The Normal West Wildcats are coming off a 19-16 season. They went 12-6 in the Big 12.
They were led by senior All-State middle infielder Blake Crancer.
He, in addition to Alex Olsen, Taylor Hafermann, and Sam Descarpentrie earned.all-conference honors.
Despite losing 4 decorated seniors, the Cats reloaded with returning 11 seniors, headlined by 2024 First team All Big 12 catcher Chase Knuth, and Illinois Central College signee Brady Hart.
“They’re going to be the nucleus of our team. Chase Knuth, coming back all conference guy, I think he’s really excited. He’s worked really hard in the off-season. And of course, Brady is going to play at ICC next year. We’re going to build our team around those two,” Head coach Chris Hawkins explained.
Hawkins and the team welcome multi-sport athlete senior Cooper Temples, back to the roster.
Temples logged varsity starts as a sophomore, but he missed his junior year due to an injury he suffered during the football season.
“He would surely have been one of our top players last season but did not play. And we’re excited to have Cooper Temples back in the lineup,” Hawkins added.
Temples is one of four West football players on the baseball team in 2025. He is joining Torin Deleare, and twin brothers Drew and Brady Hart.
Both Delaere and D. Hart were tabbed as guys to watch who have the potential for a breakout year.
“Drew Hart and Torin Delaere. Both football players have put in a lot of time in the weight room and have worked really hard in the off-season at one of the indoor facilities to try to be on the rise,” Hawkins said.
Even with all the returning senior experience, the Bat Cats will be relying on the lefty sophomore ace Chase Reihnhart on the bump.
“[Reinhart] was our number one pitcher, and he will go into the season as our number one right where he left off. No freshman has ever had five varsity wins before, and now, being a sophomore, he’s going to be looked towards to pitch some of the big, big, most competitive games,” Hawkins stated.
The team will also call on the senior southpaw Ryder Coone.
“Ryder had a lot of Varsity experience last year. So he’ll be right behind Chase as our one and two,” Hawkins says.
West will have a tough hill to climb this season with their schedule, which includes their annual spring break trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. A trip they have been going on since 2015.
“Two of the teams we play in Alabama this year both have 10-game winning streaks already. We still haven’t played our first game…and that’s rare,” Hawkins said.
West will host Lake Zurich and Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame head coach Mike Banno.
“[Zurich} bring a good team down here, and we’ll be pretty excited to play a team like that,” Hawkins said.
The Cats will stay home to face Chatham Glenwood and the University of Tennessee commit and potential MLB first-round draft pick Cameron Appenzeller.
“They threw [Appenzeller] against this last year. I would not be surprised if they don’t throw them against us again. We do see a lot of teams number ones because we have a reputation to be a solid program,” Hawkins continued.
The Cats look to build on their 4th place finish in the Big 12 last year, but they’ll have to get past their arch rivals Normal Community.
“Our biggest competition is Normal Community, our rival school, they have about 500 more students. They had three Division One transfers come to their school this year so that’s rare.”
The Wildcats opened up the season with a tight 4-3 home win against Morton on Monday, March 17, took a win against Rochester High School with a walk-off double from Senior Torin DeLaere on Tuesday, March 18, and a decisive win against Limestone High School on Thursday, March 20.
The Wildcats are heading to Alabama for their annual spring break tournament trip.
