stty device baud-rate resets once no longer being used

-late 2013 MBP, with Yosemite 10.1.0.2 While using a USB --> Serial cable(FTDI chipset), I am unable to get a set baud-rate and get it to stick while the device is not being open/wrote/read. For example:

If I execute, "stty -f /dev/cu.xxxxxxxx 19200" while not doing anything software related with it, it will reset the baud back to 9600 instantly after.

However, if I run "cat -u < /dev/cu.xxxxxxxx" and THEN set the baud to 19200 while the cat is running, the baud rate will stick. This is also the case when I write some test code and execute the C system command open("/dev/cu.xxxxxxxx") and freeze the program.

Under the old BSD roots, this seems to be standard behavior. When I attempt this on a Debian box, the baud-rate sticks. This hints to me that it's system dependent, but is there a way to get the baud-rate to be the default/stick forever?