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. 15 this evening.

Team: Verona Area
Preseason Rank: No. 15
2019 Record: 15-12
Conference: Big Eight
WIAA Class: D-1
Head Coach: Brad D’Orazio
Playoff Run: Sectional Finalists
2019 Final Rank: NR
Returning Starters: 5
Returning Pitchers: 5 

OUTLOOK

As a No. 9 seed headed into last year’s postseason, the Wildcats downed Oregon, No. 1-seed and defending D-1 champs Waunakee, and Madison Memorial with only Sun Prairie standing in between them and a trip to state. Unfortunately, that’s where the magical run ended, but that experience gained was immeasurably important to the 2020 season outlook.

Verona, on paper, looks like it had the pieces to compete inside the conference so often dominated by Craig’s Cougars and those same Sun Prairie Cardinals. Namely, this pitching staff was among the state’s deepest which could have powered them through the heavyweight Big Eight and beyond.

Junior Jacob Kisting is a high-interest arm we haven’t seen in some time, and we were looking forward to taking the time to see one of his starts this spring. He’s a lanky 6-foot-5 righty who was effective as a sophomore in 2019, finishing the season with a 6-2 record and a 2.61 ERA. The rest of the rotation is primarily reinforced by sturdy seniors, who we’ll elaborate on later, but this staff was going to be one of the most dependable in the state.

The top player on the roster is junior SS Ryan Taylor, who starred for Team Wisconsin at the summer’s PBR Future Games, and he eventually earned a verbal commitment to Central Florida. He’s a savvy defender, complete with all of the necessary actions to fit at shortstop at the next level, and he also swings a smooth left-handed bat. His barrel control helped him hit .468 as a sophomore in 2019, and he only projects to do more damage offensively as he matures and adds strength.

Ryan Taylor (7/31/19)

Taylor and junior 2B James Rae make up one of the top double-play duos in the conference – and that’s saying something. Rae hit .370 as a sophomore last spring and we saw him perform well at a couple summer tournaments in 2019. Junior RHP Andres Kleinsek is also here to help stabilize this rotation, too.

Verona also rosters one of the two of the top sophomores in the state, 3B Nick West and OF N.J. Elias. West is a 6-foot switch-hitter who takes advanced hacks from both sides of the plate, and his natural strength helps him on the mound, too – this time last year, West was up to 83 mph and he may yet have a role to carve out on this staff, despite the depth of arms. Elias is on the rise after a strong performance at our Madison event in which he looked like a follow for his athleticism and versatility, all while swinging a loose right-handed bat.

N.J. Elias (3/15/20)

Fellow sophomore 1B Garrett Hoppe also started as a freshman and he, too, swings a robust/physical right-handed bat. We last saw him in March at our Madison-area event where he garnered some attention for his loud round of batting practice. In a lineup that may be looking for some runs on occasion, Hoppe can help this squad support its pitching staff.

And C Mason Fink is another sophomore in Verona’s dugout to have earned some playing time in his freshman season. He was especially efficient out of the crouch at our aforementioned Madison showcase, and he’ll help fill out the second half of the lineup.

The Wildcats would have leaned on their staff in 2020, but to get the most of this season, they would have needed their bats to step up and this group had the makings to do so.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

The aforementioned names will help the Wildcats bounce right back into contention this time next year, but the senior arms within this rotation would have seriously helped stabilize and deepen this pitching staff.

Right-handers Parker Jones (Central College commit) and Joe DuCharme (Bryant & Stratton, WI) are dependable strike-throwers who both looked good late in 2019. Jones is a low-80s arm who knows how to mix in his curve and change. He had a good outing at a late summer tournament in front of our staff and he would have really helped support Kisting within this rotation in his senior spring. DuCharme is a lanky 5-foot-10 with a loose arm and a feel for three pitches. He was effective as a junior, grooming a 1.26 ERA, and he would have helped Verona climb up from a fifth-place finish in last year’s Big Eight race with sincere conference title hopes.

Joe DuCharme (9/22/19)

The Wildcats should, realistically, be Big Eight contenders again in 2021, but this spring could have gone a long way toward the development of their sophomores and juniors to further prepare them to lead this team again next year. Losing a pair of senior arms will also affect the depth on staff, which in turn reminds us what could have been in 2020. We expected Verona to turn some heads this spring – don’t be surprised next year.

RELATED CONTENT