On Tuesday, April 21, the WIAA Board of Control asserted to cancel all 2020 spring competitions, baseball included. While saddened for the graduating class of 2020, the PBR Wisconsin staff will do its best to highlight what could have been this spring, in what was set to be an exciting campaign filled with intriguing storylines to know and players to follow.

We published our ‘Watchlist Squads’ post on Monday, April 20, spotlighting almost 20 need-to-know programs that fell short of official ‘Bubble’ or Power 25 status for our preseason team rankings. Today, and for the remainder of the week, we’re going to be individually detailing our ‘On the Bubble’ teams – teams that earned serious consideration for our Preseason Power 25 Rankings, but ultimately fell just short.

Our 2020 preseason coverage continues today.

Team: Wilmot Union
Preseason Rank: On The Bubble
2019 Record: 15-11
Conference: Southern Lakes
WIAA Class: D-1
Head Coach: Josh Pye
Playoff Run: Regional Finalist
2019 Final Rank: NR
Returning Starters: 6
Returning Pitchers: 3

OUTLOOK

Iron sharpens iron in the Southern Lakes, a conference that has been churning out state title contenders recently, including last spring, when both Burlington and Union Grove headed to state as D-1 and D-2 reps of the SLC. Expect more of the same in 2020, with Wilmot lining up a competitive roster capable of competing inside this conference. While it’s fair to call Union Grove the favorites here, the Panthers could have claimed their first conference crown since 2014 to the surprise of few.

While this year represented an excellent opportunity for the Panthers to grind their way through the Southern Lakes – and potentially beyond – there’s a 2021 class here to capitalize on next spring. A small silver lining to take away here. INF/OF Leo Falletti is an interesting member of the state’s junior class and is arguably the team’s best player, after hitting .322 as a sophomore and showing well in front of our staff this winter. Junior classmate OF Jack Vozel also showed well this offseason looked primed to break out this spring for the Panthers. And fellow junior Caden Mullhollon hit .282 as a junior himself.

There were also a couple underclassmen lurking: C/1B Chase Goodwin (2022) and OF Marco Falletti (2023). The two could have made a deep lineup one of the conference’s best.

What left Wilmot short of a Preseason Power 25 spot was their question marks on staff. They graduated their top two arms from a season ago and we’re going to be in search of some innings-eaters which would have made for an uphill battle this campaign.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

Wilmot was set to return six everyday starters to its lineup, including three key seniors: INF Logan Pye (Wisconsin-La Crosse commit), OF Connor Luoma, and OF Zach Watson. Underscoring the loss of this spring season in Wilmot is head coach Josh Pye missing out on the opportunity to coach his son Logan in his senior spring before heading to La Crosse in the fall to continue playing the sport. Pye hit .300 as a junior and Luoma and Watson were lineup staples that could help stabilize the Panthers in 2020.

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