Juniors look to lead Hawks baseball
The Gibault Catholic High School baseball bunch returns a solid amount of key players from last year’s squad that managed to win a regional title despite finishing under .500.
The Hawks will feature a lot of talent from its junior class this spring for longtime head coach Andy Skaer – those being catcher/shortstop Nolan Snell, shortstop/third baseman Robert Pierpoint, first baseman Kole Schilling, outfielder/pitcher Dylan Schaefer, and pitcher Carson Timmons.
Snell hit .306 with 12 RBIs last season, with Pierpoint driving in 13 runs. Schilling scored 18 runs, and Schaefer has looked good on the mound this preseason after pitching some varsity innings in 2025.
Timmons was the winning pitcher in last year’s regional championship. The righty went 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 42 strikeouts over 47-plus innings in 2025.
Other juniors who are new to the Hawks varsity roster in 2026 are Gus Schmidt and Valmeyer transfer Troy Neff. Schmidt collected three hits in Gibault’s season opener last week. Neff, an infielder, had 13 RBIs and 12 runs scored for the Pirates in 2025.
A key returning sophomore is tall lefthanded pitcher Dante Gianino. He went 3-2 with 20 strikeouts over 25-plus innings last season.
Seniors on the roster for Gibault are Tim Donius and Noah Koeninger, who will both have contributing roles.
Skaer also pointed to Steven Schaefer looking strong behind the plate early on and Danny Kinsey as someone who will see time on the infield. Both are juniors.
“We have some pitching depth, especially for a Class 1A team,” Skaer said when talking about strengths for this year’s club.
As for weaknesses, Skaer said he’d like his players to be more aggressive as baserunners.
He added that depth is always an issue for small school teams such as Gibault, so improving that depth – especially at the bottom of the lineup – is a key for success.
“Our overall expectations don’t change a whole lot from year to year,” Skaer said. “We want to play good baseball throughout the season, improve as we go, learn more about ourselves and be playing our best baseball at postseason time.”
Gibault hosts Columbia on April 6, then hosts Waterloo for a Saturday doubleheader on April 11.
