Area high school baseball teams have been on the diamonds since official practice began Feb. 16 in anticipation for Wednesday’s regular season openers.<\/p>\n
Which local players look to stand out the most during the 2026 season? Here is the annual preseason players to watch list:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan DeMercurio, Croatan: The senior catcher\/pitcher batted .258 with 13 runs, 11 RBIs, two doubles and a home run and was 1-1 with a 1.52 earned run average and four strikeouts in 4 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Harrison Thomas, Croatan: The junior third baseman\/pitcher batted .284 with 18 runs, five RBIs, four doubles and a triple and was 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 36 innings for the Cougars, who were 8-13.<\/p>\n
Drew Barren, Dixon: The senior first baseman hit .306 with 14 runs, five RBIs and a double for the Bulldogs, who were 12-12.<\/p>\n
Chris Guslander, Dixon: The senior shortstop\/pitcher was second-team all-area at second base after he batted .312 with 11 runs, nine RBIs, two doubles and nine steals.<\/p>\n
Nick Lacugna, Dixon: The sophomore outfielder\/pitcher was second-team all-area at designated hitter after he batted .327 with 14 RBIs, 10 runs, five doubles and a home run with eight steals.<\/p>\n
Trent Leal, Dixon: The senior third baseman\/pitcher hit .227 with six runs, 10 RBIs and a double.<\/p>\n
Gavin Holmes, East Duplin: The junior utility player was all-state and first-team all-area at third base after he batted .352 with 27 runs, 14 RBIs and 10 doubles and had 17 steals for the Panthers, who were 13-9.<\/p>\n
Silas Jarman, East Duplin: The sophomore pitcher\/outfielder looks to contribute after he was 1-for-2 in two varsity games.<\/p>\n
Sawyer Marshburn, East Duplin: The senior center fielder batted .318 with 13 RBIs, a run and two doubles.<\/p>\n
JP Murphy, East Duplin: The senior centerfielder\/left-handed pitcher hit .230 with 13 runs, five RBIs and four doubles with nine steals and was 1-5 with a 4.73 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 23 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Jack Tuck, East Duplin: The senior shortstop was second-team all-area after he batted .339 with 16 RBIs, 13 runs and two doubles and eight steals.<\/p>\n
Jaron Buie, Jacksonville: The junior shortstop batted .310 with 15 runs, four RBIs and three doubles for the Cardinals, who were 15-11 and advanced to the third round.<\/p>\n
Kaiden Cox, Jacksonville: The junior second baseman\/outfielder was second-team all-area utility after he hit .307 with 25 runs, 14 RBIs, six doubles and one triple and had 11 stolen bases.<\/p>\n
Maguire Lewis, Jacksonville: The senior pitcher\/first baseman was first-team all-area at first base after he hit .236 with 17 RBIs, 13 runs, five doubles and a home run and stole five bases while going 3-3 on the mound with a 2.92 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 38 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Cannon Smith, Jacksonville: The sophomore pitcher\/outfielder was first-team all-area outfield after he hit .373 with 15 runs, 10 RBIs and two doubles with eight steals and was 5-1 with a 1.64 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 25 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Vasco Sutton, Jacksonville: The senior catcher\/pitcher was first-team all-area behind the plate after he hit .410 with 25 RBIs, 24 runs, 10 doubles and a home run with five steals. He was 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA, one save and 65 strikeouts in 49 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Austin James, Lejeune: The senior pitcher\/outfielder hit .333 with 12 runs, nine RBIs and three doubles for the Devilpups, who went 2-12.<\/p>\n
Grady Mahaffey, Lejeune: The sophomore pitcher\/infielder was second-team all-area utility after he batted .294 with 10 runs, five RBIs and two doubles with eight steals. He was 1-4 with a 2.46 ERA and25 strikeouts in 31 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Breadon Martin, Liberty Christian Academy: The junior was a second-team all-area designated hitter after he hit .522 with six runs, three RBIs and two doubles for the Heat, who went 6-8.<\/p>\n
Conner Taylor, Liberty Christian Academy: The junior was also a second-team all-area designated hitter after he batted .484 with nine runs, nine RBIs, two doubles and two triples with 14 steals.<\/p>\n
Luke Foster, Living Water Christian School: The freshman pitcher\/shortstop led the Warriors as an eighth grader in all categories during their first season.<\/p>\n
Mason Appleman, Northside: The senior second baseman batted .356 with 11 runs, nine RBIs two doubles seven steals for the Monarchs, who went 3-20.<\/p>\n
Austin Butterfield, Northside: The senior third baseman hit .333 with eight runs, 13 RBIs and five doubles.<\/p>\n
Kiernan Posey, Northside: The senior shortstop\/pitcher batted .295 with three runs, four RBIs and a double and was 0-4 with a 3.82 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 36 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Peyton Mayhew, Northside: The senior centerfielder was first-team all-area after he batted .415 with 11 runs, four doubles and three triples and had 10 steals.<\/p>\n
Jariel Santos, Northside: The senior pitcher\/third baseman was second-team all-area on the mound after he was 1-7 with a 4.56 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 50 2\/3 innings while hitting .309 with eight RBIs, five runs and two doubles.<\/p>\n
Tanner Brinson, Richlands: The junior pitcher\/catcher\/infielder hit .245 with seven runs, five RBIs and two doubles with seven steals for the Wildcats, who went 7-13.<\/p>\n
Marlon Machado, Richlands: The senior utility player hit .268 with 11 runs, nine RBIs and four doubles.<\/p>\n
Christian Escalera, Southwest: The senior outfielder hit .308 with 10 runs, 14 RBIs and a double for the Stallions, who were 12-10.<\/p>\n
Tito Escalera, Southwest: The senior pitcher was 1-2 with a 4.10 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 13 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Kannon Huffman, Southwest: The junior catcher was a first-team all-area designated hitter after he hit .529 with 22 RBIs, 21 runs, six doubles and two triples and stole 15 bases.<\/p>\n
Cole Jarman, Southwest: The senior third baseman was a first-team all-area designated hitter after he batted .413 with 30 RBIs, 18 runs, three doubles and one home run and was 6-2 with a 1.17 ERA and a save with 61 strikeouts in 47 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Logan Marks, Southwest: The junior shortstop was first-team all-area second base after he hit .403 with 23 runs, 15 RBIs, eight doubles and five steals.<\/p>\n
Patrick Hollifield, Swansboro: The senior shortstop\/pitcher is the area’s and Coatal Conference’s reigning player of the year and was all-state after he was 6-2 with a 0.79 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 61 2\/3 innings and batted .368 with 15 RBIs, 13 runs, six doubles and one home run.<\/p>\n
Landen Jenkins, Swansboro: The senior catcher hit .289 with five runs, 11 RBIs and two doubles for the Pirates, who went 13-8 overall, and shared the Coastal Conference title at 8-2 for their first league crown since 1978.<\/p>\n
Zack Phillips, Swansboro: The senior first baseman\/pitcher hit .246 with seven runs, 14 RBIs and one double.<\/p>\n
Kevin Till, Swansboro: The senior third baseman\/pitcher hit .212 with 11 runs, 10 RBIs and eight steals.<\/p>\n
Isaac Baxter, White Oak: The junior pitcher\/first base\/third base, was first-team all-area shortstop after he battled .389 with 16 RBIs, 10 runs, three doubles and a home run for the Vikings, who went 7-13.<\/p>\n
Gavin Ramson, White Oak: The junior pitcher\/shortstop hit .242 with 16 runs, three RBIs and four doubles and eight steals. He was also 0-0 with a 4.11 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 32 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Brandon Watson, White Oak: The senior pitcher\/first baseman was second \u2013team all-area at first after he hit .310 with nine runs, four RBIs, four doubles and a triple.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Area high school baseball teams have been on the diamonds since official practice began Feb. 16 in anticipation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,110],"class_list":["post-166710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}