Lewis and Clark finished last season with a loss in the Region 24 tournament and a 31-27 record. It’ll be a relatively new group for head coach Alex Ferguson in 2026 with a majority of last year’s at-bats and innings gone due to graduation. 

Position Players

One top returning sophomore is MIF Tristen Wargo, who’s still uncommitted and had an excellent freshman campaign for Lewis & Clark. He hit .344 in 154 at-bats, punching out just 18 times with 17 free passes and a 21-for-23 mark on the basepaths. Wargo profiles nicely at the top of a lineup with his athletic, high bat-to-ball profile, and he can play several spots on the infield too, adding more versatility. Expect Wargo to be one of the top all-around producers on this team come 2026. 

Tristen Wargo

There are a few names with at-bats under their belt from last season that are likely to step into expanded roles this spring, all of whom are sophomores. OF Talan Benbrook is an athletic right-handed hitter that ran a 6.83 60 at our scout day and should hit towards the top of this lineup. OF Harrison Rakers has a physical frame with middle-of-the-order bat strength to match, totaling 10 extra-base hits last season in 132 at-bats and walking (26) roughly as much as he punched out (25). CIF Hayden Sherman has a long, leveraged right-handed swing and showed easy juice to the pull-side in BP in our looks this fall – 98.9 mph max EV, 380 ft. peak distance. C/CIF Noah Petersen was all over the barrel at our L&C Scout Day in October, working through the middle of the field from a short, strong, and compact right-handed swing. 

Noah Petersen

A pair of redshirt freshman that are expected to be impacts are C Nicholas Franklin and C Grant Reinneck: 

+ Franklin transfers into Lewis & Clark from Division I Longwood after a decorated career at Father McGivney. There’s no shortage of physicality in his frame and that strength translates to the batter’s box, where he flicked barrel after barrel with ease and strength in his two rounds of BP at our scout day. There’s length through the zone with an uphill finish and intent to elevate gap-to-gap. Franklin projects as a middle-of-the-order bat for this club that will see time behind the plate and also likely log at-bats at DH when he’s not catching. 

Nicholas Franklin

+ Reinneck missed a majority of last season due to injury, but he’s back and plenty ready to contribute this coming spring. His biggest asset is behind the plate, where he owns easy arm strength from the chute and is a worker. Reinneck did also flash bat strength (95.7 mph EV) and bat speed (76.6 mph average) in BP when we saw him this fall. 

Grant Reinneck

Turning to their freshman class, expect INF Casey Fultz to be a key piece of this club throughout the 2026 season. Coming off a strong career at local Belleville West, Fultz is a gamer-type that doesn’t try to do too much at the plate and can spray line drives to all fields. He really impressed us on the infield at our scout day, maintaining his lower half rhythm on the move and consistently getting himself in the right spot at gather. There’s clear confidence in his glovework with soft hands to match and it’s a quick, accurate, and athletic release. 

Casey Fultz

Two other up-the-middle defenders in this freshman class are INF Micah James and OF Mason Bastien. James has sure-handed actions on the infield and the ability to stay through the middle of the field, while Bastien is a strong right-handed hitter with juice that can really run. CIF Ethan Foster is another freshman that stood out at our scout day for his clear physicality and notable raw power off the barrel – 101.2 mph max EV, 384 ft. max distance. C Ethan Heller was another right-handed hitter with bat strength at peak, posting a 100.2 mph max EV. 

Pitchers

Heading the charge for this pitching staff is sophomore RHP Marcus Payne, an all-conference honorable mention from last season. Payne pounded the strike zone, like he did in high school at Southwestern Piasa, and pitched to a 4.05 ERA over 60 innings of work, walking just 17. 

Payne’s ability to carry a bulk workload and experience certainly helps this staff, as does the development of sophomore RHP Keaton Favre, who’s committed to Western Illinois. A catcher in high school from Highland, Favre’s taken real strides on the mound in the past two years and has the potential to be a power arm for this L&C staff. It’s an aggressive, high-intent delivery, and we saw him pump power sinkers in the upper-80s this fall, touching 90.4 mph. For his secondaries, Favre spun a tight, short curveball in the mid-to-upper-70s curveball and flashed a power, tumbling splitter at 83-84 mph that could be a swing-and-miss pitch. 

Keaton Favre

Two other right-handed sophomore arms to watch are Alec Marchetto and Brady Jackson. Marchetto, a two-time state champion at Edwardsville High School, pitched in the low-80s this fall when we saw him and showed spin feel for two different breaking balls; a big, sweeping curveball and shorter, lateral slider. In his ‘pen at our L&C Scout Day, Jackson sat 86-87, touching 88 mph, with cut fastball shape. With that, Jackson showed strike feel for his three secondaries; a fading changeup at 76-77 mph, a bigger, bendy curveball in the low-70s, and a short, tighter slider at 78-79 mph. 

Brady Jackson

Four other sophomore arms to know are RHP Hunter Winkles (Lincoln commit), RHP David Hedley, RHP Tyler Rosecrans, and LHP James Vambaketes. 

David Hedley

Taking a look at their newcomers, the Trailblazers have a few arms expected to be impacts from the jump. RHP Sawyer Brunson was excellent in his senior year at Triad, helping lead the Knights to a third place finish at 3A state. This fall, we saw him pitch 86-87 mph with his fastball and continuing to rip off a tight, downer curveball at 76-77 mph that has proven to be a swing-and-miss pitch in the past. RHP Connor Aumend gave an intriguing look at our scout day, pitching at a clean 83-84 mph with his fastball while showing an upper-70s splitter and spinning an upper-60s curveball at 2500+ RPM. OF/LHP Owen Szpila is an athletic freshman to know on both sides of the ball, flashing left-handed power and a loose, clean arm on the mound. 

Sawyer Brunson