ACU sports is already seeing the effects of moving to Division I next semester. Head coach Britt Bonneau and his coaching staff signed the first D-I recruiting class in Wildcat baseball history.

The group consists of seven high school players and includes the son of a former Major League Baseball all-star.

“The guys that we signed is the start of a foundation of freshmen that will come in and begin our future in Division I baseball,” Bonneau said.

A breakdown the recruits are below along with comments from assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Brandon Stover.

INF Gunnar Buhner (Fall City, Wash./Mount Si High School):
Hit over .350 this past summer with the Kansas City Royals Area Code team and the O’Brien Auto Group 18U squad.
“The son of former MLB player Jay Buhner. Can play around the field, should be able to play anywhere for us.”

C Kendall Kerns (Tyler/Brookhill High School):
Batted over .500 the past two seasons and earned back-to-back first team all-state honors.
“Big strong kid who needs to polish up a little bit but should be able to do a lot of good things for us.”

C Connor Messman (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy Prep High School):
Helped team reach state championship game
“Tall and skinny, can throw and hit. Should be good behind the backstop.”

SS Tanner Buxton (Aubrey/Aubrey High School):
“Big kid who will continue to grow and fill out. Should be a really good infielder for us.”

SS Aaron Draper (Plano/Plano West High School):
“Hard-nosed, plays the game the right way.”

OF Taylor Waters (Mesa, Ariz./Basha High School):
“Hard-nosed guy who plays the game aggressively all the time, a max effort guy.”

RHP Joe Boyce (North Bend, Wash./Eastside Catholic High School):
“Big strong kid who throws in the upper 80s low 90s. Should develop into a good pitcher and achor our pitching staff for the next few years.”