Prep Baseball Report

Badger State Battle: Quick Hits Day 3


By Wisconsin Staff

We’re celebrating Independence Day weekend in the Wisconsin Dells with nearly 50 of the Midwest’s best travel baseball programs at our enormous annual tournament: the Badger State Battle. Every year, around this time, we reconvene in the Dells to host this event, the largest tournament on our calendar. The PBR Wisconsin and Illinois staffs will both be on-site to watch, evaluate, and scout teams representing both states.

We’ve been compiling the top highlights from each day in our Quick Hits format. If you missed any of those, you can find the Day 1 and Day 2 notes in the previous hyperlinks. Below are the biggest takeaways from Day 3.

QUICK HITS

2020

+ Hitters Navy 17U won big again on Friday and righty Arthur Liebau (Homestead, 2020) did his part on the mound. He sat in the 82-84 mph range, topping out at 85 mph, with a heavy fastball that featured some slight run. Liebau relied on his fastball mostly against PTA Cardinal, and he notched six Ks in four run-ruled innings.

+ The 17U matchup between PBA and Silver Sluggers Blue was the definition of a pitcher’s duel – neither team was able to notch a single run and the game time expired with a scoreless tie intact. PBA sent 2019 Upper Iowa recruit Jarrett Ramer (Kenosha Bradford) to the mound, who went the distance in the shutout. As for Silver Sluggers, they called on Middleton right-hander Logan Schultz (2020), a 6-foot-4, 170-pound prospect with a lean frame. His long, loose arm action came out of a ¾ slot, which helped him produce a mid-70s fastball with feel, topping out at 77 mph.

+ There was a heavyweight battle on Saturday evening, too, between STiKS Academy Black and Hitters Baseball. Hitters sent uncommitted RHP Cooper Griffiths (Westosha Central, 2020) to the mound while STiKS called on one of the state’s best lefties: Luke Fox (Catholic Memorial, 2020; Duke). Griffiths and Fox both dominated through six shutout frames, but it was ultimately STiKS’s Matt Klement (Catholic Memorial, 2020) who lined a single through the left side of the infield to plate the game’s first run in the seventh. STiKS added a couple more, and it fueled Fox to a 1-2-3 bottom half of the frame to seal the 3-0 win and a trip to tomorrow’s 17U bracket play. Fox allowed one hit only – and it came way back in the first – and he walked only one and struck out three. He sat in the 86-88 mph range for the first few frames, touching 89 mph once or twice, and mixed in an excellent changeup to miss barrels. Griffiths had an equally impressive changeup, with late sink/fade. The uncommitted right-hander showed improved control of the baseball, too, which could make him an intriguing on-the-market option left in the 2020 class.

+ GRB Rays Green 17U dominated the day, scoring 29 runs in two wins. There’s almost too many standout performances to list, but naturally Max Wagner (Green Bay Preble, 2020; Clemson) is at the center of the action. He went 4-for-4 combined with three walks and two doubles. He wasn’t alone. Brady Jurgella (Menasha, 2020) was all over the basepaths, racking up four hits with four runs scored from the top of the order.

+ The 17U game between Thundercat and 815 Baseball featured a pair of uncommitted righties to follow: 815’s Garrett McLaughlin (Rogers, MN, 2020) and Tcats’ Phillip Harper (Wauwatosa East, 2020). McLaughlin is a top-40-ranked prospect in Minnesota’s 2020 class. On Friday, his fastball ranged from 80-83 mph, touching 84 mph, through the first few frames with a slight cut. Harper is a big 6-foot-5, 190-pound prospect who sat 81-84 mph, touching 84 mph, with downward tilt. The two could definitely help out a program at the next level. 

2021

+ Joey Spence, the No. 2 overall player in the Wisconsin 2021 class, went 5-for-5 with two extra-base hits and a walk over a two-game span on Saturday afternoon. The left-handed hitting catcher drilled a triple to center field in his second at-bat of the day and followed that up by hammering a double to the right-field wall in his third at-bat. He’s one of the top-ranked players in the Wisconsin 2021 class and is a high-follow.

+ GRB Rays Yellow 16U had a huge offensive outpouring bright and early this morning and a handful of left-handed-hitting prospects stood out. C Brigs Richartz (Menomonie, 2021) tripled twice, once in each gap; Carter Wambach (Sun Prairie, 2021) added a double and another triple, both hit the opposite way down the right field line; and Justin Hausser (DeForest, 2021), who had a huge day yesterday, was back at it again on Friday. Hausser went 3-for-4 with two more doubles and a single on Friday.

+ A pair of 2021 right handed arms threw complete game shutouts on Saturday. Brody Tschanz (Waterloo, 2021) competed through seven shutout innings for Team Heat in a victory over ISA Stars Black 16U. He operated from a deceptive ¾ arm slot and mixed in a curveball well with his two-seam and four-seam fastball. His four-seam topped out at 75 mph and sat between 73-74 mph with run, while his two-seam reached 71 mph and operated at 68-70 mph with run and was located well. He showed feel for the breaking ball and threw it for strikes, 11/5 shape, played between 68-70 mph. ISA Stars Black 16U rebounded and got a shutout of their own as Easton Vertz (Pulaski, 2021) was virtually unhittable allowing only two hits and two walks. Vertz works out of a high ¾ arm slot and flashed some arm whip. He sat 79-80 mph throughout the entirety of the game with his fastball and touched 82 in the third inning. He also showed a slider that had 11/5 movement at 72-74 mph and a changeup that dropped out of the zone at 69-71 mph. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound righty finished the game with 7 Ks.

2022

+ Add Carter Tower’s (Oconomowoc, 2022) name to the list of Saturday’s shutout hurlers. He tossed four shutout innings for STiKS Black 15U in a run-ruled affair against Rhino (WI). The 6-foot-5 Tower reached 77 mph on his fastball and sat between 74-76 mph with some run throughout his outing. His breaking ball played at 69-70 mph with sweeping action and was used sparingly.

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