2026 WPIAL Class 6A baseball preseason breakdown

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, March 8, 2026 | 10:31 PM

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North Allegheny won the Section 1-6A baseball title by two games last spring, while Canon-McMillan took home the plaque as Section 2-6A champs by one game.

Yet in the small eight-team playoff bracket, neither team reached the championship game.

The Tigers were stunned in the quarterfinals by Hempfield, and the Big Macs were bumped in the semifinals.

Seneca Valley didn’t allow a run in the semifinals against Canon-McMillan and title game against Norwin to earn its fifth WPIAL baseball championship and first in 11 years.

It also moved the Raiders into a tie for fourth place on the all-time district baseball championship list.

Here is a rundown of the 2026 preseason top 5 teams, some of the players to watch and other diamond notes in WPIAL Class 6A baseball.

Preseason Top 5

1. Canon-McMillan (15-7 last season)

In the regular season series format and especially into the playoffs, pitching depth is huge. The Big Macs have two of the top arms in the class in seniors Seb Shulsky (Cincinnati) and Martin Maruschak (Winthrop). Canon-McMillan got a taste of success a year ago with a junior-led team and appears to be ready to make a run at the program’s fourth WPIAL championship and first since 2018. The Big Macs averaged 6.4 runs per game in 2025 and return several key seniors to the lineup in outfielders Massimo Falconi (Washington & Jefferson) and Dillon Muser (Waynesburg), utility players Nico Patragas (W&J) and Blake Simmons (Slippery Rock) and infielder Cayden Laskosky (Grove City).

2. Seneca Valley (18-7)

In a spring where a handful of teams could end up raising gold at the end of May, the defending champion Raiders will have a tough challenge of trying to become only the second team in WPIAL Class 6A history to repeat (Mt. Lebanon in 2022 and 2023). Seneca Valley has several players back from the 2025 title run, including first-team all-section senior outfielder Danny Drennan and senior pitcher Ryan Rebholz, along with second-team all-section senior infielder Micah Olayer. Also returning for the Raiders are a pair of senior infielders in Brandon Godleski (Pitt-Johnstown) and Easton Blair (Saint Vincent).

3. North Allegheny (14-7)

The Tigers will once again be in the hunt for a league-leading 10th district championship this spring coming off a section title and an upset loss in the quarterfinals a year ago. Outfielder J.J. Mancuso had a sensational sophomore season, and the Seton Hall commit enters his junior campaign with high expectations. Senior infielder and pitcher Lukas Manczka (Seton Hill) also returns, as do three all-section second-teamers in senior designated hitter Nate Surman, junior outfielder Mason Dratfinsky and junior infielder Christian Simons.

4. Butler (11-9)

Last year was a tale of two seasons for the Golden Tornado. Butler began the season with six straight wins, including a three-game sweep of North Hills in its first Section 1-6A series of the season. However, the finish was not so good, losing five of its last six games, including a quarterfinal loss to Norwin. Butler does return several Division I players in senior catcher Mavrik Clement (Pitt) and senior pitchers Kyle Casteel (West Virginia) and Nolan Stefaniak (Penn State), along with Division II infielder Boden Lenyk (South Carolina-Aiken). Also returning are first-team all-section junior infielder Trent Best and second-team all-section junior outfielder Nash Cuffman.

5. Hempfield (9-13)

A young Spartans lineup struggled to find consistency last year, winning more than one game in a row two times — once on a March trip to Myrtle Beach and the other was in the final Section 2-6A series of the regular season when they swept Woodland Hills. However, a possible glimpse into what might be came in the 6A quarterfinals when Hempfield stunned top seed and defending champion North Allegheny, 3-1. Back are two Mercyhurst commits in senior outfielder Ian Kovalcik and senior infielder/pitcher Chase Sikorski. Also returning are two second-team all-section players from 2025 in senior infielder Owen Shuglie and senior DH Evan Dunlap. Senior catcher Anthony More (State College of Florida-Manatee) and sophomore infielder and pitcher Grady Wheaton also return.

Players to watch

Boden Lenyk, Sr., INF, Butler

Nolan Stefaniak, Sr., P, Butler

Trent Best, Jr., INF, Butler

Nash Cuffman, Jr., OF, Butler

Mavrik Clement, Sr., C, Butler

Kyle Casteel, Sr., P, Butler

Carson Pettyjohn, Sr., INF, Central Catholic

C.J. Proch, Sr., INF/OF, Central Catholic

Chase Gelpi, Jr., INF, Central Catholic

Landon Greene, Sr., INF, Central Catholic

Nate O’Leary, Sr., UTIL, Central Catholic

Reece Hankinson, Sr., OF, Central Catholic

Peter Szustak, Sr., P, Central Catholic

Josh McFadden, Sr., P, Central Catholic

J.J. Mancuso, Jr., OF, North Allegheny

Christian Simons, Jr., INF, North Allegheny

Mason Dratfinsky, Jr., OF, North Allegheny

Nate Surman, Sr., DH, North Allegheny

Lukas Manczka, Sr., INF/P, North Allegheny

Liam Connolly, So., OF, North Hills

Austin Ellis, So., UTIL, North Hills

Danny Drennan, Sr., OF, Seneca Valley

Ryan Rebholz, Sr., P, Seneca Valley

Micah Olayer, Sr., INF, Seneca Valley

Brandon Godleski, Sr., INF, Seneca Valley

Easton Blair, Sr., INF, Seneca Valley

Sebastian Shulsky, Sr., P, Canon-McMillan

Massimo Falconi, Sr., OF, Canon-McMillan

Troy Stimpson, Jr., OF, Canon-McMillan

M.J. Maruschak, Sr., UTIL, Canon-McMillan

Nico Patragas, Sr., UTIL, Canon-McMillan

Blake Simmons, Sr., UTIL, Canon-McMillan

Cayden Laskosky, Sr., INF, Canon-McMillan

Dillon Muser, Sr., OF, Canon-McMillan

Owen Shuglie, Sr., INF, Hempfield

Ian Kovalcik, Sr., OF, Hempfield

Evan Dunlap, Sr., DH, Hempfield

Chase Sikorski, Sr., INF/P, Hempfield

Anthony More, Sr., C/INF, Hempfield

Grady Wheaton, So., INF/P, Hempfield

Graham Keen, Jr., P-INF, Mt. Lebanon

Dane Barber, Sr., INF, Mt. Lebanon

Trevor Vitsas, Sr., DH, Norwin

Matthew O’Neil, Sr., OF/P, Norwin

Caden Sivrich, Sr., OF/P, Norwin

Diamond notes

• Ryan Rebholz started in the 2025 WPIAL championship game against Norwin and pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing two hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Luis Torrenegra closed the victory out with 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief as the Raiders blanked the Knights, 4-0. It marked the third straight shutout in the 6A title game. While allowing only two hits in the title game is impressive, it lacks the pop of the two previous 6A finals when David Shields threw a no-hitter for Mt. Lebanon in the 2023 championship game and David Posey of North Allegheny duplicated that feat with a no-hitter in the 2024 title game.

• The championship run for Seneca Valley last spring was title No. 5 in program history. It wasn’t an expected crown, but it wasn’t a surprise either as the bracket’s No. 3 seed. The previous time the Raiders claimed gold 11 years earlier was a bit different. In the 2014 regular season, Seneca Valley finished 5-5 in Section 1-4A and in a tie for third place with an overall record of 6-11. The Raiders were the No. 16 seed before the eyebrow-raiser tour began. First, they stunned top-seeded Hempfield, then No. 9 Shaler and No. 4 Pine-Richland to reach the title game. There, they defeated No. 2 Baldwin, 5-2, for a shocking championship, their third in four years.

• There appears to be pretty good balance in the classification this year. Despite not being ranked in the Top 5, North Hills, Central Catholic, Mt. Lebanon and Norwin could all make a run at a district playoff berth in 2026. There will be re-alignment for the next two years once this season is over. Class 6A is expected to lose North Hills and Woodland Hills to 5A, and gain back Pine-Richland, Upper St. Clair and Connellsville, setting up WPIAL 6A to have 11 baseball teams in 2027 and 2028.

• For a fourth straight regular season in 6A, the section series each week will be three-game series. The playoff format in 6A remains the same. The top four teams in each of the two sections qualify. In 2025, North Allegheny beat Seneca Valley by two games to win the Section 1-6A crown, with Butler third and North Hills in fourth place. In Section 2, Canon-McMillan edged Hempfield by one game, Mt. Lebanon ended up in third place and Hempfield was fourth. The two fifth-place finishers in the 10-team class, Central Catholic and Woodland Hills, were a combined 2-22 in section play.

• Seneca Valley became the fifth school to win a WPIAL Class 6A baseball championship. The class turns 10 years old this spring, although this will be the ninth season since the 2020 campaign was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Three schools have captured two 6A crowns — North Allegheny, Pine-Richland and Mt. Lebanon. Canon-McMillan is the other school to win a 6A baseball title when it won it all in 2018. That same year, the Big Macs became the first and thus far, only District 7 school, to win a PIAA 6A baseball championship when they defeated Bensalem in the state finals, 10-3.

Alignment

Section 1: Butler, Central Catholic, North Allegheny, North Hills, Seneca Valley

Section 2: Canon-McMillan, Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon, Norwin, Woodland Hills

Tags: Butler, Canon-McMillan, Central Catholic, Hempfield, Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny, North Hills, Norwin, Seneca Valley, Woodland Hills