Final Wisconsin Power 25 Rankings

On Thursday, the WIAA season concluded by crowning all four divisions’ state champions and we were there to witness it all. For game recaps and notes from all three days of WIAA state tournament action, click on the following links: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3.

And with the 2019 season in the books, officially, we’re publishing our final Power 25 rankings of the season. What we’d like to point out is that this Power 25 is a culmination of the entirety of the 2019 season, not just the last three days of the state tournament. Certainly, winning a state championship carries some significant weight, but we also took into account the regular season and factored in the cutthroat single-game elimination format in the WIAA postseason.

So, with that, we’re going to expand on our top-five rankings and drop some notes on some of the other teams on the board, too. Let’s check it out.

POWER 25

+ No. 1 Eau Claire North (25-4): Sam Stange, their star senior center fielder who’s committed to Wisconsin to play hockey, literally powered the Huskies to the top spot on the rankings after he slugged a long come-from-behind home run in the Division-1 title game against Sun Prairie to give North a one-run lead late. The Huskies clung to that lead to win their first state title since 2011. They came into the week ranked at No. 16 in the state and their wins over Hamilton, Fond du Lac, and Sun Prairie in Grand Chute push them 15 spots to the top-ranked team at the end of the 2019 season. Since starting the season 3-3, after they were swept in a doubleheader against River Falls on April 9, North lost just one time the rest of the spring – and it was a narrow 6-5 loss to their Old Abe rivals in the middle of May. Otherwise, the Huskies were frankly dominant and it culminated in a state championship in their fourth consecutive trip to the tournament.

+ No. 2 Webster (30-0): It’s unprecedented. A school with an enrollment of 204 students to finish the regular season as the No. 2-ranked program in the state. But Webster deserves exactly that. The Tigers went undefeated this season and they put that spotless mark on the line once and for all with the also undefeated D-4 Mineral Point. The bats were cold in the semis as they narrowly skimmed by the reigning D-4 champs Athens, 4-3, but they warmed right back up against the Pointers in their one-sided 11-1 win. Jack Washburn had some of the best stuff we’ve seen out of him in the title win and the usual suspects starred at the plate, including Jack himself, and his brother Owen. The Tigers relied on not only Washburn on the mound, but also West Virginia commit Hunter Rosenbaum, which made the tandem one of the state’s best one-two punches, regardless of division. This is a D-4 team that can hang with any team in the state, and they’re No. 2 because of it.

+ No. 3 Sun Prairie (24-8): The Cardinals had few seniors to rely on this spring, and they were mostly motored by underclassmen. Three of the first four batters in their everyday lineup were sophomores, and Spencer Bartel, arguably their most productive bat, was only a junior. Rostering and starting this kind of experience can lead to a few more in-season bumps in the road, which certainly contributed to their eight losses, but this Cardinals team absolutely deserved a shot in the state title game. They came just about as close as you can get to winning it all, but North’s Stange proved to be the tournament’s MVP with his late-game heroics. It’s a difficult way to end a season, but given the youth and experience on the 2019 roster, the 2020 roster looks like it might be an early favorite to head right back to the state championship game – and take it back home with them, this time. Carson Shepard, Liam Moreno, Josh Caron will return as talented and experienced juniors, while a crew of 2020 grads will help stabilize this roster yet again.

+ No. 4 Burlington (24-6): The state’s most lethal two-headed rotation, led by seniors Trey Krause and Trent Turzenski, saw their season cut short in the D-1 semis against Sun Prairie on Tuesday, but the Demons still had one of the best seasons of any team in Wisconsin. They won 24 of their 30 games because of that duo at the top of their staff, as well as the depth they fielded on offense. Krause finessed past Green Bay Preble in the quarterfinals, expertly weaving through a dangerous order, helping Burlington earn a 3-0 win. But Turzenski was challenged by Sun Prairie later that evening. The 6-foot-6 righty had some of his best stuff, but the Cardinals were prepared for it. Meanwhile, the Demons’ offense sputtered against, and it cost them their latest chance at a state title. This team is going to look a lot different in 2020, without Krause and Turzenski to lean on in the rotation, but they’ll find a way to be competitive, no doubt.

+ No. 5 Janesville Craig (20-3): Craig was one of the state’s most consistent teams all spring, and they were the No. 1-ranked team on the Power 25 headed into the postseason. After shutting out Parker twice in the regular season, the Cougars were shut out themselves against the rival Vikings, 1-0, in a stunning regional upset. Obviously, it was an unreal upset – one of many in these playoffs – but it’s tough to seriously negate how well Craig played in 2019. They lost just three games and owned a couple of wins over Sun Prairie and another over Waunakee. It wasn’t the way seniors like Dan Blomgren, Mitchell Woelfle, and Micah Overley, among others, wanted to go out, but Craig will be back. There’s some talent in the pipeline and a few 2020 grads who can steady next year’s roster to make another run in the Big Eight and beyond.

FINAL TOP 10 

OTHER NOTES

+ D-2 champs Antigo (21-5) claim the No. 7 spot on the board after their surreal march to the state title. They defeated two Power 25-ranked opponents in Grand Chute, West De Pere and Union Grove, to win it all.

+ West De Pere (27-3) was our No. 1-ranked team for the past two weeks but were shutout in the semifinals by Brady Renfro and the Red Robins, which leads to a 10-spot decline in the final update of the spring.

+ No. 14 Oak Creek (21-7) was knocked off on Tuesday in the quarters against eventual runners-up Sun Prairie, but the Knights look like they belong. The summer-to-spring switch was seamless for the Knights and the former summer heavyweights look like they’ll be perennial contenders for a trip north to Grand Chute.

+ Brookfield East (18-9) wraps up the season as the No. 22-ranked team in the state after a disappointing extra-inning loss to Fond du Lac in the quarterfinals. East’s impressive 2019 class was strong from the mound, but their bats struggled to get going – and that’s been the case, unfortunately, over the last few weeks, at least.

+ Mineral Point (27-1), No. 24, makes it so there are two D-4-ranked teams on the Power 25, and no D-3 programs. The Pointers lost their lone game of the season in the championship game against Webster, but were clearly deserving of a shot at the Tigers. The Pointers are talented and many of the same pieces who made this year’s tremendous year possible will be back, like Liam Stumpf and Grady Gorgen.

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