Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 3 Union Grove

March 25, 2024
By Andy Sroka
Managing Editor, Scouting

The 2024 Wisconsin high school baseball season is quickly approaching and, as usual, excitement is abound throughout the state. Players and coaches have been working in preparation for the upcoming season and, as is the case each year, there are some very talented players and teams across the Badger State.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in their respective WIAA Division State Championship, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams with this initial Preseason Power 25 release which will take us right up to first pitch.

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across Wisconsin. Each week we will be releasing our Power 25, Players of the Week, Diamond Notes, Scout Blog and much more.

Our 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: Union Grove Broncos
Preseason Rank: 3
Head Coach: Nathan Meyer
WIAA Division: 1
Conference: Southern Lakes
2023 Record (Finish): 24-4 (Sectional Finalist)
Key Players Lost: Owen Nowak (2023; McHenry County JC), Nathan Williams (2023; Lake Superior State, hockey). 

ROSTER PREVIEW

Team Strengths: Experience, depth at all positions; returning all but two starters.
No. of Returning Starters: 7
No. of Returning Pitchers: 7

NAME STATE CLASS POS COMMITMENT
Robert Barrera WI 2024 LHP UIC
Beau Bloxdorf WI 2024 SS/RHP Madison JC
Landon Dessart WI 2024 RHP/1B Madison JC
Hudson Dresen WI 2024 INF -
Braxton Hinds WI 2024 OF Bryant & Stratton (WI) JC
Hayden Jamison WI 2024 C Lake County JC
Jackson Licht WI 2024 OF -
Marshall Loch WI 2024 RHP/OF Southern Indiana
Jack Wolf WI 2024 LHP Triton JC
Matthew Gruber WI 2025 OF -
Kody Hage WI 2025 3B -
Kyle Sorenson WI 2025 C -
Leo Weist WI 2025 2B/RHP -

X-FACTOR

+ RHP/OF Marshall Loch (Southern Indiana) has a special combination of athleticism, size, and tools – and sometimes it can take bit longer for that kind of talent to coalesce. We think that has Loch positioned to realize all of those tools and potential in his senior spring. It’s flashed plenty of times throughout his prep career, most notably on the mound, but a season in which Loch is locked in would especially help Union Grove offensively, as it seeks to replace some key run-producers from a year ago.

(Marshall Loch, 7/1/23)

On the mound, Loch is an upper-80s arm with a live fastball and a swing-and-miss breaking ball that he can flip in there. Though, as talented as he is on the mound, Loch might be even more important to the Broncos on offense. He has huge power potential from the right side, with speed and strength stemming from his 6-foot-3 stature, and run manufacturing is precisely what the Broncos will be seeking from him in 2024, given how deep they are, currently, on the mound.

NEWCOMER TO WATCH

+ 3B Kody Hage attended our Milwaukee Preseason ID just over a week ago, where he looked like one of the top right-handed hitters in attendance. He swings an easy, fundamentally sound right-handed bat that connected for some of the event’s loudest regular contact. There, he averaged an exit speed of nearly 89 mph (96.0 max) and his best batted ball traveled 362 feet. He could end up splitting some of the defensive work at third base, though he has the arm strength for the position, but either way, his bat could be especially useful to the Broncos this season.

TEAM OUTLOOK

Head coach Nathan Meyer does have some mixing and matching to do because, while they return seven everyday starters to their lineup, they did graduate two of their best players from a year ago: OF Owen Nowak (McHenry County JC) and UTL Nathan Williams (Lake Superior State, hockey). Those two were pivotal to the team’s success while they were on campus, so replacing the offensive output they each generated won’t be a fair ask to whomever it is that fills their places inside the daily order.

With that said, few teams have the luxury of copying and pasting last year’s roster into this year’s lineup, and Union Grove is plugging in some highly capable talent in those spots all while their deep and gifted Class of 2024 enter their senior season with their sights set on a storybook finish.

These seniors spearhead the rotation, led by RHP/1B Landon Dessart (Madison JC commit), who earned a place on our Third Team, All-State roster last year as a junior. He returned 53 innings from a season ago, and as the team’s top arm he still managed to turn in a 1.19 ERA despite taking the ball for the Broncos’ biggest games. He K’d 63 batters and went a perfect 10-0 overall, and he also added 10 doubles, 25 RBIs, and a .333 batting average from the plate.

(Landon Dessart, 6/29/23)

He’s joined on staff by more familiar seniors with ace-type stuff: LHP Jack Wolf (Triton JC), LHP Robert Barrera (UIC), and Loch, who we named as the team’s ‘X-Factor.’

Wolf is a smooth left-hander with high pitchability, and he was a reliable starter as a junior last year, bringing back a 0.91 ERA and a 5-0 record. Barrera has continued to get better and better throughout his prep career, and he’s peaking at just the right moment for Union Grove. It’s mid-80s velocity on a vertical fastball that carries well with a 12/6 breaking ball that he can bury beneath the zone.

(Robert Barrera, 3/18/23)

Loch is one of the more athletically gifted players in the state, at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds. It’s a quick, loose arm on the mound with upper-80s velocity and he can flip in a swing-and-miss breaking ball, and he’s also someone the Broncos will lean on heavily offensively, even more than they will for his work from the mound.

Positionally, SS Beau Bloxdorf (Madison JC) is another returning senior who’s back, and he’s their motor on offense and on defense. He’s a four-year starter on varsity, and he earned that playing time right away for his advanced middle-infield defense, and Bloxdorf has since gotten stronger from the right-handed box. He remains one of the top defensive shortstops in the class, and the right-handed swing is easy, loose, and he’s reportedly gotten stronger, which only stands to boost the quality of contact he’s already making – considering he hit .369 last spring.

(Beau Bloxdorf, 7/11/23)

The depth of this senior class is on display as the rest of the lineup fills out. This pitching staff is going to be handled capably by C Hayden Jamison (Lake County JC), a strong right-handed hitter but he’s even more dependable for his catch-and-throw skills and receiving from behind the dish. Senior outfielders Braxton Hinds (Bryant & Stratton JC) and Jackson Licht each hit .300 plus as juniors last year, and they’re back to extend the lineup. INF Hudson Dresen will also be back for his senior spring, providing even more positional versatility and depth to the lineup.

The senior core here contributes to the reasoning why we’re so high on Union Grove to begin with, but there are reinforcements on the roster in the junior class that should continue to add depth and another level of offensive upside in a best-case scenario.

We highlighted the junior infielder Hage in the ‘Newcomer’ section as a potential break-out player on this roster, but the ‘25 class also has 2B Leo Weist, OF Matthew Gruber, and C Kyle Sorenson within it. Weist started as a sophomore a season ago, and he hit .281 as the everyday second baseman. Gruber saw some action as well, and he’s another breakout candidate, like Hage. As far as tools go, few on the team match Gruber’s – he’s a 6.86 runner with left-handed bat strength, and he’s inside a lineup that could definitely use a left-handed jolt.

BOTTOM LINE

+ There’s a culture of success in Union Grove, and it’s culminated into these lofty 2024 ambitions as this foundational senior class prepares for its final spring together. The combination of depth and skill has us considering the Broncos as one of the best bets for a state run this season, and yet there are some juniors here that could catapult this squad even higher up the Power 25 once the season gets underway.

Find more information on the 2024 Union Grove program below:

Related Content