Poll results: Gibault pitcher selected BND Baseball Player of the Year in southwest IL​

Ahmad Lathan, Garen Vartanian
·4 min read

Brady Biffar of Gibault Catholic High School is the winner of the Belleville News-Democrat’s 2023 Baseball Player of the Year high school poll, as selected by readers of bnd.com.

During the IHSA Class 1A postseason, Biffar, a junior pitcher, went 4-0 in helping lead the Hawks to the state championship. His most recent and final performance of the season was a complete-game, 4-hit shutout in an 8-0 win against Henry-Senachwine in the title game Saturday, June 3, at Dozer Park in Peoria. He also tripled and scored a run in the game.

Biffar — who secured 73% of the votes — finished the season at 5-4 with a 2.96 earned run average while striking out 78 batters in 71 innings pitched for Gibault, which went 24-14 this spring. He also posted 23 RBI in 2023.

Here were the other 2023 Baseball Player of the Year candidates:

  • Logan Geggus, Edwardsville High School, senior, P. Geggus went 10-0 this spring with a 2.14 earned run average, while striking out 71 batters and allowing just 30 hits in 49 innings pitched. His efforts helped the Tigers finish 33-9 and win the IHSA Class 4A state tournament.

  • Hank Gomric, Althoff Catholic High School, junior, OF/P. Gomric hit .464 with 8 homer and 44 RBI this spring while posting an on base percentage of .552 and a slugging percentage of .897. Gomric also went 1-1 on the mound with a 2.86 earned run average. Gomric also was selected as the South Seven Conference Player of the Year.

  • Kameron Hanvey, Gibault Catholic High School, senior, P/SS. Hanvey went 10-3 this spring with a 2.88 earned run average which included a win in the IHSA Class 1A state semifinals. He also hit .405 while driving in 22 runs and stealing 22 bases for the Hawks, who finished 24-14 and captured the state championship.

  • Riley Iffrig, Edwardsville High School, senior, 1B. Iffrig hit right at .377 this spring with 8 home runs, 40 runs scored and 51 RBI this spring while helping the Tigers finish 33-9 and win the IHSA Class 4A state tournament.

  • Joe Mendiola, Belleville East High School, senior, INF/P. Mendiola batted .442 with 1 home run and 30 RBI this spring. He also had an on base percentage of .515, an OPS of 1.161 and a slugging percentage of .646, while helping the Lancers to a 21-14 season. Mendiola also pitched 4 innings this spring and had a 1.75 earned run average.

  • Gabe Smith, Father McGivney High School, senior, INF/P. Smith hit .439 with 8 homers and 47 RBI this spring while posting an on base percentage of .556 and a slugging percentage of .837. On the mound, Smith went 6-1 with a 1.94 earned run average while allowing just 21 hits and striking out 60 batters in 36 innings pitched. Smith’s efforts helped the Griffins finish 37-2 and reach the IHSA Class 2A sectional championship game.

  • Dom Voegele, Columbia High School, senior, SS/P. Voegele batted .488 with 12 home runs and 51 RBI this spring, while posting an on base percentage of .586 and a slugging percentage of .961. On the mound, Voegele went 10-0 with a 1.04 earned run average and 1 save while allowing just 43 hits and striking out 111 hitters — an average of 11.54 per game — in 67 1/3 innings pitched.

The poll ended at 8 a.m. Friday.

To be clear, this poll is not scientific. In fact, we invite you to vote as many times as you want. It’s all for fun, BND readers. Our next Player of the Week poll will appear after fall sports commence!

Previous winners: Joe Mendiola of Belleville East High School; Connor Blue of O’Fallon High School; Brady Biffar of Gibault Catholic High School; Dylan Mannino of Belleville East High School; Caeleb Copeland of Edwardsville High School; Dawson Vernier of Belleville East High School; Daniel Darin of Gibault Catholic High School; Biffar; and Biffar (that particular poll was a combined vote for baseball and softball).