The Texas Tech baseball team will get back a middle-of-the-order bat. Robin Villeneuve will use NCAA waiver for extra year of eligibility in 2026.
Three Texas Tech baseball players put up double-digit home-run totals this past season, and it appears two will be back in 2026.
Left fielder Logan Hughes, the Big 12's regular-season home runs leader with 19, wasn't draft eligible as a sophomore this year, and Tech announced on Thursday, July 17, that first baseman Robin Villeneuve will stay with the Red Raiders for another year.
Villeneuve was a second-team All-Big 12 selection by the conference's coaches as a senior this season. In December, the NCAA gave an extra year of eligibility to athletes who were playing their last season during the 2024-25 school year and began their college careers at non-NCAA programs. Villeneuve spent two years at NJCAA member Weatherford College and one at Tennessee, the 2024 College World Series champion, before he transferred to Tech.
In his first year with the Red Raiders, Villeneuve batted .365 with 12 homers and 49 RBIs. He led the team in average, on-base percentage (.447) and doubles (18) and tied for team high in OPS (1.108), walks (26) and sacrifice flies (5). He was second on the team in hits (69) and runs (46).
The 6-foot-2, 208-pound French Canadian went undrafted in this week's Major League Baseball draft. The San Francisco Giants used a 15th-round pick on right fielder Damian Bravo, the Red Raiders' other double-digit home-run hitter this season with 13.
Tech finished 20-33 this season and tied for ninth in the Big 12 with a 13-17 conference record.
The Red Raiders could return six position players who were full- or part-time starters: Hughes, Villeneuve, middle infielder Tracer Lopez and center fielder Kyeler Thompson, who each started more than 45 games, and shortstop Coleman Ryan and catcher Davis Rivers, who both started more than 30 games.
Through the NCAA transfer portal, they've added left-handed-hitting first baseman Hollis Porter, who this year hit .303 with 21 homers, which ranked third in the Big Ten, and 64 RBIs, which ranked fifth in the Big Ten.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Key hitter planning to stay with Texas Tech baseball team in 2026
Category: General Sports
