Expectations are sky-high for the Palisade High School baseball team this spring.
Fresh off of a second-place finish in the Southwestern League and a trip to the Class 4A state tournament semifinals, the Bulldogs return a hefty helping of production, and are primed to once again be among the top teams on the Western Slope this spring.
Offensively, the Bulldogs have retained the majority of their run production from last year’s state Final Four squad. Palisade graduated just one of their top six hitters by batting average from 2025 — Easton Embrey, who now plays in the junior college ranks with Florence-Darlington Tech in North Carolina. Standout returners like Kian Kinslow, Dylon Larson and Hunter Howard highlight a six-man senior class who hope to return to the final weekend of the state tournament again this season.
“We’re expecting chemistry and leadership from our seniors,” Palisade coach Nate Porter said. “They’re gonna play, they can all play, they’re all good ballplayers, so the only two things I’m looking for are chemistry and leadership. I couldn’t be more proud of this group that we have here right now, from a character and personality perspective. They’re quality human beings.”
Howard, who was the heart and soul of the Bulldogs’ basketball team fresh off trip to the 5A Great 8 last weekend, showed that he hasn’t missed a step on the diamond despite an unexpectedly lengthy basketball season. The senior shortstop connected on a fastball in the third inning of the Bulldogs’ 13-6 win over Ponderosa, depositing it beyond the fence in left field for a three-run home run.
“It was a 2-1 count, we had a little delayed steal action with Dylon (Larson),” Howard said. “Finally saw the fastball, he missed it over the plate. So I put the barrel on the ball, and it went.”
In only three games played this season, Palisade has now gotten home runs from three different seniors — center fielder Larson and catcher Will Seriani are the others. Larson was a complete offensive threat last season, leading the team with a .526 batting average in his junior campaign; Howard, meanwhile, hit .411, good for third-highest on the squad. All three of the current seniors finished the season with only two home runs apiece in 2025.
The Bulldogs’ most prolific bopper is third baseman Kian Kinslow, who has yet to hit his first long ball of the season despite leading the team with six of them as a junior. Kinslow also features a strong glove, and will be a big part of Palisade’s run prevention unit on defense throughout the year.
Tobyn Trottier, a standout lineman for the Bulldogs in the fall and a heavyweight wrestler in the winter, also figures to provide Palisade plenty of offensive firepower in his final prep campaign. Trottier finished second on the team with three home runs in only 67 at-bats as a junior. If he can continue to translate his size into power, the first baseman could provide crucial at-bats for the Bulldogs late in the season.
Rounding out the senior six is Danyel Ishida-Farmer, the Bulldogs’ top arm this spring. Ishida-Farmer threw 37 1/3 innings of 3.00 ERA baseball as a junior. Both marks rank first among returning Bulldog pitchers. After the graduation of Embrey and former fireballer Garrett Draper, Ishida-Farmer is in line to handle the bulk of the Bulldogs’ innings on the mound this spring.
“We’ve been playing together since freshman year, and most of us actually played on varsity our freshman year, so we’ve been together and in this environment for four years now. It’s pretty cool to be with your boys the whole time and have then by your side,” Larson said. “Especially being the same age, being seniors, going to school with them and all that. I mean, it’s definitely meaningful to us.”
Despite building a 6-0 lead early, Palisade’s bullpen struggled to close out Friday’s contest. The Palisade pitching staff surrendered six runs on seven hits in the top of the sixth inning, temporarily pulling the game even a 6-6. But the Bulldogs responded resoundingly with seven runs in the bottom half of the inning, reestablishing their lead in the process. Howard recorded the final four outs on the mound for Palisade, which improved to 3-0.
The Bulldogs are off to a hot start in 2026, but it’s the end of the season, not the beginning, that they have their sights set on.
“We do want to go out in a way that’s going to be remembered, not just by me, but by very single teammate, coach, and the school,” Howard said. “I think we’re all on the same page of ending our senior year at state, because some of us, this is the last time we’ll ever take a baseball field. Some of us are going to the collegiate level, but, I mean, this chemistry, this culture… there will never be anything else like high school baseball.”