The Illinois high school baseball season kicks off on March 11, opening day for regular season action under IHSA regulations. Over the next two weeks, 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 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 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: Triad Knights
Preseason Rank: No. 15
Head Coach: Jesse Bugger
Classification: 3A
Conference: Mississippi Valley
2023 Record (Finish): 26-12 (Sectional Semi-Final appearance)
Key Players Lost: Austin Brown (Chipola JC), Wyatt Bugger (SWIC), Nic Funk, Wyatt Suter 

ROSTER PREVIEW

No. of Returning Positional Starters: Five
No. of Returning Pitchers: Five
Team Strengths: Power arms, overall depth and experience.

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X-FACTOR 

Replacing RHP Austin Brown (2023; Chipola JC) will be no small task for the Knights - he earned Prep Baseball Illinois’ Second Team All-State honors last spring after posting a 0.80 ERA in over 70 innings of work, striking out 108 and walking just 10. 

One of a few arms on this club charged with that task will be RHP Drew Winslow (Oklahoma State), who has transformed himself into a premier arm in the Illinois’ 2025 class over the last calendar year or so. As a sophomore last spring, the 6-foot-6, 195-pound Winslow hurled 27 ⅔ innings and pitched to a 2.78 ERA with 36 strikeouts to boot. He represented the state at the Prep Baseball Future Games in July and drew an enormous crowd of college attention given his physical upside, athleticism, and pure stuff. We’ve seen Winslow’s fastball touch 91 mph, pitching in the upper-80s from a tight ¾ slot that makes for an uncomfortable at-bat. His slider is his best pitch and, at its’ best, has flashed real swing-and-miss upside in our looks. It’s a mid-70s offering that plays out of the same ¾ window as his fastball, playing with tight spin and late sweep at times. Winslow has the stuff to be the type of ace-like arm that can headline a championship caliber pitching staff and how he’s able to handle a jump in usage may ultimately be the deciding factor to Triad’s season. 

OUTLOOK 

Year over year, Triad has built themselves into a perennial contender at the 3A classification under head coach Jesse Bugger. The Knights won 26 games last season, captured the Mississippi Valley conference crown, and won a Regional championship in a tough draw. A large sum - nearly all of their position players with a handful of arms - from last year’s group are back this spring and hungry to build upon what they started last year. 

Depth, experience, and familiarity are a clear strength for this Triad squad. Though they’ll be without last year’s ace on the mound, the Knights do have a deep pool of arms to tap into. We highlighted Winslow and his talents above, but senior RHP/OF Brady Coon (2024; SIUE signee) is another power arm that’s excelled throughout his time at Triad. Another high-80s to low-90s arm that can really spin a breaking ball, Coon made 12 starts last spring and posted a 6-2 record. Across his 44 innings of work, Coon-5 pitched to a 2.86 ERA. To go along with that, Coon’s contributions on the offensive end are massive for this lineup. He slashed .448/.536/.759 in 116 at-bats last spring, totaling 21 extra-base hits with more walks (16) than strikeouts (12) and he chipped in 20 stolen bases, too. 

Joining the Knights this spring from Wesclin is OF/LHP Hayden Bernreuter (2025), who’ll be a real two-way asset for this program. Bernreuter’s fastball plays in the low-to-mid-80s and he’s able to land an above-average breaking ball off it for strikes, while also showing a changeup in the mid-70s at times as well. His physicality really shows at the plate, where Bernreuter swings one of the more powerful left-handed bats in the state’s junior crop. Most recently, at our Preseason All-State showcase, he showed triple-digit exit velocities at peak (103.2 mph) and juiced his furthest ball 373 feet in batting practice. Bernreuter slashed .440/.588/.800 with 21 extra-base hits and 33 RBIs at Wesclin last spring while also punching out 33 over 20 ⅔ innings on the mound. 

OF Hayden Bernreuter (Triad, 2025) provided one of the loudest rounds of BP on Saturday.

◾️5-foot-10, 203-pounds
◾️103.2 mph max EV
◾️95.8 mph avg. EV
◾️373’ max distance
◾️77 mph avg. bat speed
◾️90 mph OF velo#ILPAS24 | @PBR_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/Lr88G2NuR9

— Prep Baseball Illinois (@PrepBaseballIL) February 28, 2024

You can expect to see a few other upperclassmen regularly take the mound for Triad, each of whom saw brief workloads last spring. RHP Sawyer Brunson (2025) is a low-to-mid-80s arm with advanced feel to spin his breaking ball that should serve as a member of the Knights’ rotation. INF/RHP Wyatt Suter (2024) and RHP Owen Droy (2024) are two senior arms that could see a bulk of the relief work.

We highlighted Coon and Bernreuter above for their offensive talents, but there’s several other names who’ll makeup a deep lineup that should make for a difficult out from top to bottom. INF Donny Becker (2024) hit .317 with a .405 OBP in 119 plate appearances as a junior last year and is going to be an everyday regular again. Joining him on the infield is Hayden Bugger (2025), a scrappy, gamer-type player that’s capable of positively producing on both sides of the ball - it’s a polished right-handed bat that plays in game and he can pick it on the infield dirt, too. OF Gabe Deaver (2025) is an athletic left-handed hitter who’ll roam the outfield grass for the Knights and add versatility to this lineup. Two more physical bats to know are 1B Landon Loomis (2025) and the aforementioned Droy. 

One of the biggest positives for Triad is the familiarity they have behind the plate in C Carter Vandever (2024), who was the team’s starting backstop for a majority of last year. He’s a strong defender at arguably the diamond’s most important position, but his knowledge and comfort with the high octane arms that Triad is going to trot out to the mound on a game-to-game basis is a huge plus. 

BOTTOM LINE 

There’s a winning pedigree behind the Knights’ program and the expectations for Triad appear elevated above the norm this spring. This team checks a lot of boxes - they’re deep on both sides of the ball, have an experienced core that’s been there before, and have always been a well coached bunch. Expect Triad to be a key player in the state’s 3A baseball landscape once again with a club that’s capable of punching their ticket to Joliet later in the year. 

Find more information on the 2024 Triad program below: 

+ Follow the Knights on X: @TriadBaseball

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