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Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 16 Libertyville

March 7, 2024
By: Gavin Smith
Area Scout, Content

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: Libertyville High School Wildcats
Preseason Rank: No. 16
Head Coach: Matt Thompson
Classification: 4A
Conference: North Suburban Conference
2023 Record (Finish): 21-14-2 (Regional Champion - Lost to Stevenson in Sectional Semifinal)
Key Players Lost: Michael Scarpelli (College of Wooster)

 

ROSTER PREVIEW

No. of Returning Positional Starters: Three
No. of Returning Pitchers: Three
Team Strengths: Strong up the middle.

NAME STATE CLASS POS COMMITMENT
Quinn Schambow IL 2025 C Oklahoma State
Joshua Holst IL 2025 LHP/1B Air Force
Cole Lockwood IL 2025 INF Valparaiso
Sam Calsin IL 2024 LHP -
Jack Carey IL 2024 OF -
Nico Harper IL 2026 LHP/OF -
Trevor Wallace IL 2026 INF -
Chase Lockwood IL 2026 RHP/3B -
Anthony Fry IL 2025 RHP -
Carson Holmes IL 2026 UTL -
Harrison Clark IL 2025 1B -
Ryan Andrews IL 2025 RHP -

X-FACTOR

C/RHP Quinn Schambow (2025; Oklahoma State commit) attended the Prep Baseball Future Games in 2023, and he’s one of the state’s top prospects. The Wildcats will look upon the standout junior to lead a majority of their offensive production again this season. In 2023, Schambow led the team in batting average (.409), RBIs (31) and extra base hits (14), and he also tallied 15 runs and one home run. The 6-foot, 193-pound two-way prospect has all kinds of tools, starting with his strength at the plate, where he’s recorded a max batted distance of 353 feet and a max exit velocity of 94.1 mph. He’s one of the top defensive backstops in the state, recording a pop time of 1.86, and he’s got a big arm, topping out at 84 mph from the crouch. His arm strength even plays on the mound, where we’ve recorded him up to 89.6 mph with a slider that has an average of 2562 rpm.

NEWCOMER TO WATCH

RHP/INF Chase Lockwood (2026) is an intriguing sophomore, who stands in an ideal 6-foot-2, 175-pound frame with room for added strength. Lockwood will likely find some time on the mound in 2024, and we’ve seen his velocity slowly tick up as of late, now sitting in the low-80s, touching 84.4 mph. His breaking balls have quality movement and shape, and he’s shown the ability to land the pitches for strikes as well. Similarly, he throws his changeup in the zone with confidence, and he creates clear fade and depth to the arm-side (16.9” avg. HM).

TEAM OUTLOOK

This Wildcats team is coming off a 21-win season, which included a Regional Title. Although they lost one of their top arms from last season, they return a number of starters to this year’s team that have experience and success at the varsity level.

As mentioned above, Schambow will provide a major influence on their offense this year, but we’d be remissed not to mention LHP/1B Josh Holst (2025; Air Force commit). Last season, Holst hit four home runs, which led the team, and he also recorded 21 RBIs and five doubles, and the Wildcats will look to him to provide more offensive firepower. Holst will likely headline their pitching staff this season, and we’ve seen him touch 88 mph with his fastball that has quality arm-side run. In 2023, He posted a 4-0 record, a 3.89 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 50.1 innings pitched.

LHP Sam Calsin (2024), RHP Chase Lockwood (2025), RHP Anthony Fry (2025), and RHP Stevan Gavric (2025) will round out the rotation for this year’s team. Calsin struck out 40 in 36.1 innings last year, and Fry went 4-1, struck out 25 and walked six in 32.1 innings on the mound. Gavric didn’t record any time on the mound, but this winter we saw him sit 86-88 mph with his fastball.

INF Cole Lockwood (2025; Valparaiso commit) is an athletic middle infielder that will look to provide a spark in the early part of their lineup. He ran a 6.90 60 time in front of our staff, and he’s shown the ability to spray line drives to all fields. Defensively, Lockwood is a confident defender with athletic actions.

OF Jack Carey (2024), OF Johnny Leoris (2025), INF Trevor Wallace (2026), and OF/LHP Nico Harper (2026) will all look to provide additional support on the offensive and defensive end.

RHP Charlie Gretz (2025) will likely find some innings on the mound this spring. We saw Gretz’s fastball up to 82 mph this winter with two quality off-speed pitches in his curveball and changeup.

Bottom Line

Libertyville returns a majority of their top producers from last season's Regional Championship team. With their deep pitching staff and experienced returners, the Wildcats are poised to make a run in this year’s IHSA State Playoffs.

Find more information on the 2024 Libertyville High School program below:

+ Follow them on X: @baseballLVille

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