Prep Baseball Report

On the Bubble: Ozaukee


By Andy Sroka
Staff Writer, Associate Scout

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: Ozaukee
Preseason Rank: On The Bubble
2019 Record: 12-8
Conference: Big East
WIAA Class: D-3
Head Coach: Steve Kowalkowski
Playoff Run: D-3 State Semifinalists
2019 Final Rank: NR
Returning Starters: 7
Returning Pitchers: 2 

OUTLOOK

It’s hard to count you out when you have the best player on the field – even in baseball. But, when you factor in just how much better Ozaukee got as the 2019 campaign went on, and factoring in their returning, the Warriors looked like a D-3 program to know ahead of this season.

Noah Miller is the top-ranked junior in the state’s 2021 class and is increasingly becoming a prospect to know on a national level and will surely lure some MLB Draft interest come this time next year. He plays an elite defensive shortstop which can win games at this level on its own, but he’s also an impact switch-hit bat that has only gotten better. He hit .500 as a sophomore in 2019 and even recorded a 1.73 ERA pitching a healthy amount of innings for his high school team, too.

Miller and Co. will get another shot for a return trip to state – after losing in the 2019 D-3 state semis after white hot run in the postseason. These 2021 and 2022 classes have the talent to get them back there, but this spring had the right mix of underclass talent, experience, and senior leadership to push Ozaukee to a more consistent season and, thus, another bite at the top D-3 prize.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

Again, the seniors here were all set to be the ingredient that made a successful season in the Big East possible. 3B Brent Hoffmann (Carroll commit) joined Miller as the two all-conference selections on this team returning, after hitting .423 in his junior spring. He was also the team’s No. 1 arm and was prepared to handle that responsibility again this year. Jacob Eibs, Danny Johnson, and Logan Bell might have struggled some at the plate as juniors but the experience gained during the 2019 postseason run could have helped them take steps forward in their final prep springs to make for another exciting season in Ozaukee.

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