The Illinois high school baseball season kicks off on March 17, opening day for regular season action under IHSA regulations. Over the next two weeks, leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2025 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, counting down through the official Prep Baseball Illinois 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 2025 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: Joliet Catholic Hilltoppers
Preseason Rank: 12
Head Coach: Jared Voss
Classification: 3A
Conference: East Suburban Catholic Conference
2024 Record (Finish): 29-6 (Lost Sectional Championship)
Key Players Lost: Jake Gimbel (Heartland CC) and Jake Troyner (Illinois-Chicago) 

 

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ROSTER PREVIEW

No. of Returning Positional Starters: 4
No. of Returning Starting Pitchers: 2
Team Strengths: Frontline pitching with quality depth in the lineup.

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X-FACTOR

MIF Lucas Simulick (2026; Eastern Illinois commit) has been starting on varsity since his freshman year, and he will be looked to this spring to take on perhaps a larger role than he has in years past from a leadership and offensive production standpoint. Losing Troyner definitely impacts the Hill's lineup, so if Simulick is able to produce the way we think he can, he will be the piece this team needs offensively. Also a QB1 on the football field, Simulick is a premier athlete that we are extremely confident in to take on this role - and he’s also a premium defender at shortstop.

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NEWCOMERs TO WATCH

INF John Curbis and C Derrick Pomatto are a couple sophomores that could make a varsity impact this coming spring.

Curbis recently showed well at our Preseason All-State Underclass event, looking to be a high-ceiling LHH with feel for the barrel and steady hands on the infield.

Pomatto is another young name we have seen show well, standing in at a muscle-bound 5-foot-9, 204-pounds with impressive strength throughout. The right-handed hitter will bring some thump to the lineup, and he is also a strong option behind the plate for the Hill, if needed.

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TEAM OUTLOOK

The Hill have been known to trot out a plethora of high-caliber arms throughout the years, and it looks to be much of the same for this spring. Their rotation is headlined by Purdue commit LHP Lucas Grant (2025), a name that has made impressive strides over the last couple years and now cruises in the low-90s with advanced feel for his three-pitch mix, making him one of the more reliable front-end starters in the state.

Following Grant we have another southpaw in Cooper Kubinski (2025; Heartland commit). It's rare to see two southpaws of this caliber in the same rotation, so that alone is unique and will be tough for opponents. Kubinksi has a dynamic arsenal with a heavy running fastball in the upper-80s, a sweeping slider and a fading changeup - making for uncomfortable at-bats regardless of the handedness.

Two more southpaws to watch will be Rocco Szambelan (2026) and Brady Tunkel (2026) - with Szambelan also providing some firepower with an upper-80s fastball, and Tunkel looking to be a clean mover with a fastball around 80 mph.

A few more power arms the Hill have at their disposal are right-handers Ian Campbell (2026), Kyle Christensen (2026) and Jacob Wojciechowksi (2026) - all of which can run their fastballs into the upper-80s, with Campbell reaching as high as 91 mph in previous looks.

Their offense will have quality depth throughout, headlined by the aforementioned Simulick.

There’s a plethora of college commits sprinkled throughout their lineup and INF Keegan Farnaus (2025; Quincy commit) looks to be one of their top returners. A compact left-handed hitter, Farnus has shown above-average bat-to-ball skills in previous looks and he should be a reliable piece for the Hill on both sides of the ball.

C Zach Pomatto (2025; Northern Kentucky) will look to handle the talented pitching staff from behind the plate - bringing reliable defense, a strong LH swing, and a gritty mentality to the lineup. A top returner from a year ago, the strong backstop will be an important piece on both sides of the ball.

1B Ryan Yurisich (2025; Saint Francis) looks to be another potential power bat for the Hill, standing in at a physical 6-foot-2, 245-pounds. He has an easy, strong swing that can create loft to the big parts of the field, providing some important thump to the lineup and the ability to change the game in one swing.

C/1B Steve Martin (2025), OF Matthew Simmons (2025), 3B Vince Bremmer (2025) and AJ Perez (2026) are some more names that we can expect to carve out a role for the Hill this coming spring. 

BOTTOM LINE & DIRECTOR'S NOTE

The Hill are coming off a 29-win season, and they bring back a large chunk of that group. Lucas Grant will be looked to as the ace of the staff, and there is a plethora of power arms behind him that should help eat up important innings and play large roles down the stretch. Their offense is also deeper than one might expect, with college commits littered throughout and some power threats lurking. Always an extremely fundamentally sound team, look for the Hill to make some noise once again in 2025.

"Coach Voss gets the most out of his clubs year-in and year-out and with the two lefties leading the way on the mound, Lucas Grant and Cooper Kubinski, the Hilltoppers should be one to watch in 2025." Drew Locascio

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Find more information on the 2025 Joliet Catholic program below:

+ Follow them on X: @JCABaseball
+ Visit the Prep Baseball Illinois Preseason Power 25 homepage

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Coach Voss Joined The Bullpen...

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