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Leagues  | Story  | 4/15/2016

Spring League Week 5 Preview

Steve James     
Week 5 in the Iowa Spring Wood Bat Scout League is highlighted by the Rawlings Hitters and the Wisconsin Stiks Academy making the trip to Iowa.  Both clubs bring a lot of high level players to the table and will compete at a high level this weekend.  Thankfully we've dialed up some beautiful baseball weather for this weekend (finally!), and look to have a highly competitive weekend on our hands.

Rawlings Hitters vs the Purple Haze and Whitecaps
The Rawlings Hitters are bringing down 2 teams and will play a double header against both the Purple Haze and Whitecaps.  Some of the top arms the Hitters are bringing are Illinois commit Cyrillo Watson (2016 - Cudahy, WI), Notre Dame commit Zack Martin (2016 - Plainfield, IL), Joe Gahm (2016 - Richfield, WI), and Casey Kempner (2016 - Northbrook, IL).  Watson has been pitching well in the Hitters league and was up to 91 MPH last fall at the Kernels Foundation Tournament and the WWBA World Championship.  Martin pitched well last fall for Cangelosi and has been up to 90 MPH in previous PG tournaments.  Kempner has competed at numerous PG events over the past few years and has touched 90 MPH at the Kernels Foundation Tournament playing for the Longshots.  Gahm is an uncommitted arm who has made the jump to 90 MPH this spring and will be an interesting guy to watch this Sunday.  This Hitters will be without PG All-Americans Gavin Lux and Ben Rortvedt as they are from the part of Wisconsin that plays spring high school baseball.  Nonetheless, they will be bringing down a talented roster of players with commitments to Iowa, Louisville, Illinois State, Notre Dame, Illinois, Heartland CC, UW-Parkside, DMACC, and College of Lake County.  A couple young players to watch for this weekend will be Paul Toetz (2019 - Greendale, WI) and Xavier Watson (2019 - Cudahy, IL).  Reports on both players have been very good receiving comparisons to some high level players that have gone through the Hitters program before.  

Sunday's pitching match-ups ought to bring in quite a few scouts as Cal Stalzer (2016 - WDM Valley HS), Peyton Long (2016 - WDM Valley HS), Brady Stover (2016 - Collins Maxwell HS), and Grant Judkins (2016 - Pella HS) will be going for the Whitecaps.  The Purple Haze will be going with Spencer Van Scoyoc (2016 - Jefferson HS), Connor Van Scoyoc (2016 - Jefferson HS), Luke Eldred (2016 - Mt. Vernon HS), and Peyton Stephens (2016 - Carlisle HS) on the mound.  The quality pitching from both teams should provide a competitive well played day of baseball.

Top 2017 arms going in Wisconsin Stiks vs the Black Magic and Navy Seals
The Wisconsin Stiks will be bringing a quality squad down as well highlighted by Oregon State commit Nathan Burns (2017 - West Bend, WI).  Burns has a loose easy arm action that projects very well.  He was up to 89 MPH at the 2016 Pitcher/Catcher Indoor Showcase and showed good pitchability.  He will be a very interesting arm to watch this weekend for the Stiks.  The Black Magic arm to watch this weekend will be Iowa commit Cam Baumann (2017 - Fairfield HS).  Last weekend he made a jump in velocity up to 88 MPH and projects for more as the weather heats up.  The Navy Seals will be going with Evan Reifert (2017 - Wilton HS) vs the Stiks.  He's been up to 88 MPH this spring and when he's in rhythm he is tough.

Golden Bears vs Red Dragons Match-Up - 4/16 - 4:00 PM - Brookside Park
The current league leading Golden Bears (9-3-1) take on the second place Red Dragons (9-4-1) in a good matchup at Brookside Park.  The Golden Bears have played good baseball all spring and are led by a pitching staff that has some very impressive numbers to this point.  The Golden Bears have allowed just 52 hits in 72 2/3 innings pitched and have a team strikeout to walk ratio of 93 strikeouts to just 33 walks.  AJ Pierce (2017 - Ankeny Centennial HS) is leading the Bears with an impressive stat line that runs like this:

# Roster IP GP GS W L SV SVO BS SV% H R ER BB K HBP ERA WHIP
51 AJ Pierce 13.0 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 6 0 0 0 14 3 .000 .462
Pierce has been doing it with pitchability and strike throwing picking up where he left off last fall with the Iowa Select Navy squad.  He throws a ton of strikes and just has a way of missing barrels.  Luke Patzner (2018 - Urbandale HS) has been very good for the Golden Bears as well allowing 8 hits in 13 innings with a 19/5 strikeout to walk ratio.  He's shown a lot of upside on the mound and has been up to 88 MPH this year.  The catching combo of Nick Hagen (2017 - Burlington HS) and Nate Stolze (2017 - Urbandale HS) has handled the pitching staff well defensively and has also produced good numbers at the plate.  Hagen is tied for the team lead with 10 hits and also has 2 home runs.  Stolze leads the team with a .471 average and has 3 doubles.  

The Red Dragons have been getting a ton of production from Bryce Ball (2016 - Newman Catholic HS), Ryan Hart (2017 - Gilbert HS), and Eric Steyer (2017 - Ames HS).  Ball has been doing damage at the plate leading the team in doubles, home runs, RBI, Runs, and is third in walks.  He has big time power potential and has been squaring the baseball up well.  Hart has 9 hits on the year and has shown a good swing.  Steyer has 8 hits and 8 runs on the year and has consistently put the barrel on the ball.  Drew Schmit (2016 - Ames HS) and Trever Brown (2018 - Don Bosco HS) have been lights out for the Red Dragons.  Both pitchers have yet to allow an earned run and boast impressive strikeout to walk ratios.  Schmit has been pitching steady at 80-82 MPH and touched an 84 last weekend with his usual deceptive delivery with heavy sink on his fastball.  Brown has been a strike throwing machine with a crazy 14/1 strikeout to walk ratio in 8 innings pitched.  

Look for the Weekend Wrap Up on Monday as there will be some quality performances this weekend!
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