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. 11 this evening.

Team: Bay Port
Preseason Rank: No. 11
2019 Record: 19-7
Conference: Fox River Classic
WIAA Class: D-1
Head Coach: Harvey Knutson
Playoff Run: Regional Finalists
2019 Final Rank: No. 22
Returning Starters: 7
Returning Pitchers: 4 

OUTLOOK

The Pirates were returning much of the same roster that tied atop the Fox River Classic a season ago, led by a robust foundation of seniors, reinforced by some upstart juniors and rising underclassmen.

At the end of last spring, Bay Port earned a tough draw in the Regional Finals where they squared off with Hortonville and saw their 2019 season cut short, a bitter end for Mike Simoens’ historic and legendary run at the head of this dugout. This program is in familiar hands, however, with Harvey Knutson at the helm, an assistant who’s been with the team for the past 17 years.

And that’s good news for the Pirates because there isn’t much else that’s changed. While, yes, two of the team’s best players are graduated – RHP Jett Thielke (Madison JC) and RHP Carter Highline (Heartland CC) – this was going to be a senior-heavy squad that was coming off a spring in which they’d tied Preble for top rung in the FRCC. There were five fierce, reliable seniors set to captain this program in 2020, which was going to be critical given the supporting cast of juniors and sophomores they were set to welcome aboard.

We’ll start by detailing these juniors in the dugout who will be leaned on come 2021, led by RHP/INF Carl Cano. Cano had attended several PBR events where he stood out primarily as an athletic infielder with above-average tools across the board. But it was back in October where Cano really exploded up the state’s junior rankings. There, he looked a lot more physical, adding considerable strength to his build which fit well on the mound where he was all the way up to 88 mph, to our surprise, with feel for a sharp breaking ball and effective change. This staff isn’t short of reliable options, but Cano possesses ace upside and could have helped Bay Port thrive come late May and June. He also hit .338 as a sophomore while occupying a spot up the middle, and it would have been interesting to see him perform as a two-way threat in his junior spring.

Another rising junior to know in this class, who also contains some top-of-the-rotation upside, is RHP Gavin Rusch. He, too, was up to 88 mph back in February that comes out of a big 6-foot-5 frame and a steep angle. Rusch was throwing strikes in that ‘pen and it could have launched him into a more regular role inside the staff.

Gavin Rusch (3/8/20)

More juniors like RHP/INF Elijah Frank, OF Jacob Kleeman, and RHP/INF Matthew Perry all three looked positively capable of making this program thrive from both the plate and on the mound. Frank and Kleeman look especially like talented, impact bats to know, while Perry’s best traits might serve best on the mound, though he can hit from the right side, too.

Naturally, Bay Port is also rostering some premium underclass talent, namely INF Theo Zeidler, ranked No. 22 in the state’s 2022 class. While there’s some real depth on this roster inside their senior and junior classes, Zeidler looked like he was going to earn regular playing time regardless.

Theo Zeidler (3/15/20)

This exciting 2021 class will support Bay Port again next spring, but we’re heartbroken these seniors won’t be able to collaborate with the aforementioned this season.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

While this junior class could have been the propellant for Bay Port’s state-bound hopes this year, it was the senior captains C Jake Berg (Jacksonville commit) and OF/RHP Call Verlanic (Lenoir-Rhyne) that were going to write the 2020 storybook. Berg is the top-ranked backstop in the state’s senior class and he swings an authoritative left-handed bat, one that underperformed last spring but he was prepared to rebound in a big way this season.

Call Verlanic (7/16/19)

Verlanic is a strong, compact 6-foot athlete who swings an easy, physical right-handed bat and he was one of the team’s best arms as a junior. Both were critically important to Bay Port’s 2020 chances.

Brock Noe and Drew Slaasted were both important to last year’s pitching staff and both were going to fill out the rest of the order and infield, as was 1B Cole Weber.

This 2020 class was perfectly placed to complement the class after them, which made Bay Port a sincere state contender for this lost season.

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