Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Banks Tolley, App State (Sr., OF – Madison, Miss.)
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Chase Morgan, Louisiana (Fr., LHP – Cypress, Texas)
TONY ROBICHAUX LEADERSHIP AWARD
Sam Blancato, Georgia Southern (RS Sr., OF – Marietta, Ga.)
RON MAESTRI COACH OF THE YEAR
Matt Deggs, Louisiana
ALL-SUN BELT FIRST TEAM
P – Chase Morgan, Louisiana (Fr., LHP – Cypress, Texas)
P – Bryce Blevins, Marshall (So., LHP – Louisa, Ky.)
P – Billy Oldham, Southern Miss (Sr., RHP – Brookfield, Conn.)
RP – LP Langevin, Louisiana (Jr., RHP – Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
C – Brooks Bryan, Troy (So., C – Opelika, Ala.)
1B – Trey LaFleur, Louisiana (Sr., 1B – Pensacola, Fla.)
2B – Blake Barthol, Coastal Carolina (So., 2B – Allentown, Pa.)
SS – Kyle DeBarge, Louisiana (Jr., SS – Kinder, La.)
3B – Sam Antonacci, Coastal Carolina (Jr., 3B – Springfield, Ill.)
OF – Banks Tolley, App State (Sr., OF – Madison, Miss.)
OF – Graham Brown, Coastal Carolina (Super Sr., OF – Middletown, Md.)
OF – Fenwick Trimble, James Madison (Jr., OF – Virginia Beach, Va.)
DH – Slade Wilks, Southern Miss (Sr., DH – Columbia, Miss.)
UT – Austin St. Laurent, App State (RS Jr., UT – Elon, N.C.)
ALL-SUN BELT SECOND TEAM
P – Andrew Herrmann, Louisiana (Jr., LHP – Kennesaw, Ga.)
P – Niko Mazza, Southern Miss (Jr., RHP – Madison, Miss.)
P – Luke Lyon, Troy (Jr., RHP – Hattiesburg, Miss.)
RP – Grant Wood, South Alabama (RS Jr., RHP – Georgetown, Texas)
C – Caden Bodine, Coastal Carolina (So., C – Haddon Heights, N.J.)
1B – Will Butcher, Troy (Sr., 1B – Arden, N.C.)
2B – Ethan Kavanagh, Troy (Sr., 2B – Cincinnati, Ohio)
SS – Ozzie Pratt, Southern Miss (Jr., SS – Oxford, Miss.)
3B – Will Mize, Georgia State (Sr., 3B – Snellville, Ga.)
OF – Luke Waters, Old Dominion (Jr., OF – Laurel, Del.)
OF – Dalton McIntyre, Southern Miss (Jr., OF – Jackson, Tenn.)
OF – Kole Myers, Troy (Sr., OF – Lafayette, La.)
DH – Kyle Mock, Troy (Sr., DH – Orlando, Fla.)
UT – Josh Tate, Georgia Southern (So., UT – Peachtree City, Ga.)