In a landscape of college athletics where nothing has been more uncertain, one old adage still remains true: nothing beats winning. In the case of the Lamar Cardinals baseball program that certainly reigns true. They have won 84 games since the 2024 season, that’s second most amongst teams in the state of Texas.
Coming in at #23 in our Transfer Portal Classes shouldn’t be a surprise when it comes to this program. Even now when we see players across the country flocking for Power 4 schools over the off-season, Lamar stays consistently ranked as a top program nationally during the portal season. How do they do it you ask? According to Head Coach Will Davis it’s simple.
“We’ve been winning mostly north of 30, 35 games, our last two years we won north of 40 and I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Davis. “They want to play for a winner.”
As evident from their 40-17 record last season, it’s clear that if you’re joining the Cardinals program you should be ready to win. However it’s not just a matter of winning on the field, but it’s also a sense of confidence in recruiting that they will find players in the portal. So much so that they will intentionally leave spots open to fill with new players from the portal when off-season hits.
“It takes some patience because you don’t know what is going to be out there in June,” said Davis. Fortunately for him, his plan worked out astoundingly well in 2025 and from the looks of it they’re right on path to do so again in 2026.
One of the biggest question marks around the Cardinal program going into the 2025 season was their pitching staff. Their pitching coach Sean Snedeker had just accepted a job at Baylor over the summer which resulted in them losing a few commits, but more importantly left them without a pitching coach for a week while the portal window was closing.
Enter Shawn McGrath, who spent the previous two seasons churning out talent for the Iowa Hawkeyes. In their first season under his tutelage the Cardinals staff collected a Single Season Program Record 491 strikeouts, breaking the 490 record set by the staff back in 2006. The pitching staff also led the Southland Conference in strikeouts, innings pitched, and saves in 2025. All of this happened after coming into the fall with only two guys returning with starting experience in Chris Olivier and Riley Hunt.
This portal season with a fully loaded coaching staff they were able to add some serious talent, starting off with the pitching side of things:
#306 Ranked Travis Lutz, Bradley
When it comes to experience on the mound, it’s going to be tough to find a guy who has been out there more than Travis. In his three years at Bradley he has accumulated 168 innings pitched in which he struck out 161 batters. He struggled slightly with command last season, but when he is on his stuff is really polished, as evident by his stellar 2.63 ERA across 41 innings pitched in the Northwoods the past two summers. I would expect we will get to see Lutz flourish down at his new home.
#368 Ranked Landon Grigg, UL-M
Another transfer bringing in a boatload of starting experience, Grigg started 11 games for ULM last season. He has a true four pitch mix with a fastball sitting in the low 90’s, a slider in the low 80’s, a firm upper 80’s cutter, and a real dead fish of a change up. In 2025 he struck out 49 batters across 57.1 innings.
#477 Ranked Gage Burdick, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
In terms of starters with stuff, you will be hard pressed to find a guy with more stuff than Texas A&M-Corpus Christi transfer, Gage Burdick. His fastball works in the upper 80’s to low 90’s from a funky lefty slot that he tunnels well with a big slider and a tight cutter. On top of that he has a solid curveball and change up that will produce a lot of swings and misses for him. Gage collected 42 strikeouts across 43.1 innings pitched last season for the Islanders.
#488 Ranked Cam Diaz, Sam Houston
Coming off a solid summer for the Sylvan Lake Gulls in the Western Canadian Baseball League where he held a 3.31 ERA in 19 innings pitched, Cam Diaz announced his commitment to Lamar this summer. Over the summer he held an insane 19/3 strikeout to walk ratio which is exactly the type of command you want out of a starting pitcher. Last season at Sam Houston Cam struck out 46 batters over 45 innings pitched.
On the position players side of things the key to the portal is to go in with no fear. “It takes courage because you’re starting the summer off not knowing who your shortstop is going to be and having none in the program” Coach Davis explained.
Coach Davis knows how to recruit and he has again added a good bit of talent out of the portal this year that’ll certainly contribute offensively. Let’s take a look at who they got:
#214 Ranked Balin Valentine, OF Northwestern State
Balin is the exact type of player you want in your lineup. Over the course of his two years with the Demons he hit .291, picking up 19 doubles, 7 triples, and 18 home runs while driving in 84 RBI. He has one of those swings that always holds potential to do big time damage. He can also be a solid threat on the base paths, leading Northwestern State last year in stolen bases with 20.
#295 Ranked Braden Benton, 1B Northwestern State
Another big pick up for the Cardinal this off season is Braden Benton, who much like his friend Balin, absolutely rakes at the plate. Last season he hit .297 with 10 doubles and 10 home runs for the Demons in just 145 at bats. He can hold things down over at first base but also provides an incredibly solid option to fill in at DH where needed.
#313 Ranked Beau Durbin, 2B Bradley
Over his two seasons at Bradley Durbin hit .312 while collecting 26 doubles, 5 triples and 9 home runs. Prior to his time at Bradley he played at Illinois Central College, where he hit .412 with 9 doubles and two home runs in just 26 games. Durbin is a unique case at the plate where he has the fast twitch muscles to drive the ball with authority while also being a serious threat on the base paths.
All things considered Coach Davis and company certainly had their work cut out for them this off-season, from building a completely new infield to refreshing the pitching staff. They added talent from top to bottom with a large focus placed on experience on the mound and production at the plate.
Coach Davis said it best, “If they’re coming to Lamar they’re looking to win,” and with the group they’ve got for 2026 I would certainly expect that to be the case.