Prep Baseball Report

River City Festivall Preview



Shon Plack
Missouri Scouting Director

All eyes will be on high school baseball teams in Lawrence, Kansas this weekend as Lawrence High School and Free State High School host the annual River City Festival Thursday, April 23 to Saturday, April 25.  Games will be begin on Thursday at 9 am.  KU's Hoglund Ballpark will host games along with Free State and Lawrence High.

Rockhurst (17-2), currently #3 in the MHSBCA Poll, will square off against Blue Valley West on Thursday night. Lee's Summit West, and Raymore-Peculiar (10-4) have both seen time in top ten in Missouri's Class 5, and will square off against Kansas opponents on Thursday as well.   

Missouri Teams attending the River City Festival
Blue Springs
Branson
Jefferson City
Kickapoo
Nixa
Ozark
Warrensburg
William Chrisman

On the Kansas side No. 14 Olathe East (11-3) kicks off against No. 20 Washburn Rural at 9:00 am on Thursday at Lawrence High School. Junior Kurt Paldino leads East in hitting at .417 while seniors C Payne McCutcheon (Cowley County CC commit), 3B Ty Herrenbruck (Johnson County CC commit) and OF Nathan Best (Crowder College commit) give East one of the more physically-imposing line-ups in the state.

Topeka Hayden is in total control in the Centennial League with a 10-0 record and plays their first game at 9:00 am on Thursday against Blue Valley North at Free State. The Wildcats are hitting .366 as a team with senior Carson Engroff (.548 BA, .806 SLG%, 14 RBI) and Kansas State commit senior Brogan Heinen (.444, .750 SLG%, 13 RBI) leading the way. Heinen is also 4-0 on the mound with a 0.28 ERA yielding just 11 hits in 25 innings while striking out 32.

Washburn Rural is coming off a 19-4 campaign last spring in which they hit .346 as a team with a senior-dominated line-up. This year they are off to a 5-3 start with senior RHP Blake Peterson leading the way on the mound with a 2-0 record 0.70 ERA and 15:1 strikeout to walk ratio in 10 innings. Peterson is a very athletic 6-foot-3, 195-pound multi-sport athlete that has committed to play football at Texas State. 

No. 22 Shawnee Mission Northwest is off to a strong start this spring at 8-1 and will play St. James Academy at 11:15 am on Thursday at Free State. Senior RHP Brandon Gomer (Evansville commit) is 4-0 with a 0.26 ERA, yielding just 12 hits in 27 innings while striking out 36. Offensively the Cougars are led by junior catcher Garrett Stephens (.462 BA) and senior Johnson County CC commit Brett Ferencz (.448).

No. 12 Lawrence Free State is currently 8-2 and has a pitching staff ERA of 1.81 with junior Hunter Gudde leading the way (4-0, 1.64 ERA). Gudde has has an outstanding 23:1 strikout-to-walk ratio and also leads the team in hitting at .542. Senior right-handers Tripp Wright (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 10 IP) and Casey Hearnen (2-1, 2 saves, 0.91 ERA) have also starred on the mound for the Firebirds. Free State plays in the Friday night marquee game at 8:15 pm at Kansas’ Hoglund Ballpark against Omaha Prep (NE).

Kansas Teams attending the River City Festival

Bishop Miege
Blue Valley
Blue Valley North
Blue Valley Southwest
Blue Valley West
Lawrence

Lawrence Free State

Olathe North
Olathe Northwest
Olathe South
Shawnee Mission Northwest
Shawnee Mission South

St. James Academy
Topeka Hayden

Washburn Rural

CLICK HERE, to see a printable version of the 2015 River City Festival Schedule

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