Peyton Lejeune 3B / RHP / Teurlings Catholic, LA / 2019

LAFAYETTE - There is only one school you can be a Ragin’ Cajun.

It is right in the backyard of Peyton Lejeune and that is where the 12th-rated player in the 2019 class in Louisiana will be playing baseball once he graduates from Teurlings Catholic.

“I grew up here and thought it would be cool to play in front of the family,” Lejeune said about his commitment to Louisiana-Lafayette. “Being home made a difference. It’s a special thing for me here in southern Louisiana.”

It helped sell the 6-0 175-pounder on UL.

“When they recruited me and I went on a visit, the biggest thing they wanted were players from this area,” Lejeune noted. “People here understand what it means to be a Ragin’ Cajun. The culture … it’s different. Other parts of the country don’t understand, but around here it’s important to play for the home town. It’s not ‘exactly’ hometown, but there is no place like Louisiana-Lafayette in the country.”

The interest was mutual starting a number of years back.

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Baylor Cobb C / 3B / Franklin Parish, LA / 2021

WINNSBORO - Why wait?

That was the thinking of Baylor Cobb when it came to making a college commitment late in his freshman year of high school. After all, it was Tulane that was making an offer.

“A lot of guys want to wait, but with the college history of high-level baseball they play and the high academics they have, I can’t ask for anything more,” explained Cobb. “They compete with great teams and at the same time I’ll be getting a degree that can take me anywhere in life. I didn’t need anything more than that.”

Thus, the fourth-ranked player in Louisiana’s 2021 class made it official naming Tulane as his future destination.

“They love my energy on the baseball field and how I can keep everything on the field from getting dull,” the 6-2 190-pound left-handed hitting catcher noted about Tulane. “I’m projectable in that I can get stronger and quicker, but mainly what they like is how I control the team and keep the energy going.”

The PBR All-State Games is where Tulane and Cobb began to hit it off.

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Davis Meche SS / RHP / Barbe , LA / 2020

LAKE CHARLES - While growing up in the state of Louisiana meant being a fan of LSU, Davis Meche always had a lot of admiration for the Mississippi State baseball program as well. When Meche literally grew up, the feeling became mutual.

Now the Barbe junior is a commit to the Southeastern Conference school seven hours away from home.

“I was really small,” the 5-10 155-pounder said about the early days of his recruitment. “Growing really helped me out. I’ve gotten faster and stronger, but the main thing is my arm and how it’s gotten stronger and quicker.”

At three inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than a year ago, colleges began taking notice in the switch-hitting shortstop.

“When coach Andy Cannizaro was at LSU he saw me at a showcase,” Meche explained. “We stayed in touch and when he moved (from hitting coach at LSU) to (head coach at) Mississippi State I began talking to the other coaches there. They invited me to a camp at Mississippi State and they told me I had gotten stronger and faster. Then they hit me some grounders and said they wanted me to be a Bulldog.”

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Collier Cranford SS / 2B / Zachary, LA / 2019

ZACHARY - Baseball started early for Collier Cranford.

“When I was six or seven I started going to summer camps and had a blast,” Cranford reflected. “It was back then I had a dream to be an LSU Tiger baseball player.”

That dream has been realized after the Zachary senior committed to the SEC school.

“They reached out to me at the beginning of the summer,” the eighth-rated player in Louisiana’s 2019 class said. “They had watched me in the high school season and in Atlanta and they saw a bunch of my summer ball games. It ended up working out. They offered at the end of summer.”

Up until then, Mississippi State, Southeastern Louisiana, Tulane and Northwestern State had been talking to Cranford.

“I went to the Future Games the summer after my sophomore year,” noted Cranford, who also was a participant in the PBR All-State Games three months later. “It was a great event. I did well there and a couple schools talked to me on my way home. Events like the Future Games where you can showcase what you’ve got are great. You get your numbers out there, show your tools and they can watch you play games. That really helps.

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Clint Hargrave C / 2B / Ouachita Christian, LA / 2019

MONROE - Clint Hargrave has always had the desire to be behind home plate.

“When I was a kid I had a cousin that I looked up to that was a catcher,” Hargrave reflected. “I had catcher’s gear - that was too big - from the start. I remember wanting to catch when I first started but my dad told me there wasn’t a catcher in T-Ball.”

Hargrave has been catching ever since.

And it won’t stop anytime soon after the senior at Ouachita Christian made a college commitment to Southeastern Louisiana following a long recruiting process.

“I was playing with the Louisiana Knights last fall and my first tourney with them was at Southeastern Louisiana,” Hargrave explained. “It was a round robin and after the third game coach (Andrew) Gibson said he wanted to talk to me. We discussed grades, he said he liked me and that he’d be in touch.

“Around Christmas break I got my ACT high enough and we began to talk heavily. They came to watch me on March 1. He said they wanted to evaluate me more. He kept coming, four or five more times, and we also talked on the phone. They really want to evaluate players, it’s a special thing to them.

“Then the Thursday or Friday before spring break we were playing and my high school coach (John Parker), who really has helped me throughout my career, said they were going to offer me. It was one of the more special moments of my life. It’s been a dream of mine since I picked up a baseball to play in college.”

Soon after, Hargrave went on a visit.

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Dalton Aspholm RHP / 3B / Central, LA / 2019

CENTRAL - Dalton Aspholm did his part in helping Central to the 5A state baseball championship this past season. A junior at the time, Aspholm not only was the starting third baseman but also pitched in relief.

The chance to continue being a two-way player in college was there as well, but when Southeastern Louisiana became interested Aspholm’s plans changed.

“I started talking to them this summer,” the 23rd-rated player in the state’s 2019 class said. “They were talking to my high school coach and said they watched me pitch during school year ball. They liked that I have good stuff, good feel and good life on my fastball.”

The interest was enough to make the 6-0 180-pounder an offer and soon after Aspholm committed to the Southland Conference school.

“All the JUCOs said I could go both ways,” Aspholm said in reference to schools such as Jones Community College and Mississippi Gulf Coast, “But once Southeastern became interested it was an easy decision.

“Once I get there, I want to throw harder and harder and maybe get drafted if I’m sitting 92-93. Hopefully, I’m 94-95 and get drafted.”

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Drew McDaniel RHP / St. Thomas More, LA / 2019

LAFAYETTE - Living in Lafayette, the hometown college was always a favorite of Drew McDaniel when growing up.

“Up until my freshman year, I envisioned going to U of L,” McDaniel said in reference to the University of Louisiana Lafayette. “Then I really started getting into baseball and watched ‘Ole Miss The Season’ on YouTube. After that, I thought if I was going to go anywhere I wanted to go to Ole Miss.”

The incoming senior at St. Thomas Thomas More Catholic High School got his wish after making a commitment to the Southeastern Conference school.

“The first time they saw me was when I was in Atlanta and pitched,” related McDaniel, who drew plenty of college interest at last year’s Louisiana Knights Scout Day in July and the Future Games in August. “They did a video of me in the bullpen and I pitched pretty well. They said they wanted me to take visit and I went on a visit a week later. They offered and I committed two weeks after that.”

The fifth-rated 2019 in Louisiana enjoyed his time at the school, which is located six hours away from home.

“I really liked the campus, it felt like home,” the 6-2 170-pounder said. “It’s smaller, which I like. It’s very much a college town and I like that. It also has a nice stadium. I went to a game there the year before and the atmosphere was awesome.”

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Alex Milazzo C / OF / Zachary, LA / 2019

ZACHARY, La. - There is always more to accomplish.

For Alex Milazzo, it started with a commitment to LSU. Now the incoming senior at Zachary High School has his sights set on making the USA 18U Pan American team.

“Getting to wear USA across the chest to represent my country would be a tremendous honor,” pointed out Milazzo, one of 43 players that had two weeks to show their skills at the USA training complex in Cary, N.C. “To wear that across my chest would mean everything.”

A roster of 20 will eventually be named to play at the Pan-Am Games in Panama in late November.

“They selected me for the 80-man trials,” explained Milazzo about the one-week Tournament of Stars that was trimmed in half for a second week of competition. “Once I was there I tried to set myself apart from everybody else and that’s what I did.

“Since then they’ve stayed in touch. They haven’t picked a 20-man yet, they’re going to watch us the rest of summer and in the fall. I’m just working my butt off to get better every day.”

That mentality helped Milazzo earn a scholarship offer from LSU.

“I always try to work at getting better, you’re never good enough,” explained the fourth-ranked 2019 in the state.

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