The Missouri high school baseball season kicks off on Mar. 19, opening day for regular season action under MSHSAA 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 Missouri 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: 12
No. of Returning Pitchers: 5

Top Returners:

• Travis Hill (2026) - SS, 5'8", 160lbs, R/R
  • Truman State commit
• Dominic Pandolfo (2027) - C/P, 6', 185lbs, R/R
  • Lindenwood commit
• Kevin Morgan (2027) - IF/P, 6'2", 200lbs, R/R
• Jackson Bingham (2027) - MIF, 5'7", 155lbs, R/R
• Tyler Kliethermes (2027) - UT/P, 6', 165lbs, R/R
  

Top Newcomers:

• Braden White (2028) - MIF, 5'9", 185lbs, R/R
• Harrison Land (2028) - OF, 5'6" 165lbs, L/R
• Austin Ritter (2029) - C/MIF, 6'2" 190lbs, R/R

Key Players Lost:

• Carter Hollingsworth - State Fair CC
• Carson Topping 
• Ryan Kliethermes - Jefferson JC
• Carson Page 

Coach’s Insight: “We have a lot of returning position players back from a very solid season last year. Defense and speed could be our strength, however time will tell. We will have more experience than last year at the plate & on the field. Pitching Depth is without question going to be a big question mark for us this year. We are really only returning 2 pitchers who had significant innings on the mound last year. We have some guys who will be fighting for innings, however as of now the majority of them are unseasoned varsity pitchers. Again, time will tell if this is a weakness or not.” – Russ Hill, head coach

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Find more information on the 2026 Fort Zumwalt East program below:

+ Follow them on X: @FZE_Baseball
+ Visit Prep Baseball Missouri’s 2026 MSHSAA 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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