By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Nevada’s baseball team made its second straight state quarterfinal appearance last spring, and a 23-6 final record marked the team’s fourth straight winning season.
“It was a successful season, one that our program is proud of and any time you win a district championship obviously that’s a feather in your cap,” said head coach Danny Penn. “We eventually ran into a tough Blair Oaks team (the eventual Class 4 champion) but I’m very proud of our seniors who led us and our younger players who continued to grow throughout the season.”
The Tigers graduated five seniors, including All-Big 8 West honorees Blake Woods (designated hitter), Kellan Ast (outfield), Riddick Shook (outfield) and Drake Ketterman, a unanimous first team infielder who also earned second team all-state honors.
Nevada returns four other all-conference players to help lead the team in 2025.
Junior Kellen Braden returns at catcher after earning unanimous first team Big 8 honors as a utility player and honorable mention all-state honors. He served as the team’s cleanup hitter and was a .308 hitter with six doubles, a triple and a home run.
“As a sophomore he caught probably 90 to 95 innings and really improved throughout the season,” said Penn, who earned Coach of the Year honors in the Big 8. “I look for him to just pick up right where he left off. He’ll likely find himself in a similar position in our lineup this year.”
Senior Caden Klumpp returns as the team’s No. 1 starting pitcher and a starting infielder on the left side of the field. He was a unanimous first team pitcher in the Big 8 West, a unanimous first team infielder and the conference Player of the Year. He added honorable mention all-state honors as an infielder. He batted .340 and clubbed 15 doubles, two triples and two homers while driving in 37 runs and stealing 25 bases.
“We haven’t decided on shortstop or third base but he’s fully capable of playing either position well,” Penn said. “With him being our number one, the thought is possibly play him at third just to save his arm a little bit but that’s something we’ll decide based on other players. Offensively he hit two or three in the lineup and was our main RBI guy. He’s just a baseball player in the best sense of that word. A guy who’s really matured in his time in our program.”
Senior Barrett Nadurata has played mostly second base the last few seasons and he earned honorable mention all-conference honors last spring. He was a .337 hitter with five doubles and a triple and he drove in 21.
“We’ve had older shortstops who have been playing above him but he’s fully capable of playing there,” Penn said. “If Caden is not at short, Barrett will probably be there. Offensively he’ll probably hit one or two in our lineup and he does a nice job getting on base. He can play some small ball when the situation calls for it.”
Senior Graham Walker returns to the outfield after he was an honorable mention all-conference player last season. He’ll probably play in left this spring. He batted .351 last year with five doubles, a home run, 15 RBI’s and seven stolen bases.
“He’ll probably hit five, six, seven in that area and he has really done a lot of work to clean up his swing and clean up some holes so we’re excited about what that looks like for us this year,” Penn said.
Junior Jett Snyder, an all-district performer, returns as a first baseman. He batted .311 with five doubles, two triples and 17 RBI’s last year.
“He’s grown two or three inches and looks much stronger,” Penn said. “He played basketball so I haven’t had much of a look at him in preseason, but he already had a very powerful swing last year so I’m excited to see what it looks like this year. He does a really nice job first with very good reactions. He’s a guy our infield is very confident throwing to.”
Junior Kanton Ast is a returning outfielder who mostly played defense but figures to get at bats this season.
“He makes really good reads in the outfield and turned an unassisted double play last year which is something I don’t know I’ve ever seen by an outfielder,” Penn said. “You feel confident he’s going to track it down when the ball is hit anywhere in his zip code. I would guess he’ll get the first opportunity to be in center field.”
Penn said the roster looks to have several athletic players capable of playing in a variety of positions, which he said is a “nice luxury.” That group includes juniors Drew Miller, Aidan Smith, Kobe Buck, and sophomore Drew Harder.
“A lot of the guys who are going to throw innings are starters in the field so when they move to the mound we’ve got three or four really athletic players we feel confident are going to step right into those roles,” he said.
The team’s pitching rotation returns at least three players who could serve as starters. Klumpp leads the list after going 6-2 with a 2.06 ERA last season. Walker could slot in behind him in the rotation after he was 5-0 with a 1.97 ERA and earned second team Big 8 honors. Nadurata was 3-2 with two saves and a 2.19 ERA. He thrived in a relief role, Penn said, serving as a “fireman” in difficult spots and should see an expanded role.
Other arms include Snyder and Ast, both left-handed pitchers. Senior James Qiu will probably focus on pitching and offers good velocity; he could be the next fireman-type reliever or potentially the team’s closer. Senior Montgomery Palmer pitched at the JV level last year and has impressed Penn with his development and the natural movement on his pitches. Junior Kaden Burns and sophomore Zayne Valdez are two more left handers who could pitch.
Nevada will play in a jamboree at Branson on March 14 along with Bolivar. The Tigers open the regular season in the Clever tournament and then travel to Frontenac and Pittsburg Colgan in Kansas. Warrensburg has also been added to the schedule. Nevada plays two more Kansas schools in Fort Scott and Pittsburg in May.
“Our expectations are high,” Penn said. “We graduated five seniors and obviously it’ll take some time to fill those holes, but we’ve got a number of highly competitive, highly talented baseball players. I think the competition in practice and amongst ourselves is just going to raise everybody’s game and hopefully that leads to a successful season.”
