The 2024 Missouri high school baseball season is quickly approaching and, as usual, excitement is abound throughout the state. Players and coaches have been working in preparation for the upcoming season and, as is the case each year, there are some very talented players and teams across Missouri. 

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in Ozark come early June, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview individual teams across Missouri. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews, eventually releasing our Preseason team rankings that’ll carry us into the opening week of action.

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across the state, and we’ll be releasing daily content to ensure our top-tier coverage of the ‘Show Me’ state. 

Our 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

Team: Republic High School
2023 Record (Playoff Finish): 22-10 (District Runner-Ups)
Conference: Central Ozark Conference
Classification: 6A
Head Coach: Curt Plotner

UPPERCLASSMEN TO KNOW 

• IF/P Trace Harrington (2024; SIUE)
• P Caide White (2024;  Central Arkansas)
• C Wyatt Woods (2024)
• OF/P Garrett Lester (2024; Mid-America Nazarene)
• IF/P Devon Hughes (2024; JeffCo)
• P Myles Lozano (2024)
• IF/P Mason Mitchell (2024)
• OF/P Jackson Overstreet (2025)
• IF/P Ryder Davis (2025)

UNDERCLASS FOLLOWS 

• P Preston McCracken (2026)

TEAM OUTLOOK

Republic shaped themselves into a force to be reckoned with in the Central Ozark Conference last spring, finishing 22-10 with a runner-up finish in their District. The Tigers return a favorable group of seniors, most of which played a part in last year’s success, that will look to end their prep careers on a high note. 

Pitching and defense appear to be the strengths of this Republic club with a handful of talented names perched atop their rotation. Leading the charge is senior RHP Caide White (2024), a Central Arkansas commit, who hurled 48 innings and pitched in several big games for the Tigers last year. A PBR Future Games alumni, White’s fastball plays in the mid-to-upper-80s and he’s comfortable throwing a mid-70s breaking ball for strikes, as well as whiffs. 

Caide White

Behind White is another senior arm in Myles Lozano (2024), who saw plenty of success on the bump as a junior last spring. Lozano paced the Tigers with an 8-1 record across a 45 inning workload and he also had the lowest ERA on the staff. Talented sophomore RHP Preston McCracken (2026) figures to slot into the Tigers’ rotation as well. He’s a long, lanky, and lean-limbed 6-foot-2, 185-pound athlete that we’ve heard is starting to trickle into the mid-to-upper-80s with his fastball and has shown big depth on his breaking ball at past events. 

The depth and experience also translates to the offensive end for Republic. OF Garrett Lester (2024; Mid-America Nazarene) can really run, and the left-handed hitting senior brings back a .324 batting average with a .457 on-base percentage from last spring. He figures to slot in towards the top of this lineup while also playing center field regularly. 1B Trace Harrington (2024; Southern Illinois - Edwardsville) wields one of the more powerful right-handed swings in the state that should slot right into the middle of this lineup. Harrington slugged .500 last year and clobbered five home runs, two statistical outputs that are capable of rising this season. 

Trace Harrington

INF Devon Hughes (2024; Jefferson JC) and C Wyatt Woods (2024) are two more names to know on this club. Hughes is a confident and steady defender that was an All-Conference and All-District selection in 2023 with a .281/.378/.354 triple-slash. Woods returns following an all-state campaign as a backstop and his athletic talents translate away from the diamond as he also earned All-State honors on the football field as a quarterback. He was one of this team’s key offensive pieces last spring, batting .342 while reaching base at over a 50% clip. 

1B/RHP Mason Mitchell (2024) is a physical 6-foot-3, 235-pound athlete that’ll contribute on both sides of the ball. He had a handful of key hits last spring, batted .290 with 18 RBIs, and also pitched several quality innings for the Tigers. Other names to know that will be called upon this upcoming season are INF Carter Nation (2024; Missouri State - West Plains), INF Kanon Krol (2024), OF Brett Hendrickson (2024), INF Nolan Coble (2025), INF/RHP Ryder Davis (2025), and OF/RHP Jackson Overstreet (2025). 

BOTTOM LINE

Republic’s senior class is deep and, after making a run to the District championship last spring, the Tigers have their eyes set on more in 2024 with the pieces to do so. They’ll be battle tested given their tough conference schedule and the Tigers are certainly a team eager to do damage this spring. 

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