The connections between two championship youth baseball teams based in Hamilton have been well-documented this month.
Hamilton Badin’s high school baseball team, which won an Ohio state title in June, has direct connections to the Hamilton West Side Little League team that is two wins away from the Little League World Series title.
Brion Treadway, Badin’s head baseball coach, got a closeup view of his son Brooks starting on the mound in the state final and helping the Rams win the game. He was been in Williamsport watching his younger son, Boone, be a star for the West Side team. Boone has been pitching, hitting and playing a great shortstop for the team and has been rightly touted as a tournament MVP candidate.
During the game broadcasts on ESPN,
the network has regularly shown that Boone Treadway’s role model is Derek Ogden, who was the starting shortstop and leadoff hitter for the Rams this spring, the same roles Boone has. Ogden helped turn two double plays at shortstop in the state final, and coach Treadway called him the best shortstop in Ohio that night.
The connections to Hamilton Little League teams in the past also go deep. The first time Hamilton advanced to the U.S. final was in 2021, when the team lost to Michigan in a modified tournament without international teams due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Every player on that 2021 team played high school baseball in or near Hamilton during the 2026 spring season. Most were juniors, now seniors, though some are in the Class of 2028. Many were key varsity contributors, including Cooper Clay, who was a starter in right field on the Badin state title group. Here is a rundown of those players.
Badin Rams
Badin had five players on its 2026 state title team that were also on the 2021 Hamilton club. Badin was a senior-dominated team last spring with 21 of them so most of the 2021 group didn’t get much varsity playing time, but they might in 2027.
As noted, Clay was a regular. The Class of 2028 student played right field in the state final and hit .308 for the season in 52 at-bats. He scored 17 runs and drove in nine with seven steals.
Reece Donges played 17 games, scoring 11 runs. He pinch-hit for Clay in the state final and got a hit, and was 5-for-15 at the plate.
Krew Brown played briefly for the varsity, but pitched 1.1 shutout innings with two strikeouts in a win over Lakota East late in the regular season.
Gage Maggard played in six games, driving in three runs in four at-bats. Chance Retherford is listed as being in the Badin program on his club baseball bios but did not play for the varsity this season. He is listed as a senior OL/DL on the football team right now.
Hamilton Big Blue
Several players went to their local public school and have been key players for the Greater Miami Conference club.
Maddox Jones, a Class of 2028 player, was one of the team’s best pitchers, going 2-5 with a 3.29 ERA in 38 innings pitched. He drew a lot of starts in GMC play, including a two-hit shutout of Colerain. He pitched and lost against a powerful Indian Hill squad late in the year and lost to Elder in the DI playoffs. He also hit .278 with 14 RBIs and eight runs scored.
Noah Davidson hit .305 with nine RBIs, one homer and nine runs scored in 82 at-bats.
Kaleb Harden hit .221 with 10 RBIs and nine runs scored, and pitched 3.1 innings.
Gavin Saylor pitched 14.2 innings in relief with a 2.85 ERA. Most of his appearances were in league play and he pitched 0.2 shutout innings against Badin right before the playoffs.
Chase Moak pitched 6.2 innings with two wins in relief late in the year. His father Curtus Moak, was named Hamilton’s new head coach earlier in August. Moak played on Hamilton’s 1997 state champion team. He went on to pitch at the University of Cincinnati and still holds the program record with 99 career appearances in four years.
Edgewood Cougars
J.J. Vogel, a Class of 2027 player, was one of the best players in the Cincinnati area in 2026. He was 5-4 on the mound with a 2.12 ERA in 46 innings, striking out 60. He hit .333 with 15 runs scored and 11 RBIs. As a sophomore in 2025, he was 8-0 with a 1.61 ERA and has 16 career wins. He also has 50 RBIs, 79 hits and a .357 varsity average. His dominant 13-strikeout, complete-game shutout 12-0 win in the Great Lakes regional propelled Hamilton West Side into the 2021 Little League World Series. He sent a video message of support to the 2026 team this week.
Brady Baumann hit .235 with 19 runs scored, 12 steals and eight RBIs for Edgewood, which was 18-11 in 2026.
Ross Rams
Levi Smith, a Class of 2027 player, had an outstanding start to the 2026 season before missing the rest of the year. In seven games, he hit .421 with four doubles and seven RBIs. As a sophomore, he hit .269 with 10 RBIs.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hamilton West Side's 2021 LLWS players have good high school careers
