Kansas High School Spring Spotlight: Pittsburg
March 19, 2024
The Kansas high school baseball season kicks off on March 19, opening day for regular season action under KSHSAA 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 Kansas 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: Pittsburg
Head Coach: Eric Miller (1 years experience)
Classification: 5A
League: Southeast Kansas League
2023 Record: 16-6; lost to Spring Hill in Regional Final
2024 SEASON OUTLOOK
No. of Returning Starters:
7
Top Returning Players:
1. Tucker Akins: Catcher, Senior, Right/Right. Returning KABC Class 5A 1st Team selection/SIK Class 5A 1st Team selection/All-SEK 1st Team selection. Uncommitted as of this date. Hit .410 last year with 11 doubles and two triples among 32 hits in 78 official at-bats. Only struck out once in 91 plate appearances.
2. Webb Fern: Pitcher/Catcher/OF, Senior, Right/Right. Returning SIK Class 5A Honorable Mention selection/All-SEK 1st Team selection. Committed to Coffeyville Community College. On the mound, had a 1.63 ERA last year in 38.2 innings pitched with 40 Ks/13 Walks. At the plate, hit .291 with 7 doubles, 1 triple and 1 home run among 23 hits in 79 official at-bats.
3. Beau Pasteur: Pitcher/3B, Senior, Right/Right. Returning SIK Class 5A Honorable Mention selection/All-SEK 2nd Team selection. Committed to Hutchinson Community College. On the mound, had a 2.07 ERA last year in 27.0 innings pitched with 27 Ks/24 Walks. At the plate, hit .356 with 6 doubles and 3 triples among 21 hits in 59 official at-bats, with 11 Walks.
4. Grant O'Doherty: SS, Senior, Right/Right. Returning SIK Class 5A Honorable Mention selection/All-SEK 2nd Team selection. Uncommitted as of this date. Hit .352 last year with 19 hits in 54 official at-bats. Walked 15 times with 7 HBPs and only had 6 Ks in 77 plate appearances. Had a .539 on-base percentage.
5. Quinten Fears: Pitcher/3B/1B, Senior, Right/Right. Uncommitted as of this date. On the mound, had a 3.06 ERA last year in 32.0 innings pitched with 27 Ks and 8 Walks. Record was 5-0 with a save.
6. Jacob Linahan: OF/Pitcher, Senior, Right/Right. Committed to Ottawa University. Hit .235 last year with 8 hits in 34 official at-bats, including one home run.
7. Nate Mitchell: 1B/P, Junior, Right/Right. Hit .294 last year with 5 hits in 17 official at-bats.
8. Jayden Brown: OF/P, Sophomore, Left/Left. Hit .458 last year with 11 hits in 24 official at-bats.
Top Newcomers:
1. Carsen Nickelson: 3B/SS/Pitcher, Junior, Right/Right.
2. Jett Burgess: 2B/P, Junior, Right/Right.
3. Westin Rink: Pitcher/SS/2B, Sophomore, Right/Right.
4. Cole Hayden: Pitcher/3B/1B, Sophomore, Right/Right.
Coach’s Insight:
“We have quite a bit of experience at the varsity level and our senior class is deep and talented. Offensively, we proved last year that we can really swing it as well as anyone and score runs in bunches, but it's a new year and we will need to prove that again. On the mound, a number of our front-line guys have thrown a lot of innings and have a lot of experience at the varsity level. A number of our front-line guys are still healing up from injuries suffered in other sports earlier in the year.” – Eric Miller, head coach
Find more information on the 2024 Pittsburg program below:
+ Visit Prep Baseball Kansas’ 2024 KHSHAA Season Preview page to learn more.