University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Baseball Signs Nine for 2011
11/12/2009 10:00:00 PM | Baseball
The group includes seven players from the state of Louisiana. They will be eligible to play their first season of baseball in 2011.
Local products include Jordan Bourque (Sunset, La. - Teurlings Catholic), Tony Dischler (Rayne, La. - LSU-Eunice/Rayne High School), Ryan Leonards (Branch, La. - Notre Dame High School) and Michael Strentz (Lafayette, La. - Comeaux High School).
They are joined by Chase Compton (Slidell, La. - Northshore High School), Dominick Francia (Mobile, Ala. - St. Paul's High School), Matt Hicks (Bridge City, Texas - Bridge City High School), Caleb Kellog (DeQuincy, La. - DeQuincy High School) and Kyle Neely (Merryville, La. - Merryville High School).
Bourque is the younger brother of former Cajuns baseball player Justin Bourque, a first team All-Sun Belt Conference performer in 2004. He prepped at Teurlings Catholic alongside current UL players Alex Fuselier, Dillon Guillory and Dayton Marze.
As a senior at Teurlings in 2008, he hit .532 with 18 doubles, 36 RBI and 22 stolen bases. Those efforts garnered honorable mention all-state honors in Class 4A and second team All-Acadiana.
Bourque is currently attending LSU-Eunice. As a freshman last season, he hit .405 with 53 runs scored, 17 doubles, 54 RBI and 20 stolen bases helping lead the Bengals to the semifinals of the NJCAA Division III World Series.
Dischler is spending his sophomore season at LSU-Eunice after going to UL Monroe last season. He made seven appearances, including three starts, for the Warhawks during the 2009 season.
Dischler was ranked as the 8th best prospect in the New York Collegiate League. He was an All-Acadiana performer his junior and senior seasons at Rayne High School and District MVP as a senior. In his senior season at Rayne, Dischler tallied 67 strikeouts in 57 innings while posting a 7-3 record and 1.87 ERA.
Leonards is a shortstop and pitcher for the baseball team and starting quarterback for the football team at Notre Dame High School in Crowley. He earned first team All-State, All-District, All-Parish and All-Acadiana honors as a junior. He posted a .471 batting average and collected eight triples, 37 RBI and 18 stolen bases on the way to District 5-3A MVP honors.
Leonards, who helped lead the NDHS baseball team to the Class 3A semifinals, also turned in a 6-2 record on the mound with a 1.92 ERA. His father played baseball with Tony Robichaux at Notre Dame.
Strentz, like Leonards, is a two-sport athlete. He starts at catcher for Comeaux High School's baseball team and serves as an all-purpose athlete on the football team. He was named to the 2009 Daily Advertiser All-Acadiana second team following his junior season. Strentz hit .398 with 15 doubles, 10 home runs and 35 RBI and also stole nine bases.
Compton plays first and third base at Northshore High School in Slidell. A year ago he posted a .392 batting average, nine doubles, six homers and 25 RBI. He helped guide NHS to a 34-2 record at Class 5A state championship.
Francia tossed a perfect game last season for St. Paul's High School in Mobile, Ala., and was ranked the ninth-best player in the State of Alabama. He was selected to participate in the East Coast Pro Showcase in Lakeland, Fla.
As a junior at St. Paul's, he hit .365 with 10 doubles, four triples and 39 stolen bases (40 attempts). In summer ball, his average was .468 with 15 doubles, six triples and 44 stolen bases (45 attempts).
Hicks is a right-handed pitcher and middle infielder at Bridge City High School in Texas. He was named District 21-3A MVP and was voted onto the All-State team.
Hicks tossed a perfect game and recorded 136 strikeouts in 87 innings. He finished his junior season 13-3 with a 1.60 ERA. At the plate, he sported a .372 average.
Kellog, who will graduate from DeQuincy High School in May 2010, spent his junior season at Bridge City High School with Hicks. He was selected to the District 21-3A first team and ranked as the 30th best player in Texas.
Neely enters his senior season coming off of an MVP season in District 5-1A at Merryville High School. A preseason Louisville Slugger second team All-American, he was chosen as the Beauregard Daily News Player of the Year.
Neely's junior season at Merryville saw him go 7-3 with a 1.96 ERA and two saves. He struck out 110 of 254 batters faced and limited opponents to just 33 hits and a .156 batting average. He threw a two-hitter against D-Bat Select team at the East Cobb World Wood Bat Tournament.
2010-11 Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns Baseball Signing Class
| Name | Pos. | Hometown/Current School |
| Jordan Bourque | SS | Sunset, La./LSU-Eunice |
| Chase Compton | 1B | Slidell, La./Northshore HS |
| Tony Dischler | P | Rayne, La./LSU-Eunice |
| Dominick Francia | OF | Mobile, Ala./St. Paul's HS |
| Matt Hicks | INF/P | Bridge City, Texas/Bridge City HS |
| Caleb Kellog | P | DeQuincy, La./DeQuincy HS |
| Ryan Leonards | INF/P | Branch, La./Notre Dame HS |
| Kyle Neely | P | Merryville, La./Merryville HS |
| Michael Strentz | C | Lafayette, La./Comeaux HS |
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
