The Colorado high school baseball season kicks off on March 7, opening day for regular season action under CHSAA regulations. Leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2024 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, counting down through the official Prep Baseball Colorado 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 2024 preseason coverage continues today:

High School: Erie
Head Coach: Eric Dillinger (1st year)
Classification: 5A
League: Front Range
2023 Record: 13-11

Top Seniors:
Kaveh Meredith (Northern Colorado): 43 IP, 45 Ks, 5.37 ERA in ‘23
Colton Rowan (Seward CC): .385 BA, .919 OPS in ‘23
Brooks Barber (Seward CC): .338 BA, 1 HR, .874 OPS in ‘23
Easton Jones (Highlands CC): .308 BA in ‘23
Ryland Carpenter (Southeastern CC)
JJ King

Top Juniors:
Taylor McMaster: .270 BA, .848 OPS in ‘23
Varek Van Aelstyn: .263 BA, 2 HR, .915 OPS in ‘23
Preston Miller: .267 BA in ‘23

Impact Underclassmen:
Jack Carnival (2026)
Maddox Burnett (2026): 18 IP, 20 Ks, 4.67 ERA in ‘23

2024 SEASON OUTLOOK:

Coach Dillinger will be taking on his first season as head coach of the Erie Tigers after serving with the program for the past 6 years. This team does come with some experience, and some quality arms at the top of their rotation. Senior Kaveh Meredith and sophomore Maddox Burnett could be tough to beat all season long given they have fastballs in the upper 80s with quality secondary pitches. We wouldn't be surprised to see either of these prospects touch 90 mph in 2024, and they both have very high ceilings at the moment. Colton Rowan, Brooks Barber, and Easton Jones all hit well over .300 as juniors last year and could be pivotal to the Tigers' success offensively this spring. This is yet another stout team out of the Front Range league that will be ready to build off of a productive year in 2023. 

Find more information on the 2024 Erie Tigers’ program below:

+ Follow them on X: @BaseballErie

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