The calendar has turned to the a new school year and that means the OSSAA high school Fall baseball season will be here soon. The season officially gets underway on August 10, but teams can play games before then if both teams have already started school.
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 Fall season.
What you have below are the responses to those questions in the words of the coaches themselves.
Today’s team: Navajo Indians
Classification: A
2025 Fall Results: 25-12 (State semifinalist)
2026 Spring Results: 28-5 (A-2 State quarterfinalist)
Head Coach: Weston Winters
Head coaching experience: 20 years (all at Navajo)
Top Returners
- Craig Russell– SS/P. 3-year starter at SS. He will hit at the top of the lineup and is a very good defensive player with High IQ. He will need to pitch some innings as well. Very good competitor and strives for the big moment.
- Jake Lingle– INF/P 3-year starter. He was our ace on the mound last season. Season ending injury 2 weeks before regionals. He is healthy and really fresh. He is looking to have a great season
- Kanyon Mertz– Catcher 2-year starter. He has started for us behind the plate the day he became a HS player. He had a really good summer and does a great job behind the plate and does a great job calling pitches for our pitchers. He will swing it in the top of our order.
- Braydan Herrin-INF/P He has always been a bulldog on the mound and always wants the baseball in big games. He is a really good defensive player as well.
- Kash Boley– OF/P Had a great season swinging the bat in the fall and spring seasons. He pitched a lot for us late in spring season. Need him to step-up and play like a senior.
- Kooper Covey. INF/P. Started as a freshman and had a really solid summer. Looking for him to step in on the mound and eat up a lot of innings. Lots of pop in his bat.
- Levi Ingram– CF Levi had a great freshman campaign. Swings it left-handed and he plays a great outfield. He is the great teammate, and he lives at the indoor. He is looking to have a great sophomore season.
- Jaxon Konen– P He beat Canute on the mound in the fall, and we need him to step-up and be more consistent. If he is consistent, he will be a guy that pitches a lot for us this fall
- Tilden Smith– 1B- Started 1B for us last season but needs to step in and swing it well for us. He is an all-around teammate and young man
- Miles Guenther– Very versatile player. He had a great summer and played a lot of baseball. Really hard worker and really wants it.
Top Newcomers
- Sage Jones– Has a chance to swing it for us and is a very good yound player
- Joshua Birely– Tough nosed player and is a great base runner and solid young player
- Alonzo Diaz– Rehabbing back from labrum tear and has a lot of potential.
- Jacob Brodhead– Hardest working player we have
Team strengths
We are a veteran team, and we return a lot of state tournament experience. We just need to stay healthy and do our jobs
Team needs to work on
We just need to believe and trust each other and everything else will fall into place
Outlook
We have been to state 5 seasons in a row, and we just have to stay healthy. In years past we have been injured at the wrong time of year. We have played a lot of good baseball summer and Hard Work Pays Off
Schedule
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