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. We also declared 18 more programs official ‘On the Bubble’ teams, teams that earned sincere Power 25 consideration.

Today, we continue our countdown to No. 1, the top-ranked team on the PBR Wisconsin Preseason Power 25. We’ll be releasing a team a day in our lead-up to No. 1, and we’re onto No. 10 this evening.

Team: Union Grove
Preseason Rank: No. 10
2019 Record: 27-4
Conference: Southern Lakes
WIAA Class: D-1
Head Coach: Nathan Meyer
Playoff Run: D-2 State Runners-Up
2019 Final Rank: No. 9
Returning Starters: 5
Returning Pitchers: 2 

OUTLOOK

In just two springs at the driver’s seat, head coach Nathan Meyer has won 42 of his first 55 games for this Union Grove program and he fell just a win short of a Division-2 title in his second season in charge. The Broncos spent the 2019 campaign in D-2 and would have entered an even more crowded D-1 field this spring, but they had the personnel to compete in their new surroundings. They were one of two D-2 programs in the Southern Lakes last year, the rest of which were D-1 squads, and the Broncos still managed to win 15 games tied for the conference title with a prominent Burlington team.

In 2020, there are many familiar faces back inside the lineup and dugout, with some rising junior names capable of helping fill some of the holes left behind by the 2019 graduating class, headlined by RHP Luke Hansel (Madison JC).

Offensively, this team was to be led – again – by one of the most productive hitters in the state, T.J. Manteufel, a senior and Bradley commit who we’ll celebrate in our next section. For now, let’s clue you in on this proficient 2021 class and the underclassmen on the way. One of the biggest ‘winners’ over the course of our winter showcase circuit was right-hander Noah France, who was not a factor for last year’s team but was primed for a break-out role, with the premium stuff that seemed fit for the front of a rotation. Back in February, he was up to 89 mph with aggressive offspeed. His live arm could have effectively replaced Hansel and Jake Zimmermann as the No. 1 on staff. If not France, then RHP Isaiah Cerfus could parlay his efficient work as a sophomore on varsity into a more regular rotation role in 2020. Cerfus has long possessed some natural arm strength, and he was up to 87 mph himself this winter. He has some offspeed progressing well, especially the breaking ball, and a one-two punch of France and Cerfus has the potential to become the best in the SLC – and thankfully they’ll be around next season for the Broncos, too.

Noah France (2/16/20)

LHP Taylor Brauer isn’t just here to round up the rotation, either. He’s a 6-foot-1 southpaw with low-80s stuff who also has some interesting potential, too. This is going to be a suffocating rotation in 2021, though they would have benefited from some extra varsity experience as juniors, naturally.

While these juniors looked like they had the pitching on lock, it was the seniors here that were going to primarily motor the offense, except for junior 2B Nicklas Williams and sophomore OF Remmi Sweet. Williams has a natural feel to hit and kept up that reputation at our Kenosha-area event in January – he hit .409 as a sophomore and was due for big things as a junior hitting around a couple big seniors. He’ll have a hefty responsibility inside this lineup next year, likely taking over shortstop, too.

Nicklas Williams (1/25/20)

Sweet is a highly athletic outfielder with some natural, surprising, strength from the right side. He hit .292 as a regular freshman and he has some sizable untapped potential.

Junior backstop Brady Katterhagen looked like he might earn some time as the replacement to the graduated Jack Clark, and he brings with him some more upside on both sides of the ball. LHP Kaden Pfeffer is another junior arm Katterhagen can get used to catching; he topped 80 mph back at Madison with some offspeed feel.

For next year, here are a pair sophomores to know: INF Josh DeGroot and 1B Ethan Horon. DeGroot is an athlete with a simple, timely, right-handed swing and has up-the-middle actions on defense. Horon is a big left-handed hitter who could grow into a productive bat like his older brother.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

The juniors and sophomores set to support this senior group is what made a return trip to state for these Broncos more than just realistic. Union Grove looked like the bonafide Southern Lakes favorite, and more, with this group.

Circling back to Manteufel, the senior shortstop is one of the most productive hitters in Wisconsin. We named him to our Preseason First Team All-State list back in March for his ridiculous junior year statistics. He hit .398 and slugged .819 and his eight doubles, three triples, and seven home runs helped him get there. It’s a shame that we were all robbed of what a senior season could have looked like, statistically, for the Bradley recruit. He had PBR Wisconsin Player of the Year potential.

T.J. Manteufel (3/3/19)

With him in the dugout, and a sturdy, live rotation – if inexperienced – the Broncos wouldn’t have flinched once they’d gotten to the crowded D-1 playoffs. C Michael Jocius would have likely earned the majority of the playing time behind the plate, and he returns a .418 batting average after earning some pretty regular playing time as a junior. 3B Cody Horon (McHenry County JC commit) also returns a .324 average and a right-handed bat with more extra-base results than he earned last spring. RHP Collin Long also saw some time on the mound as a junior and he would have been the steady senior presence on this year’s pitching staff.

It’s a really competitive roster that looked eager to finish what they started in 2019. They’ll be back in 2021, but it’ll be strange to see them without this senior group in the dugout.

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