Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 25 Hononegah

March 4, 2024
By: Pete Hamot
Assistant Director, Illinois & Wisconsin

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: Hononegah Indians
Preseason Rank: No. 25
Head Coach: Matt Simpson
Classification: 4A
Conference: NIC-10
2023 Record (Finish): 29-7 (Super-Sectional appearance)
Key Players Lost: Ryan Hamilton (University of Dubuque), Maddux Hibbard (UW-Whitewater), Jeremiah Olson (Rockford University)

ROSTER PREVIEW

No. of Returning Positional Starters: Six
No. of Returning Pitchers: All but one.
Team Strengths: Experience, young pitching with varsity experience.

NAME	STATE	CLASS	POS	COMMITMENT
Landon Seymour	IL	2024	OF	Wisconsin-Whitewater
Drake Broege	IL	2024	DH/1B	Wisconsin-Whitewater
Austin Dresser	IL	2024	3B	-
Logan Edward	IL	2024	OF	-
Jakob DeLeo	IL	2025	SS/RHP	-
Jackson Stahl	IL	2026	RHP	-
Nolan Mabie	IL	2026	RHP	-

X-FACTOR

OF Landon Seymour (2024; Wisconsin-Whitewater commit) is looking to build off a strong junior campaign and keep things rolling into his final season for Hononegah. Last spring, the Whitewater commit turned in an impressive .464 batting averaging in 110 at-bats, pairing with 13 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 31 RBIs. He's a clear threat with the bat, and once he gets on-base he can cause all sorts of havoc for opposing teams, swiping 21 bags last season. He will be looked upon to help propel the offense once again this spring, also a three-year varsity starter, his leadership and experience will be extremely valuable down the stretch.

TEAM OUTLOOK

Coming off a season with 29 wins and a Super-Sectional appearance, Coach Simpson brings back quite a bit of firepower from last year's team. They have a young, but experienced pitching staff, headed by sophomore RHP's Jackson Stahl and Nolan Mabie.

Stahl, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound right-hander, led the staff in innings pitched as a freshman a season ago; posting a 2.02 ERA in 59 innings to go along with a 9-1 record and 70 strikeouts against only 14 walks. He has shown extremely well in front of our staff, particularly at the Illinois State Games this past summer where he impressed with a fastball in the 80-84 mph range, pairing with an effective curveball/changeup duo to keep hitters off-balance. He has some important innings under his belt already, getting the win in the Regional Championship game last season as well as the Sectional Semi-Final game.

(Jackson Stahl)

Mabie, another sophomore that saw time on varsity last spring, will look to add depth to the rotation. In four games last season, Mabie turned in a quality 2.90 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched, striking out 13 along the way. Listed at 6-foot-1, 140-pounds, the slender right-hander has much more in the tank, and we saw him well this past summer with a fastball up to 80 mph that set up a 12/6 curveball to collect swings and misses. Mabie also has some high-leverage innings to his name already, having made the start in last year's Super-Sectional game.

(Nolan Mabie)

Likely filling out the rotation will be RHP Jakob DeLeo (2025).

DeLeo returns the best ERA from last season's club with a 1.83 in 38.1 innings pitched, striking out 36 along the way against just 14 walks. The right-hander provides plenty of versatility on the mound, as he could also see time out of the bullpen in high-leverage situations.

Their lineup will look pretty similar to last spring, as they return six starting position players. The aforementioned Seymour will look to help lead the offensive charge, and he'll be supported by the cast of OF Logan Edward (2024), DH/1B Drake Broege (2024; UW-Whitewater football commit), the aforementioned Jakob DeLeo and 3B Austin Dresser (2024).

Edward and Broege both hit over .390 a season ago, and they'll look to be mainstays towards the top of the lineup for the Indians again this spring. DeLeo and Dresser each had extremely respectable seasons as well last spring, with DeLeo turning in a .337 batting average, and Dresser recording a .353 average.

(Jakob DeLeo)

Bottom Line

Overall, it's a well-rounded club with a large chunk of their roster back from last season. They'll be able to score runs with their potent offense, but they won't have to only rely on scoring to win games, as their pitching staff goes plenty deep as well. Hononegah has consitently been one of the top teams in the state as of late, and we dont see them slowing down any time soon.

Find more information on the 2024 Hononegah program below:

+ Follow them on X: @HonoHS_Baseball