Outlook
Liam Roche is a strike thrower, who’s fastball plays in the mid-to-upper 80s from a tight, slightly deceptive three quarter arm slot … Able to spin and breaking ball with bend and depth for strikes.

Redshirt Freshman Year 2026

Member of a Johnson County  team that will be regarded as one of the greatest teams in college baseball history … Helped the Cavaliers to a perfect 32-0 conference championship season, a program-record 41-game winning streak, a Region 6/District title and the first JUCO World Series National Championship in program history, finishing with a remarkable 67-3 overall record … Selected to the NJCAA Baseball All-America and ABCA/Rawlings third-team  … Selected to the The JUCO Baseball Blog NJCAA D-I  All-America first-team and The JBB All-JUCO first-team which includes all NJCAA Divisions, California Community College Athletic Association and Northwest Athletic Conference … Named The JBB NJCAA D-I and All-JUCO Pitcher of the Year …   Named All-Region 6 and All-Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division first-team … Selected the East Jayhawk Conference Co-Pitcher of the Year … Voted the KJCCC East Pitcher of the Week three time, earning the honor in week 4, 5 and 8 … Made 19 appearance, 18 as a starter … Finished 16-0 with three complete games, one shutout over 84.1 innings pitched with an earned run average of 4.02 … Allowed just 29 walks … Struck out 120 batters which led both the KJCCC and NJCAA …  Also led both the conference and NJCAA in victories, was third in the conference in innings pitched and sixth in ERA … On JCCC’s season chart set new team pitching records for wins, strikeouts and tied the records for fewest losses and games started … His 16 wins also set a new conference season mark and his 120 strikeouts are the ninth-most in a season in KJCCC history … Earned his first victory in the collegiate debut, allowing one run of two hits over two innings, with five strikeouts in a 20-9 win at Amarillo (2-1-26) … Struck out eight batters and allowed one run off two hits over five innings in an 11-4 victory over Crowder (2-7-26) … Improved to 3-0 in a 13-3 win at Metropolitan, allowing two hits and one run over  four innings with four strikeouts (2-12-26) … Held Pratt to two runs off five hits with six strikeouts over three innings in a 3-2 victory (2-20-26) … Earned a 4-3 victory in the opening game of a four-game set against No. 13 Iowa Western, allowing four hits and two runs (one earned) over five innings of work while striking out sone batters (2-27-26) … Was named the KJCCC East Division Pitcher of the Week for week 5 … Earned his second KJCCC East Pitcher of the Week the following week after along just two baserunners with a single and a walk while striking out a season-high 12 batter in an 8-0 shutout at Highland (4-5-26) … Allowed three earned runs over 4.1 innings and struck out eight in a 13-3 win over Coffeyville (3-12-26) …  Surrendered five hits and three runs (two earned) over six innings, with 11 strikeouts to help JCCC to a 13-3, six-inning win over Labette, which earned him the KJCCC East Pitcher of the Week for week eight (3-19-26) … In another 13-3 JCCC victory picked up the win allowing three runs off seven hits over four innings with eight strikeouts against Neosho County (3-26-26) … Hurled a complete-game five-inning shutout with eight strikeouts in an 11-0 win at Allen (4-2-26) … Surrendered four hits and one earned run over five innings of work, with seven strikeouts in a 12-1 over Kansas City Kansas (4-16-26) … Allowed just one run off two hits over three innings, with five strikeouts in a 7-3 win over Fort Scott (4-29-26) … Pitched four strong innings in a 19-7 win over Garden City in the opening game of the Region 6/Plains District Tournament (5-7-26) … Allowed three runs off five hits while striking six Broncbuster hitters … Allowed five hits and three earned runs over 4.2 innings with four strikeouts in an 11-3 win over Seward County (5-13-26) … Called upon to shutdown Kansas City Kansas’s hitters and came through with a perfect inning of relief in a 15-10 victory over the Blue Devils (5-16-26) … Was handed the ball the next day in the championship game against KCKCC and allowed just one run and four hits over five innings with four strikeout in a 9-2 victory that secured the title for the Cavaliers (5-17-26) ... Finished the tournament with a record of 3-0 with 14 strikeouts over 14.1 innings pitch and an ERA of 4.47 … Made one start in the JUCO World Series and led JCCC to a 12-7 victory (5-25-26) … Surrendered seven hits and six earned runs over five innings, while striking out eight batters … His eight strikeouts set a new team World Series record which was later tied … Four of his eight strikeouts were looking, which tied for second-most among all pitchers in the World Series … JCCC Student-Athlete Academic Award recipient … Ranked No. 411 on Perfect Game USA’s Top-500 Prospect List for 2026.

Freshman Year 2025 at Iowa
Redshirted the 2025 season at the University of Iowa

High School
Was a four-year starter for coaches Mitch Wiles, Matt Shipley and Bryce McElory at Shawnee Mission South High School, Overland Park, Kan. … Graduated 2024 … Rated the No. 1 overall left-handed pitcher in the state of Kansas and No. 9 overall prospect by Perfect Game ... Perfect Game also rated him the No. 79 overall left-hander nationally … Rated the No. 16 overall prospect in the state of Kansas and No. 1 overall left-handed pitcher by Prep Baseball Report … Named All-State by the Kansas Baseball Coaches Association as a senior … Also was an All-Sunflower League first-team selection as a senior … Posted a 1.68 ERA over 29 and two-thirds innings, including 55 strikeouts, 18 walks and a 3-1 record  for the Raiders as a senior … Held opposing hitters to a .134 batting average … As a junior recorded a ERA of 3.00 over 35 innings with 57 strikeouts and 2-5 record. … At the plate his senior had eight hits with two doubles, a triple, a home run nine runs scored and nine driven in … Had seven hits including a double and triple and two RBI as a junior.

Personal
Born Earl William Roche on November 10, 2005, in Independence, Mo. … Nickname is Liam … Son of Bill and Carla Roche … Has two siblings, Brady and Ashley … Also recruited by University of Kansas, University of Iowa and Missouri State University … Favorite food is Mexican … Favorite fast food restaurant is Taco Naco … Favorite restaurant is Red Door Grill … Favorite TV show is Breaking Bad … Favorite movie is Interstellar … Favorite sports movie is Moneyball … Favorite actor is Matthew McConaughey … Enjoys reading World War II books … Favorite music entertainer is Zach Topp … Favorite cartoon character is Spider Man … Favorite athlete is Eric Hosmer … Favorite sports teams are the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals … Best player he has played against is former Iowa Hawkeye teammate Colin Coonradt … Notable alumni from his school or actor Rob Riggle and former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete.