2026 AAA Team Preview: Catholic Rockets
February 12, 2026
The Arkansas high school baseball season kicks off on Mar. 3, opening day for regular season action under AAA regulations. Leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2026 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, counting down to the official Prep Baseball Arkansas Preseason Power 25 Rankings.
Perennially, we’ve submitted a preseason questionnaire to high school head coaches across the entire state. Their responses have been flooding in and we’re using the detailed insight they’ve provided in our team-by-team preseason analysis.
Our 2026 preseason coverage continues today.
Head Coach: Bryan Jones (5 years)
Classification: 6A
2025 Record (Finish): 10-16 (5 seed, playoff win over Heritage)
2026 SEASON OUTLOOK
No. of Returning Position Players: 4-5
No. of Returning Pitchers: 5
Top Returners:
- Ethan Young (2026) - OF/LHP
- UA Rich Mountain commit
- Sam Boozer (2026) - 1B/LHP
- Arkansas State commit (football)
- Ty Gibbons (2027) - C
Top Newcomers:
- Alex Cherepski (2028) - RHP
- Good young arm that changed his arm action and has been exciting in the bullpen.
- Rowan Selva (2028) - RHP
- Very strong young man that looks to get a lot of innings this season and grow into a pivotal role late in the season. He also adds depth in the OF and a really powerful bat, showcasing exit velos of over 100 mph all fall.
Key Players Lost:
- Caleb Short - Louisiana Tech
- Myles Ramer
Coach’s Insight: “Senior leadership will be strong this season and it will be needed after our pitching staff suffered a couple of major injuries in the summer months. Our defense should be a strong point for us and a lot of our guys should be able to use last year’s growing pains to provide our offense some much needed spark in 2026. Pretty much every pitcher that toes the rubber this year will be doing so with very limited experience. Fantastic opportunity for sophomores all the way through seniors, but there will likely be a learning curve we need to push through.” – Bryan Jones, head coach
Find more information on the 2026 Catholic program below:
+ Follow them on X: @Rockets_BSB
+ Visit Prep Baseball Arkansas’ 2026 AAA Team Previews page to learn more.
+ If you are a high school coach and didn’t receive our questionnaire, please click HERE to fill out the form