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. 8 this evening.

Team: West De Pere
Preseason Rank: No. 8
2019 Record: 28-3
Conference: Bay
WIAA Class: D-1
Head Coach: Joe Rukamp
Playoff Run: D-2 State Semifinalists
2019 Final Rank: No. 10
Returning Starters: 7
Returning Pitchers: 3 

OUTLOOK

We pegged the Phantoms to continue their dominance over the Bay Conference, outright winners of the last four conference titles. The seniors in this dugout are too accustomed to winning and we believe that they would have lifted this program to another Bay victory and more. They were downed in the D-2 semis by the eventual champs, Antigo, and they were going to be chasing another state trip in the D-1 ranks in 2020, but that shouldn’t have made much of a difference – this is a competitive roster, regardless of state classification.

While this roster graduated some critical members of its 2019 squad, including Northern Illinois’ LHP Connor Langreder, West De Pere still looked just too talented and experienced to miss out on the short trip to Grand Chute.

There’s a talented junior core here that’ll keep the Phantoms fighting in 2021, and it’s bittersweet to see just how seamlessly they fit alongside their senior teammates.

Another NIU commit among this group, junior Kaden Kosobucki, is among the top backstops in the state’s junior class. While he battled through injury at the end of his sophomore spring, he was back to 100 percent later in the summer where he earned a spot on Team Wisconsin’s roster at the PBR Future Games in Georgia and eventually a commitment to the Huskies. He hit a tick under .400 as a sophomore while operating as a sound defender with a prototypical catcher’s build. He’s the perfect battery for this electric staff.

Kaden Kosobucki (7/31/19)

Illinois State commit Joshua Blount is an all-around athlete who didn’t record the kind of numbers you’d expect out of him in 2019, even if he was only a sophomore then. His left-handed bat has some quick-twitch and his inherent strength enables him to generate more pop than you might initially expect. We saw Blount look a little more comfortable at the plate in the summer and we think it’d translate to a complete break-out junior campaign. We’ll have to wait another year to see it come to fruition.

3B/RHP Braydon Skenandore was an especially productive sophomore in 2019 as he started to force himself into more playing time as the spring went on. He hit .424 in 23 at-bats and managed seven extra-base hits in that span. In a more regular role as a junior, Skenandore would have helped grace the Phantoms a seriously deep lineup alongside these aforementioned juniors and the seniors in the dugout. He was also really effective in his limited work on the mound, K’ing 22 batters in 17 innings, due for a bigger role in 2020.

Braydon Skenandore (7/2/19)

We also just got our latest look at fellow junior OF Jourdon Schuyler at our preseason Fox Cities event where he showed some athleticism and aggression from both the right-handed batter’s box and the outfield. He’s strong enough to help shore up the back half of this lineup. OF Joshua Brud is here, too, another athlete in the dugout with a loose bat that could hit the ground running at the varsity level.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

It’s quite possible that WDP owns the most dominant high school arm in the state: LHP Ben Hampton, a West Virginia commit. Hampton headlined our rotation on our Preseason First Team All-State list after he struck out 103 batters in 57.2 innings backed by an ERA of 1.10. The lefty uses arguably the top breaking ball in the state, a big curve, to earn his outs when he isn’t darting his mid-80s fastball on the corners. As a true ace with several notches full of experience under his belt, Hampton and West De Pere were totally equipped for the anxious single-game elimination playoff setting.

When he’s not pitching, Hampton’s also one of the team’s best bats – and that’s saying something. He hit .379 last year with 13 extra-base hits and set the table for the rest of the lineup, like Madison College commit Cameron Dupont.

Dupont is another top-30-ranked prospect in this dugout. He’s a versatile corner infielder who can also catch, but his right-handed bat is the separator in his toolset. Dupont hit .385 as a junior with 12 extra-base hits and led the team in RBIs (30). He was etched into the middle of this order again and would have helped churn the offense back over and through this exciting junior crew.

3B Ethan Habetler (South Suburban JC commit) is another senior here that could have helped extend the quality of this lineup. He swings a simple and smooth right-handed bat with quick hands and above-average bat strength, while operating as a steady defender who could stick to the left side.

Ethan Habetler (7/16/19)

After Langreder and Hampton, it was senior RHP Tyler Rukamp who earned the most work on the mound last season. He pitched 28 innings as a junior and allowed just six earned runs over that span. Both he and the junior Skenandore would have shored up the rotation, though it’s fair to admit the staff was a little light on depth – the one thing that can help make up for that fact is having a bonafide No. 1, which the Phantoms obviously did.

This same group played a large role in the 28 wins they secured during the 2019 campaign and there was little reason to bet against another 28-plus-win spring as well as a return trip to state. While they wouldn’t have had the chance to avenge themselves against Antigo, which remains in D-2, the Phantoms were going to hold more than their own at the D-1 ranks as one of the top teams, yet again, from the northern half of the state.

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