The calendar has turned to the a new year and that means the OSSAA high school baseball season will be here soon. Classes A1, A2, and B officially get started February 23 while the rest of the classes begin March 2.

Up until that the beginning of the season, SSBR will be providing previews of as many teams as we can. Recently, SSBR sent out questionnaires to the high school coaches across the state of Oklahoma asking for their top returning players, top newcomers, overall strengths/weaknesses, and their overall assessment where their respective programs are coming into the 2026 season.

What you have below are the responses to those questions in the words of the coaches themselves.

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Today’s team: MacArthur Highlanders

Classification: 5A

2025 Results: 20-19 (Regional Finalist)

Head Coach: Jay Vermillion

Head coaching experience: 10 years (1st at MacArthur)

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Top Returners

• Top Returning Seniors
• Josiah Alford – SS/P – Uncommitted
• Dirk Couch – 3B/P – Committed to Mid-America
• Breadon MacDonald – INF/P – Should be one of our top 3 pitchers – Mid to upper 80’s fastball
• Top Returning Juniors
• Lou Phillips – 1B/DH – A big strong kid, that will hit in the middle of the line up for us. One of the Top hitters on our team.
• Top Returning Sophmores
• Braydon Cooper – CF/P – A lead off type guy that can run and swing it.
• Cade Phillips – P/OF – Outstanding Arm, Should be in the top of the rotation. Has a chance to be really good.
• Eagle Masheet – OF – Outstanding Outfielder, with a good arm, that will hit in the middle of our line-up. Really Good hitter!

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Top Newcomers

• Sophomore – Sebastian Millet – Move-In from San Antonio Tx. – RHP – Good Arm
• Freshman – Gavin Keplinger – C/P – Oustanding Player – Will be a key player for us
• Freshman – Champ Bowden – P/INF – Big Kid with Big Arm. Will help the pitching rotation!

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Overall Team Strengths

We have some good athletes, and some really good kids. I would say one strength for us would be our arms, we have a lot depth with some good arms.

Overall Team Needs to Work On

This is a little bit of a different situation, with a new Coach this year. I feel like the main thing is, to get them to buy in to the new culture, with great attitudes and effort. We will be working hard to improve our fundamentals and to be mentally prepared to play at a high level.

Outlook

We feel like we have a chance to be good, and if the kids buy in to the new Coaching staff and give good effort, we could be making a run to the State Tournament!

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Schedule

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