The Barbe-LSU pipeline continues as Lawton Littleton commits to the Tigers

LAKE CHARLES–Without question, Barbe High School is the premier prep baseball program in the state, if not one of the top in the nation. 

Producing a multitude of collegiate prospects, the defending National Champion LSU Tigers landed another one of the big Bucs recently with the verbal commitment of left-handed pitcher Lawton Littleton. 

The 6-2, 175-pound Littleton, who was sought by multiple different SEC schools, made things official when he verbally committed to the Tigers back on Sept. 15. He’s coming off of a spectacular sophomore campaign at Barbe, going 10-2 with a 0.84 ERA. In only 74 innings of work, he struck out 111 opposing hitters. 

Making an official visit to Baton Rouge the weekend of the LSU-Florida football game, Littleton recapped his trip to TigerTown. 

“It was actually my first-ever LSU football game,” he said. “I’ve seen YouTube videos and other social media posts talking about how Tiger Stadium is the loudest in the country, but being there in person was just insane. It lived up to the hype; blew my expectations out of the water. 

“Besides the game itself, the (baseball) coaching staff got to show me everything my family and I wanted to see. The Academic Center, the classrooms, just how our life would be outside just baseball in terms of where we would be living and stuff like that. One of the coolest things that I got to see is how much the coaching staff uses technology in terms of pitching. Slow motion replays, pressure plates and all sorts of cool stuff to make you the best pitcher you can be.”

One of the top remaining uncommitted 2027 pitchers in the country, Littleton broke down what he is able to do when he is on the mound. 

“I’m a three-pitch guy. I have a ride fastball that gets up to 92, a big sharp curveball that is up to 72-74 and a change-up that breaks off the table. My favorite pitch is my curveball; it’s my put-away pitch.

“I want to be that guy on a Friday night. Only time will tell if that happens, but in the meantime I’m going to work my tail off.”

With the successfulness of the LSU program not only in terms of championships as of late, but also the maturation and development of Major League Baseball pitching prospects, the pitch to Littleton was quite simple and to the point from the coaching staff. 

“If I want to play in the big leagues, (LSU) is the place to go,” Littleton said of Jay Johnson’s sales pitch. “I’m going to develop here. 

“I’m going to be honest though. Before we got in the car and headed to Baton Rouge I told myself that I was going to take all my visits and listen to all the different schools. From the first day of my visit on campus at LSU, I just felt like I belonged. I felt at home. I’m only two hours away and I had no complaints. The coaching staff at LSU blew my visit out the water.” 

One of the funnest parts of Littleton’s visit to Baton Rouge was being hosted by a familiar face in fellow Lake Charles native and Barbe product Gavin Guidry. 

“Gavin was very much a guy like me,” he said. “He could have gone to any college he wanted to. What he said to me that stuck with me was he could never see himself walking onto the field at Alex Box Stadium with a different state across his chest and pitching. That landed.”