The Kansas high school baseball season kicks off on Mar. 19, opening day for regular season action under KSHSAA 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 Kansas 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.

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2026 SEASON OUTLOOK

No. of Returning Position Players: 3 full-time starters / 4 contributers
No. of Returning Pitchers: 4

Top Returners:

• Ethan Carswell (2026) - SS, SR
  • USC commit
• Grant Westphal (2027) - CF
  • Texas commit 
  • .351 AVG, 46 H, 4 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 16 R, 8 SB.
  • 1st team All-state
• Skyler Bernbeck (2027) - 3B
  • .346 AVG, 20 H, 7 2B, 16 RBI, 18 R, 9 SB.
  • 1st Team EKL
• Nolan Bell (2026) - P
  • Johnson County CC commit 
  • 3-3, 1 SV, 4.20 ERA
• Matthew Gravitt (2027) - P,
  • 5-1, 1.89 ERA
  • HM All-State
• Hunter Baker (2026) - P
  • 2-1, 1 SV, 5.83 ERA
• Parker Stevens (2026) - OF
• Jack Euston (2026) - IF
• Lincoln Suhr (2026) - 1B
  • Briar Cliff commit
• Landon O'Reilly (2027) - P
  

Top Newcomers:

• Acy VanRheen (2026) - C/OF
  • Neosho County CC commit
• Jacob Lockett (2027) - OF
• Cecil Wysong (2026) - OF/1B/P
• Hudson Mounts (2026) - C
• Carter Strnad (2026) - P
• Matthew Burkhead (2026) - C
• Andrew Birnbaum (2026) - C
  
  

Key Players Lost:

• Grady Westphal - Texas
• Pat Dennis 
• Chris Aiello - Southwest Baptist (Football)
• Cam Morris

Coach’s Insight: “We have experienced position players returning, including Ethan and Grant, who will lead our offense. We are very excited about others who got some varsity action last year and have worked very hard at their game to get ready for this spring. There is potential that we can have a very solid 9 hitters in the lineup daily, with competition for those last few spots. Our pitching staff gained valuable early experience due to some injuries last season and should be able to be very strong top to bottom. Nolan and Matthew were excellent last year and will be complemented by Hunter and Landon and others to have a quality staff. Obviously losing a top-end starter like Grady, will be difficult to replace. We hope our group of arms can all come together to make an even better staff. How the back end of our lineup hits will be a big difference in how our season goes. There will be some battles for positions and we hope we can find the right guys to compete against a schedule that puts us against quality arms day in day out.” – Tim Kennedy, head coach

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Find more information on the 2026 Blue Valley program below:

+ Follow them on X: @bvbaseballcoach
+ Visit Prep Baseball Kansas’ 2026 KSHSAA 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

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