Cane Cutters News

 By Ty Toups

Lafayette, La. – Head Coach Darien Dukes returns to the Cane Cutters for a third season in 2023 ready to defend the 2022 TCL Championship. Also returning is two-time LSUE National Champion assistant coach Randy Hux. Coach Dukes further strengthened his staff in the off season with the addition of assistant coach Joe Craighead, from the Northwestern University Demons baseball program.

Coach Dukes, the Cane Cutters skipper, returns in hopes of building upon last year’s success. Coach Dukes is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana. He graduated from Trinity Heights Christian Academy High School and attended Baptist Christian College, becoming a two-time National Champion while earning his degree. Dukes began his coaching career in 1996 and has experience at the high school level coaching in Northwest Louisiana and East Texas for over two decades. He also has coaching experience in the professional baseball ranks as a part of the 2010 Champion Shreveport-Bossier Captains, of the American Association.

Randy Hux has coached high school baseball, college baseball, and given private instruction for a combination of over 25 years. When coaching in high school in Florida, he was part of teams that competed for State Championships, and he has also received the honor of being named coach of the year. Coach Huxs’ collegiate experience is with the Texas A&M-Kingsville and LSU-Eunice programs. In 2008 and again in 2010, while at LSU-Eunice as an assistant, coach Hux was part of two National Championship teams. Randy is originally from Spring, Texas and is a graduate of Texas A&M University. 

The Cane Cutters are proud to introduce a new pitching coach onto the 2023 staff. Under Bobby Barbier, Northwestern State University assistant Joe Craighead takes the reigns ready to make an impact. Joe was a two-time Louisiana All-State high school player in 2016-17 at Choudrant High School, where he also won a state championship. Coach Craighead has experience with the La Tech Baseball program under the guidance of Lane Burrows and Mitch Gaspard. At La Tech he was a part of the 2021 staff who were the first to host a regional in school history. He was also a part of the 2022 team who won a Conference USA Tournament Championship and made an NCAA Tournament appearance.

For information on tickets, promotions, advertising, and other opportunities with the Cane Cutters please visit the team website at www.canecuttersbaseball.com or call the Cane Cutters office at (337) 295-5677.

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