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. 21 this evening.

Team: Sussex Hamilton
Preseason Rank: No. 21
2019 Record: 19-9
Conference: Greater Metro
WIAA Class: D-1
Head Coach: Mike Schramek
Playoff Run: D-1 State Quarterfinalists
2019 Final Rank: On the Bubble
Returning Starters: 4
Returning Pitchers: 2 

OUTLOOK

The Chargers will be without some of the premium talent that made last year’s state appearance berth possible. Hamilton graduated three critical members of last year’s roster: LHP/1B Christopher Barnes (Milwaukee School of Engineering), C Kameron Laskowski (Madison JC), and OF/INF Hunter Slaats (Trinity Christian College). Barnes pitched 52-plus innings last spring, just behind do-it-all Greater Metro Player of the Year, Eric Erato (Northern Illinois commit), who’s the top returnee in this dugout. Laskowski was the team’s everyday backstop and Slaats hit .466 in his senior spring.

It’s no use trying to replace these three, but Hamilton still had one of the top teams in the GMC because of the incoming senior class, which would have helped them fight for another bid at state.

We’ll later breakdown how meaningful the senior class would have been to this year’s edition of the Chargers, but the emergence of the 2021s was going to be the difference between a competitive spring and one that ended with some hardware.

Versatile junior Luke Wroblewski wields some natural bat strength from the right-handed batter’s box and he could have helped extend a lethal, though top-heavy, top of the order. RHP A.J. Hamilton made his PBR debut last August where he was into the low 80s, but his big 6-foot-4 frame suggested there’s plenty to work with and we were excited to get another chance to see him this spring. He could have made up for the loss of Barnes within the rotation, effectively backing up Erato on the staff. And RHP Alex Pechanach would have been another junior to watch, filling out this staff, giving the rotation some depth all of a sudden.

Luke Wroblewski (3/8/20)

Because this squad was so deep last year, with the mix of their 2019 and 2020 classes, these juniors didn’t get much of a chance to find varsity action. It’s hard luck that they’ll be experiencing varsity play for the first time as seniors in 2021, but they could help Hamilton stay competitive this time next year.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

The trifecta of Erato, INF Zach Storbakken (Madison JC), and INF Brayden Gorecki (Illinois-Springfield) were robbed of hoisting the Chargers through the GMC once more. They’d enjoyed a share of the conference crown for two consecutive years and were arguably the favorites again in 2020. While the team was going to need a boost from its juniors to make a sincere run through the Fox Cities, these three could have kept the squad afloat until then.

Erato is one of the top players in the state’s senior class for his two-way abilities. He punched out 70 batters in 59 innings and finished last spring with a 1.68 ERA across that span. He’s an even better prospect as a position player for his smooth, easy left-handed stroke that was set to ignite this lineup once more.

Eric Erato (3/3/19)

Storbakken broke out over the summer and he looked primed to improve on his .325 batting average as a junior. He started hitting for a little more pop and it would have really helped the Chargers’ offense this spring.

Gorecki is an athletic, strong left-handed hitter who didn’t have the statistical season he was looking for as a junior, though we were eager to see him finish his prep career on a high note before leaving to continue his playing career at Illinois-Springfield.

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