Illinois high school baseball season kicks off on March 16, opening day for regular season action under IHSA regulations. Over the next several weeks, leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2020 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, leading into a countdown through the official PBR 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 2020 preseason coverage continues today.

Team: Joliet Catholic Academy
Preseason Rank: 15
2019 Record: 28-8
Conference: East Suburban Catholic
IHSA Class: 2A
Head Coach: Jared Voss
Playoff Run: Sectional Championship appearance
2019 Final Rank: 7
Returning Starters: 3
Returning Pitchers: 2

TOP PLAYERS

NAME	STATE	SCHOOL	CLASS	POSITION	COMMITMENT
Christian Knapczyk	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	SS	Louisville
Zach Hise	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	RHP	Missouri
Danny Wuestenfeld	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	1B	Central Michigan
Josh Ragusa	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	LHP	-
Nate Gehrke	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	INF/DH	Lake Land JC
Alberto Lamas	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	RHP	-
Henry Schuler	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	RHP	Lewis
Joe Batusich	IL	Joliet Catholic	2020	C	Lake Land JC
Drew Buss	IL	Joliet Catholic	2021	RHP	-
Gavin Sebby	IL	Joliet Catholic	2021	RHP	-
Ben Stoner	IL	Joliet Catholic	2021	INF	Wright State
Brody Munch	IL	Joliet Catholic	2021	INF	-
Luka Radacevich	IL	Joliet Catholic	2022	RHP/INF	-
Ryan Louthan	IL	Joliet Catholic	2022	C	-

key players lost

NAME	STATE	SCHOOL	CLASS	POSITION	COMMITMENT
Max Cullen	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	1B	Loras College
Jared Cushing	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	SS	Texas Tech
Tony Fleischauer	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	2B	Grand Valley State
Zachary Gould	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	RHP	Illinois-Chicago
Michael Gurka	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	RHP	Minnesota
Alex Vera	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	LHP	Illinois
Gregory Ziegler	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	OF	Missouri State

NEWCOMER TO WATCH

Luka Radicevich has quickly established himself as a two-way follow in the state’s sophomore class. We were fortunate enough to catch him at the Underclass Invitational in mid-February, where he was up to 87 mph on the mound with a quick-twitch arm that helps him land tight and aggressive breaking balls with swing-and-miss upside. JCA isn’t sorely in need of arms this spring, so Radicevich’s primary value on varsity will likely be his athleticism on the infield as well as his fast right-handed bat with barrel feel. It remains to be seen how, exactly, coach Voss will utilize his latest underclass high-follow, but Radicevich is capable of making the team better as soon as he steps foot on the varsity diamond.

Luka Radicevich (2/16/20)

X-FACTOR

Finally, SS Christian Knapczyk (Louisville), one of the top prospects in the state all four springs he’s been on JCA’s campus, gets to assume the role as the team’s everyday shortstop. The position had previously been occupied by Jared Cushing, who’s now at Texas Tech, but Knapczyk will at long last get to slide into the position he knows best. 

Few prospects in the state – really, the country – have the kind of motor Knapczyk sparks. He’s as rangy as they come at shortstop and he’s a prototypical energizer from atop the order. He’s a dynamic athlete with quick-twitch muscle, advanced hand/eye and sneaky pop in his left-handed bat. Given the state of JCA’s new-look lineup, Knapczyk might be relied on to churn in runs more often rather than be the one to set the table for those behind him. He hit .440 last year and stole 13 bags as a junior.

Christian Knapczyk (2/2/20)

OUTLOOK

The Hilltoppers are the perennial powerhouse that has the luxury of being able to restock each year as its underclassmen fill the gaps left behind by its most recent graduating class – only, in 2020, there are more holes than usual to plug.

JCA graduated a loaded and talented 2019 class of contributors who are at Division-I homes: Greg Ziegler (Missouri State), Jared Cushing (Texas Tech), Zach Gould (Illinois-Chicago), Mike Gurka (Minnesota), and Alex Vera (Illinois); and they’ll also of course miss the likes of Tony Fleischauer, who’s at Grand Valley State now, as well as Loras College’s Max Cullen.

Most programs would not be able to replenish their starting nine in such short order, but Joliet Catholic is not most programs.

The ‘Toppers may be reaching deeper into their underclass depths than they have in previous seasons, making the emergence of ‘Newcomer’ Radicevich all the more critical to the team’s success in their new 2A surroundings. But there’s more sophomore talent capable of making an early impact for coach Voss’ squad. C Ryan Louthan is a left-handed hitting catcher who is a sound receiver, capable of handling a varsity pitching staff. Senior Joseph Batusich (Lake Land JC commit) is here to handle most of the innings from behind the dish, but Louthan can help lighten the load and fill some of the void in the order left behind by the ‘19 grads. There are a few other underclassmen who will probably await more regularly playing time in 2021, but they could conceivably earn a varsity role of some kind later in the season: OF Dominic Coda (2022), INF Michael Ascencio (2022), 1B Jackson Cullen (2022), and freshman 1B Trey Swiderski, who’s more of a strong right-handed bat to know for the future.

Circling back to the everyday upper class regulars who will lead the likes of Radicevich and Louthan, you can start with Knapczyk, obviously, but there’s also 1B Danny Wuestenfeld – a Central Michigan commit and right-handed slugger who will be relied on to generate more offense from the middle of this order. He hit .318 as a junior last spring but really began to land more barrels late into the spring which carried over into the rest of the year. Joining the two as seniors in the order will be Nate Gehrke (Lake Land JC), who will be used as the team’s DH.

The integration of the 2021 class making their way to the varsity level is as critical as ever for JCA this year. Wright State commit and infielder Ben Stoner is a multi-sport athlete with a smooth right-handed swing capable of spraying line drives across the field all while playing a smooth role up the middle, likely as Knapczyk’s double play partner. Stoner is also athletic enough to fill a spot in the outfield if need be. Brody Munch is another top-100-ranked junior on the team with the kind of impact bat and smooth infield actions that will lighten the blow dealt by the outgoing 2019 class. Keep an eye on OF Clemente Torres, too, considering this outfield is looking a lot leaner than it did this time last year.

The Hilltoppers are returning a pair of arms to its staff this spring, thankfully headlined by ace-type RHP Zach Hise (2020; Missouri). The lanky 6-foot-4 righty pitched over 37 innings last year recording a sub-3.00 ERA with 43 punch-outs over that span. With that being said, Hise has been on the rise since this past summer. Our staff saw him up to 92 mph in a PBR Wisconsin-hosted tournament, mixing in a hard breaking ball. Hise was up to 90 mph again in September with a go-to slider he earned most of his swing-and-miss outs with.

LHP Josh Ragusa (2020; uncommitted) is prepared to land another regular role in the rotation, after recording 28-plus innings in 2019, maintaining a 1.97 ERA with 32 Ks. A Hise-Ragusa one-two punch atop this staff is a tough beat come the playoffs where JCA’s yearly depth will provide extra value amongst traditionally (and expectedly) thinner 2A competition. RHP Alberto Lamas (uncommitted) was up to 86 mph for us in the summer and his 6-foot-4 size makes him a compelling on-the-market righty to know this late on the senior recruiting calendar. Fellow senior righty Henry Schuler (Lewis) is another steady arm this staff can call on this spring, granting the Hilltoppers some dependable depth within this rotation – and that’s before touching on junior righties Drew Buss and Gavin Sebby.

BOTTOM LINE

Joliet Catholic’s heralded 2019 class might be graduated, but the ‘Toppers are far from depleted. They have the capable incoming 2021 and 2022 names to quickly establish themselves as 2A players.

In the early going, the IHSA’s 2A class looks to be more competitive than ever and adding blue blood programs like JCA and Coal City to the mix in 2020 has injected some serious interest and intrigue to the race to Peoria. Knapczyk finds a way to contribute in such a multitude of ways it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which he can’t, again, help hoist this team come playoff time where Hise can be leaned on as one of the top arms in the 2A class. Expect the Hilltoppers to take to new waters quickly this season.

Make sure to follow @PBRIllinois on Twitter for the most up-to-date coverage throughout the 2020 season.

Find more information on the 2020 Hilltoppers below:

+ Full Schedule
+ Team Twitter

PBR ILLINOIS PRESEASON POWER 25