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Leagues  | Story  | 4/1/2016

Spring League Weekend Preview

Steve James     

The Iowa Spring League has been underway for two weeks and there have been some good performances so far.  Every Friday we'll preview the upcoming league games and what to watch for.  Also, every Monday we'll provide a weekend recap of how the games went, top performances, prospect watch, up and comers, and the best game of the week.  Enjoy!


Green Goblins vs Grey Wolves - 4/2/16 - 9:00 AM - University of Iowa
The opening game of the weekend has an interesting pitching match up of uncommitted 2017 pitchers.  The Green Goblins will start with Connor Schultz (2017 - Cedar Falls HS) on the mound.  He's made a few adjustments to his delivery this off-season which has led to an uptick in velocity (topping out at 86 MPH) which should continue as the weather warms up.  The Grey Wolves will counter with Brett McCleary (2017 - Iowa City High) who has shown some promise on the mound this spring.  He's topped out at 84 MPH so far this spring with a clean arm action.  

Purple Haze vs Black Magic - 4/2/16 - 11:00 AM - Roland-Story HS
This is an intriguing game as this will be the first performance of the season for uncommitted RHP Bryce Charipar (2016 - Xavier HS).  Charipar has shown good arm strength and projectability in bullpens (up to 89 MPH) and is an interesting prospect on the mound.  He's a relative unknown in the scouting community as he's a quality multi-sport athlete and hasn't been to any showcases or high level tournaments.  He won't be unknown after this spring!

Purple Haze vs Whitecaps - 4/3/16 - 9:00 AM & 11:15 AM - University of Iowa
This is the most interesting match-up of the weekend.  The Whitecaps enter this weekend at 4-1 with Purple Haze entering the weekend at 3-1-1.  In the first game of the day the Whitecaps have a pretty impressive stable of arms going at Purple Haze.  Kirkwood commit Peyton Long (2016 - WDM Valley HS) will start and was dominant in his first outing of the season last weekend going 2 innings with no hits and 3 strikeouts.  He pitched well at 85-87 mph showing good early season control of his fastball.  South Dakota State commit Brady Stover (2016 - Collins Maxwell HS) was equally dominant going 3 innings allowing no hits with 5 strikeouts.  He pitched at 84-87 MPH with his fastball with more in the tank.  Kirkwood commit Cal Stalzer (2016 - WDM Valley HS) has shown the ability to pitch with a fastball up to 87 MPH and looks poised to have a good performance this weekend.  Purple Haze will counter with Marshalltown commit Peyton Stephens (2016 - Carlisle HS), Iowa commit Connor Lindaman (2016 - Davenport Assumption HS), and Nic McCay (2018 - Carlisle HS).  All 3 have shown the ability to pitch with velocity and should keep the Whitecaps on their toes.

In game 2 Purple Haze will go with Arizona State commit Spencer Van Scoyoc (2016 - Cedar Rapids Jefferson HS), Connor Van Scoyoc (2018 - Cedar Rapids Jefferson), and Dallas Baptist commit Luke Eldred (2016 - Mt. Vernon HS).  Spencer Van Scoyoc impressed about 35 scouts with his performance week one in Council Bluffs with an 87-89 mph fastball and his usual hammer curveball.  Connor Van Scoyoc has pitched well so far this spring topping out at 86 MPH and has shown to be one of the more interesting 2018's in Iowa.  Eldred looks to build off his first performance of the spring and should gain more interest as the spring rolls along.  Sunday will also mark the first performance of the year for Iowa commit Grant Judkins (2016 - Pella HS).  He topped out at 90 MPH last fall in Jupiter with a loose easy arm action, so I'm intrigued as to where he'll start the spring off.  

Black Magic vs Navy Seals - 4/3/16 - 1:30 PM - University of Iowa
This has the makings of being a very competitive game.  The Navy Seals will be starting Iowa Western commit Keaton Winn (2016 - Pekin HS) who touched 90 MPH the first weekend of the league in very cold conditions.  He's going to start generating a lot of interest as the spring heats up.  Western Illinois commit Javin Drake (2016 - Wilton HS) will be making his first in game performance of the year.  He looked good in simulated games on March 13th, so we'll see how he performs in his first game action.  The Black Magic counter with NIACC commit Brody Gugat (2016 - Sioux City North HS) who has pitched at 84-87 MPH with a good 12/6 curveball this spring.  Following him up is Missouri commit Ian Bedell (2018 - Davenport Central HS).  This will be his first performance of the spring.  Last fall he was up to 86 mph at the WWBA Underclass World Championship and showed the ability to pitch.  

Hitters to keep an eye on:
Iowa commit Kyle Crowl (2016 - Abraham Lincoln HS) has been hammering the baseball so far this spring.  He hit a no doubt home run last weekend at CR Washington about 390 feet to straight away left field and has peppered the ball all over the field.  He'll be a guy to watch this weekend as he'll be facing top pitching all weekend long.

Iowa commit Ben Norman (2016 - Roosevelt HS) has been swinging a hot bat as well.  He currently leads the league with 6 RBI and has shown his barrel skills and bat speed.

Matthew DiMemmo (2016 - St. Charles, MO) has a good swing and has consistently barreled the ball up this spring.  He has good bat speed and a good swing.
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