Southeastern Louisiana University Athletics

Ethan Francis, a former Northwestern State pitcher, joined the Southeastern staff of coach Bobby Barbier in the fall of 2023 as the Director of Analytics.

In his second season as a member of the coaching staff, Southeastern claimed the Southland Conference’s 2025 regular-season title. SLU's pitching staff led the conference in ERA, turning in the only sub-4.00 ERA in the Southland. The Lions also tied the program’s single-season record for home runs, established just one season ago.

The pitching staff tossed the third-most shutouts (8) and compiled the ninth lowest ERA (3.76) in Division I, while ranking 11th in slugging percentage against (.350), 16th in H/9 (7.8) and 23rd in WHIP (1.33).

Seven players earned All-Conference honors. Brennan Stuprich was named the Southland’s Pitcher of the Year and Student-Athlete of the Year, in addition to earning All-America, All-Region and All-Louisiana honors. Freshman closer Brady St. Pierre was named the conference’s Relief Pitcher of the Year, along with picking up Freshman All-America honors.

Along with Stuprich and St. Pierre, TJ Salvaggio and Dane Watts earned first-team All-Southland honors. Conner O’Neal, Giovanni Licciardi and Blake Lobell picked up second-team honors, while Watts and Parker Coley were named to the All-Defensive squad.

Ryan Brome, O’Neal and Salvaggio joined Stuprch in earning All-Louisiana honors.

Stuprich and O’Neal were both drafted. O'Neal was selected in the ninth round by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Stuprich was drafted in the 14th round by the New York Yankees, the two participants in the 2024 World Series.
 
In his first season, Francis helped produce a squad that established a program single-season record for home runs and posted its highest batting average (.282) in eight seasons. During the North Oaks Health System Southland Conference Baseball Championship, the No. 6-seeded Lions picked up a pair of wins and advanced to the semifinal round.
 
Four SLU hitters produced double-figure home run totals – TJ Salvaggio (13), Parker Coley (12), Jude Hall (12) and Shea Thomas (10) – as the Lions blasted 86 home runs as a team, besting the previous program record by three.
 
Hall, Coley and Justin Williams would each earn Southland Conference Hitter of the Week honors during the season, while right-hander Brennan Stuprich was named the conference’s Pitcher of the Week twice.
 
Stuprich, Salvaggio and Thomas each earned first-team All-Conference honors while left-handed pitcher Larson Fabre was named the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year. Salvaggio and Thomas joined Rhett Rosevear and Jackson Rodriguez on the Southland’s All-Academic squad.

A two-time member of the Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll, Francis played three seasons at Northwestern State after transferring from Colby CC in Colby, Kansas. He appeared in 35 games during his Demon career, starting six. Francis compiled a 3-2 W-L record and one save to go along with a 5.91 ERA in 56.1 innings pitched. He surrendered 59 hits and 19 walks, striking out 43 batters. 

Francis played two seasons of high school baseball at Foothills Composite in Okotoks, Alberta. He helped lead Foothills to championships at the Best of the West, the Butler University 18U Invitational and the Dawgs Mother’s Day Tournament as a senior.

A native of Canada, he hails from Miscouche, Prince Edward Island. Francis earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northwestern State in the spring of 2023.