Three from ALAH earn first team all-LPC honors

By Mike Monahan

BETHANY – The all-Lincoln Prairie Conference baseball team was released the evening of June 3 and there are three from Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond earning a spot on the 12-member first team all-LPC. For ALAH it was pitcher Marcus Otto, a junior; as well as classmate John Williams and senior Will Hilligoss.

The only unanimous selections were Argenta-Oreana’s Carter Logue and Tri-County sophomore Chase Rhode.

Overall there were six players from ALAH, three from Arcola and from Villa Grove. Okaw Valley, the conference champions, had four, while Argenta-Oreana had three as did Sullivan and Tri-County. Heritage and Cerro Gordo/Bement had two and Unity Christian had one for a total of 30. There were 17 seniors, eight juniors, four sophomores and one freshman.

ALAH

For the Knights, who finished 21-10 overall and won the first ALAH regional title in the 13 years of existence and third overall out of Arthur, Arthur-Lovington (co-op), Arthur Lovington, and Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond. Arthur won four district titles in 1944, ‘45, ‘46 and ‘47.

Hilligoss led the team that finished 9-1 in the LPC, good for second place, in batting at .472; tied for first in doubles with seven, and led in triples with five. Williams hit .363 and led in runs scored with 43 and walks with 30 as well as stolen bases with 27. Otto had an earned run average of 3.36. He threw a team-high 41 ⅔ innings and had a team-high 48 strikeouts.

Otto was on the first team as a sophomore, while Hilligoss was on the second team and Williams received honorable mention in 2025.

Making the 12-member second team were Max Boddy and Lucas Butcher, while earning one of the six honorable mention spots was Kody Burdick.

Boddy was on the second team in 2025 and Butcher received honorable mention.

Cerro Gordo/Bement

The top players for the 5-15 team that finished 3-6 in the LPC, good for eight place at 3-6 were second teamer Kaydon Waterhouse, a senior and Cole Giberson, also a senior.

In 19 games Giberson led the team in batting at .500 with 20 singles. Waterhouse hit .400 in 18 games and tied for the most runs with 12 and tied for the most walks with nine and was tops in stolen bases with seven and was hit by a pitch nine times. He led the team in earned run average at 6.82 with a team-high 52 strikeouts in 38 innings.

2026 all-Lincoln Prairie Conference baseball team
First team

Pitchers: Marcus Otto, jr., Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond; Braden Montgomery, senior, Okaw Valley
Brody Phillips, junior, Arcola; Brevyn Whisman, senior, Arcola; Carter Logue, sr, Argenta-Oreana*; Jaxon Finch, so., Argenta-Oreana; Will Hilligoss, sr., ALAH, John Williams, sr, ALAH; Easton Drollinger, fr., Okaw Valley; Marshall Robison, senior, Sullivan; Chase Rhode, so., Tri-County*; Max Wilson, so., Villa Grove
*-unanimous selection

Second team

Pitchers: Kaydon Waterhouse, sr., Cerro Gordo/Bement; Anthony Happ, sr,, Heritage; Anthony Smith, so., Tri-County Jackson Griffith, sr., Arcola; Lucas Camfield, jr., Argenta-Oreana; Max Boddy, jr., ALAH; Cole Giberson, sr., CGB; Ryla White, sr., Heritage; Tucker Montgomery, sr., Okaw Valley; Caden Saul, sr., Sullivan; Kahle Lee, jr., jr., Tri-County

Honorable mention
Kody Burdick, jr., ALAH; Maddux Rozanski, sr., Okaw Valley; Tristan Wright, sr., Sullivan; Will Marley, sr., Unity Christian; Jesse Gire, jr., Villa Grove; Thomas Vandeventer, sr., Villa Grove

Overall and Lincoln Prairie Conference records for 2026 season
Team      Overall pct.      LPC pct.
!*Okaw Valley 17-15 .531 9-1 .900
*ALAH 21-10 .677 9-1 .900
Arcola 11-11 .500 7-3 .700
Argenta-Oreana 16-13-1.550 7-3 .700
Tri-County 10-12 .455 5-4 .556
Sullivan 7-19 ..269 5-5 .500
Villa Grove 8-12 .400 5-5 .500
CGB 5-15` .250 3-6 .333
Heritage 3-18 .143 2-7 .222
Blue Ridge 1-16 .059 1-8 .111
Unity Christian 0-17 .000 0-10 .000
*-regional champions; !-LPC champs