John Wood made a run on their side of the bracket in Region 24 postseason play last year, making it to the championship game before falling to powerhouse Heartland. This year’s Blazers’ group supplements the key pieces from last year’s team with several talented newcomers and should be one of the top teams in the MWAC. 

 

Our staff ran a Scout Day with the Blazers this past fall. To see all of the stats from that event, click HERE. 

 

POSITION PLAYERS

It’s a mix of returners and newcomers for the Blazers, though their top two producers from last season in Kevin Martinez and Gavin Duran do not return. With that being said, sophomore OF Evan Sohn (U-Indy) is coming back off an excellent freshman year where he slashed .327/.474/.490 in 153 at-bats, scoring 48 runs with 43 free passes to 18 punchouts. He’s a top-of-the-lineup spark plug in every sense of the description; 6.62 runner with a high motor, hits left-handed, consistently puts bat-to-ball. Expect Sohn to conclude his junior college career with an excellent sophomore season, one that should land him on the MWAC All-Conference team again. 

 

Evan Sohn

 

Sticking with the returnees, two names to know, both of whom are from southwest Missouri powerhouse high school Willard, are sophomore MIF Drew Quinlan (Drury) and sophomore OF Hayden Rakestraw. Quinlan can play multiple positions on the infield and had a strong 2025 season, hitting .325 in 117 at-bats as a freshman. Rakestraw ran a 6.91 60 at our John Wood CC Scout Day in the fall and flashed feel for the barrel to the middle/pull side of the field with a short, compact right-handed swing. Still uncommitted, Rakestraw hit .284 in 88 at-bats last spring for John Wood. 

 

Hayden Rakestraw

 

Sophomore Michael Lucas is another everyday regular returning from last year’s group that’ll look to build off his freshman spring. A high-academic, uncommitted sophomore with an interest in engineering, Lucas homered five times and drove in 39 runs in 154 at-bats last season. He showed above-average raw strength in both of his BP rounds at our fall scout day, working his barrel on an uphill path with intent to elevate gap-to-gap. His average batted distance (299 ft.) and peak batted distance (353 ft.) were amongst the event’s highest, and his hardest ball came off his bat at 96.1 mph, with an average exit velocity of 87.8 mph. Lucas also ran a 6.91 60 and was 88 mph across the infield. 

 

Michael Lucas

 

Three redshirt freshman to keep an eye on for this Blazers’ club are C/1B Shaun Hunt, C Bren Rodebush, and OF Reid Livingston: 

 

+ Hunt’s physicality stands out immediately, stepping up to the plate with a broad-shouldered frame that holds strength throughout. He took arguably the loudest round of BP at our aforementioned fall scout day, punishing baseballs on repeat to the pull-side from a fast, strong, and leveraged right-handed swing. From an impact standpoint, Hunt averaged 94.4 mph per barrel, peaking at 98.7 mph, and his furthest ball traveled 389 feet, per TrackMan. Hunt worked around the bag in his defensive workout, reaching 76 mph on his hardest throw from the crouch with a top pop time at 2.02 seconds. 

 

Shaun Hunt

 

+ Rodebush authored one of our favorite rounds from the fall scout day, spraying line drives to all fields from a simple, controlled, and direct right-handed swing. His ability to repeat stood out, and was on the barrel often, averaging 87.3 mph per batted ball with a high mark at 91.1 mph. A notable athlete for his position, Rodebush ran a 6.77 60 and was 78 mph from the crouch. 

 

Bren Rodebush

 

+ Traveling up to Quincy from the Kansas City area, Livingston flashed strength off the barrel in our fall BP look from a longer, uphill right-handed swing. He ran a 6.78 60-yard dash and was also 86 mph from the outfield. 

 

Looking at the middle of the field, INF Blake Bunch is a candidate to see regular playing time at shortstop. The uncommitted sophomore showed athletic actions on the move in our workout, has a clean glove-to-hand, and played in rhythm on his double play feed. The glove is his carrying tool, but Bunch showed the ability to stay connected, work on plane, and find the barrel to the pull-side in BP. 

 

Turning to their freshman class, John Wood has several newcomers that have the potential to step in and show well from the start. OF Ethan Callison may have been the biggest winner from the fall’s John Wood Scout Day, impressing in quite literally every aspect of his workout. He ran the day’s fastest 60 time (6.53) and plays as fast, if not better, in an actual game-like setting. It’s a short, simple, and direct right-handed swing at the plate that consistently sprayed line drives to all fields in both of his BP rounds. To cap things off, Callison was on the bag on all four of his throws to home from the outfield, peaking at 88 mph. 

 

Ethan Callison

 

Another freshman outfielder that caught our eye is Luke Robinson, who’s from the Metro East and went to Collinsville. The wiry left-handed hitter showed the ability to backspin off the barrel to the pull-side in this look and will hit for more power as he continues to tack on strength. He was also one of the day’s fastest runners, cruising to a 6.69 60. 

 

C/RHP Bo Herdrich was one of the more intriguing athletes from our up close look at John Wood this fall. His BP round was plenty loud, as he was consistently on the barrel with authority to the pull-side; 96 mph average EV, 100.6 mph max EV, 357 ft. peak distance. Herdrich led the event in average hand speed (23.6 mph) and also ran a 6.91 60. Another highly intriguing athlete from the day was MIF/RHP Joey Lagemann, who sports a pretty impressive high school resume on the basketball court. Lagemann ran a 6.65 60, showed easy bat speed at the plate, and was up to 84.5 mph on the mound. 

 

Three physical freshman bats to know are CIF Grayson Conkright, 1B/RHP Vincent Dale, and 1B/RHP Grady Hruska. A right-handed hitter, Conkright continues to show our staff big raw power to the pull-side, elevating that way on repeat in this look with a 98.7 mph max exit velocity and 362 ft. peak batted distance. Dale and Hruska are both left-handed hitters that also showed the ability to elevate to their respective pull-side, with the former posting a 96.8 mph max exit velocity and 342 ft. peak batted distance. 

 

PITCHERS

A bulk majority of the Blazers’ innings on the hill from last season are gone to graduation, but John Wood is bringing back a few sophomores with experience and complimenting that with a pair of freshman arms that have the potential to be massive impacts from the jump. 

 

We’ll start with two sophomore left-handed arms that return in Quin Saxer and Zach Light, both of whom are similar in the way they go about things. Saxer logged 52 innings and made 11 starts for the Blazers in 2025, while Light worked almost exclusively out of the ‘pen, tossing 23 ⅔ innings in nine appearances. The duo are both high pitchability left-handed arms with low-to-mid-80s fastballs, the ability to turn over a changeup, and land their breaking ball for strikes. 

 

Zach Light

 

Another returning arm with 30+ innings of experience under his belt is sophomore RHP Grayson Coleman. Coleman made 16 appearances as a freshman out of the bullpen last year and pitched at 85-86 mph with a hard-running two-seam fastball (10.3 VB, 19.4 HB) when we saw him this fall. Complimenting that heater is one of the better changeups we saw on the JUCO scene this fall, a parachuting pitch that he creates plenty of depth with (3.5 VB, 21.1 HB) and is comfortable throwing in any count on call. Additionally, Coleman also throws a bigger, more slurvy-like curveball in the low-70s, and he’s been working on a harder, tighter slider this winter to round out his mix. 

 

Grayson Coleman

 

Two sophomore right-handed arms that bring a bit more power to this pitching staff are Mitch Meier (Quincy) and Kaden Meeker. Meier is a power arm in every sense of the word, pitching at 92-93 mph in his bullpen at our fall scout day. It’s an aggressive, high-intent delivery with an ultra quick arm that’s also able to spin a bigger top-to-bottom curveball and harder, tighter slider, both of which play in the low-80s. If he’s in the zone consistently, Meier certainly has the stuff and profile to be a high leverage, back-of-the-bullpen type of arm. Still uncommitted, Meeker sat 87-88 mph in our fall look with carry traits on the fastball and turned over an upper-70s changeup that he consistently showed feel for. He also throws a short, tight low-80s cutter and spins a bigger, more sweeper-like curveball in the low-70s. 

 

Mitch Meier

 

Two other right-handed sophomores of note are Gabe Wagner (Quincy) and Jansen Lawson. Committed to Quincy, Wagner sat 86-87 mph with his fastball in our bullpen look and spun two different breaking balls, a low-70s curveball and high-70s slider, while also turning over an upper-70s changeup. Lawson threw two different fastballs, a straight four seam and more running two seam, at 84-85 mph, while also showing a 68-70 mph curveball and 74-75 mph slider. 

 

Touching on their freshman, our staff expects both RHP Abram Wiewel and RHP Andrew Zacha to be integral parts of this John Wood pitching staff in their first years of collegiate action: 

 

+ A star at local 2A high school Quincy Notre Dame, Wiewel has the potential to be one of the MWAC’s more impactful newcomers. He has everything you want in a power arm, starting with a bullying low-90s fastball (18 VB, 6.7 HB) that plays with true carry and is amped up in effectiveness by his ability to spot it up in the zone. Complimenting that fastball is a low-80s self-termed “death ball”, which plays like a gyro slider and splitter combo and pairs nicely with a top-of-the-zone fastball. Additionally, Wiewel spins a big top-to-bottom curveball in the low-to-mid-70s (-12.4 VB, -9.6 HB) that spins at upwards of 2600+ RPM and gives him an additional look when attacking hitters. There’s certainly frontline potential for Wiewel and he’s primed for an excellent first year at John Wood. 

 

Abram Wiewel

 

+ Zacha’s track record of success dates back to his high school days at Alton-Marquette, where he’s always been known for his ability to pound the strike zone and win. He took an uptick in stuff his senior year and has continued to climb now that he’s in college, pitching at 90-91 mph at our scout day in the fall. Zacha spins two breaking balls; a low-70s curveball with more depth and vertical drop, and a mid-70s slider that has a tendency to sweep sharply more often than not. Our staff expects big things from Zacha this upcoming spring and he, like his counterpart in Wiewel, should play a big role for this Blazers’ staff. 

 

Andrew Zacha