Prep Baseball Report

PBR at The Rock 17U: Quick Hits, Day 1


Wisconsin Staff

Welcome to Quick Hits, a compilation of daily highlights captured at our PBR at The Rock tournaments. This weekend, we’re hosting our first tournament of the summer: the PBR at The Rock 17U Championships. Continue reading below to view our biggest takeaways from Day 1 action.

You can follow along with our coverage live by following us at @PBRWisconsin on Twitter.

+ Rake City made a statement in their first win of the tournament, coming out with a laser show offensively. Four players homered: INF Max Baer (Lake Park, 2022), OF Blake Edmonds (Hinsdale Central, 2022), 1B/OF Cooper Ohlson (Lyons Township, 2022), and RHP/INF Owen Murphy (Riverside-Brookfield, 2022; Notre Dame). CIF Jake Munroe (Champaign Central, 2022) barreled up two base hits on the day, including a double off the left field wall that nearly missed leaving the yard by a few inches.

+ LHP Daniel Wissler (Fort Zumwalt West, 2022) emerged as a high-follow uncommitted arm in Missouri’s 2022 class. A projectable southpaw with above-average arm speed and easy effort downhill, Wissler entered the game in relief, tossing the final two innings for Adidas Academy. He pumped his fastball in at 86-89 mph, touching 90 mph twice in the sixth. Although he relied heavily on his fastball, Wissler did mix in a few sliders with 10/4 action at 76-78 mph. 

+ Illinois State commit, 1B Daniel Pacella (Mundelien, 2022) is one of the top left handed bats in the state of Illinois. Pacella put it on full display in an 8-5 win by Top Tier Americans over Minnesota Starters. Pacella went 3-for-3 on the day with a home run and a pair of singles.

+ Hitters Navy ran away with a five inning 9-1 win over Game 7 Legacy. Southpaw and Illinois commit RHP Brady Banker (Carmel Catholic, 2022) went the distance, allowing just three hits and one run. C Hayden Christiansen (Richmond-Burton, 2022, Xavier) and C Will Vierling (Homestead, 2022, Louisville) each added two hits and an RBI to pace the offense.

+ Minnesota Blizzard showed why they’re such a talented bunch on Thursday, pounding out 11 runs and holding their opponents scoreless in a run-rule win. OF Easton Fritcher (Hayfield, MN, 2022; Minnesota) worked on the barrel all day, serving as a spark plug atop this offense. RHP/3B Samuel Kennedy (North St. Paul, MN, 2022) homered and OF Tomas Nelson (Roseville, MN, 2022) tripled into the right-center gap. 2B/RHP Benjamin Irsfeld (Sioux Falls Roosevelt, SD, 2022) got the nod for Blizzard and dominated, working his fastball at 83-86 mph throughout while landing a breaking ball with depth for strikes. 

+ GRB Milwaukee 17U Green jumped out to a strong start in pool play, taking their first game of the weekend in run-rule fashion. INF Max Stocco (Marquette, 2022; Lenore-Rhyne) led GRB out of the leadoff spot with two hits, including a double down the right field line. INF Cade Honkamp (Brookfield East, 2022) doubled and drove in a pair, while LHP/1B Matthew Mueller (Brookfield Central, 2022; Gonzaga) juiced one for a three-run blast. LHP Vincent Gohlke (New Berlin West, 2022) got the start for the Rays and dominated, striking out eight in 2.2 innings pitched. 

+ Great Lakes Lumberjacks jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning their first game of the weekend 13-4 in the nightcap. LHP/1B Jake Gonse (Anoka, MN, 2022) powered the Lumberjacks’ offense with two extra-base hits and four RBIs. Two-hole hitter SS/RHP TJ Swidorski (East Ridge, MN, 2022) doubled and tallied two hits total. On the mound, RHP Dominic LaDuke (New Richmond, 2022) worked with pace while pounding his fastball in at 84-86 mph, striking out nine in four innings of work. OF/RHP Alex Miller (Rochester Mayo, MN, 2022) relieved LaDuke in the fifth and K’d five over two frames. 

+ OF Dylan Mass (Franklin, 2022; St. Leo) helped lead Hitters 2022 White to a win in their first game of the day. Working out of the leadoff spot, Mass drove in six runs - four of them coming on a grand slam in the sixth inning. INF Camdin Jansen (Racine Lutheran, 2022) went 3-for-3 and scored twice out of the cleanup spot, too. 

+ RHP Zachary Dohrmann (Farmington, MN, 2022) looked the part of a promising prospect on the mound for MASH. He endured a bit of adversity early in his outing, but settled in and helped pull MASH to a comeback win. The 6-foot-4, 180-pound Dohrmannsat 82-85 with his fastball, touching 86 mph. He steadily relied more on his breaking ball as his outing went on; a pitch he was able to land for strikes but also bury beneath barrels and get chases on. 

+ Pro Player Canes Orange responded in valiant fashion after dropping a close one earlier Thursday with a resounding 15-0 win during the 1 p.m. slot. Both OF Eddie Synek (McHenry, 2022) and Josh Ortiz homered, and they each drove in four runs respectively, too. INF Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, 2022) singled twice and drove in three, while LHP Peyton Barr (Huntley, 2022) struck out seven over three scoreless frames. 

+ Pro Player Canes Green started this weekend off on a high note, winning their first game 8-0. C Nico Acevedo (Crystal Lake Central, 2022) paced the Canes out of the three-hole with two knocks and 1B Chase Jetel (Huntley, 2022) drove in a pair of runs. A key piece to the Red Raiders’ pitching staff this spring, RHP Adam Guazzo (Huntley, 2022) got the nod for Pro Player, striking out seven across five scoreless frames. 

+ Hounds 17u Schallmoser defeated ISA Star 17u White 1-0 in a close game. Starting for Hounds was RHP Avery Levine (Hinsdale Central, 2022). Levine pitched a complete game gem where he scattered six-hits and only allowed one walk.

+ 1B Haden Kriston (Loyola Academy, 2022) probably had one of the best, if not the best days at the plate for Top Tier North 2022 (Duffy). Kriston went 3-for-3 with two home runs, a double, and a whopping five RBIs in Top Tier’s dominant afternoon win. Pitching for Top Tier was RHP Oliver Barkal (New Trier, 2022) who threw five innings of shutout baseball. Barkal used a fastball that sat 83-86, touching 87 mph and a breaking ball that was anywhere from 73-76 mph to mow down the opposing lineup.

+ In Top Tier North 2022 (Duffy) second game of the day they faced off against ISA Star 17U Royal. On the mound for Top Tier was one of their top arms: RHP/INF James Vargas (Arrowhead, 2022). Vargas’ outing was dominant to say the least. His fastball sat 85-88, touching 89 mph throughout the entirety of the game and had late life through the zone. This overpowering fastball got him 16 strikeouts through his six innings of work; one of the most dominating performances that we have seen on the mound throughout the summer. On the offensive side of things for Top Tier, OF Danny Hopper (Palatine, 2022) led the charge with three RBIs. MIF Colin Husko (Wauconda, 2022) also had himself a great day at the plate. Husko, the leadoff hitter, had two doubles and an RBI in their second win of the day. 

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