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Perfect Game Announces Fall Iowa Select Teams

HawkPT

Freshman
Dec 13, 2002
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For each age level, 2018 through 2022, they will have two teams. The top team is Black and the second team is Royal.

A few impressions:
  • There are some darn good pitchers on the 2018 second team. Steve James says this is the deepest crop of pitchers in Iowa since he started with Perfect Game in 2004. No doubt several of the Royal pitchers (Bockenstedt, Duckett, Hook, Houston, Wilson) very possibly would have been on Black in different years.
  • If the Black 2018 team can score some runs, they will be a very good team facing the top travel teams in the midwest (Hitters, Chicago Scouts Association, White Sox ACE, Top Tier, Cangelosi, St. Louis Pirates, & Reds Midwest Scout) and even better national programs at the WWBA World Championships in Jupiter, FL.
  • There aren't a bevy of LHP options for the 2018 class.
  • Jackson Bennett (Beckman) was at the tryouts, but I don't see his name on the roster. Not sure what's going on with that, but he certainly would have been on the Black team.
  • Rolffs & Barreca are excellent choices at catcher, but Hoogerwerf (Regina) also had an argument for the Black team, in my opinion.

Iowa Select 2018 Black

Tony Barreca (North Scott) - C
Ian Bedell (Davenport Central) - RHP
Jarrett Blunt (Ottumwa) - RHP
Trevor Burkhart (Davenport West) - MIF
Will Christopherson (Pleasant Valley) - RHP
Evan Crawford (Pleasant Valley) - OF
Casey Day (CR Prairie) - RHP
Brayden Frazier (CR Jeff) - SS
Luke Ira (Solon) - MIF
Austin Krob (Lisbon) - LHP
Nic McCay (Carlisle) - RHP
Clayton Nettleton (Davenport West) - RHP
Jaden Rolffs (Pella) - C
Ryne Schooley (IC Regina) - LHP
Tynan Shahidi (Ames) - SS
Levi Usher (CR Prairie) - OF
Connor Van Scoyoc (CR Jeff) - RHP
Landon Vander Leest (Pella) - UT
Kade Vander Molen (Pella Christian) - SS
Tyson Williams (Lisbon) - 1B

Iowa Select 2018 Royal

Riley Beck (Xavier) - SS
Jared Beck (Davenport North) - LHP
Blake Berns (IC Regina) - 1B
Jacob Bockenstedt (CR Wash) - RHP
Wil Courtney (Hempstead) - OF
Connor Crabill (Hempstead) - RHP
Ben DeKruyf (Urbandale) - IF
Ryan Doran (Harlan) - 1B
Keaton Duckett (Johnston) - RHP
Trent Hoogerwerf (IC Regina) - C
Mason Hook (CR Prairie) - RHP
Braden Houston (IC West) - RHP
Trey Jacobson (ELC) - SS
Ryan Manternach (Monticello) - IF
Hogan McIntosh (Bondurant-Farrar) - C
Britt Noel (New London) - OF
Travis Reyhons (IC High) - SS
Casey Steen (Urbandale) - 3B
Jack Wilson (IC West) - RHP
Graham Woods (CR Kennedy) - LHP

Notables on 2019 Black: Sam Goodman (Western Dubuque), Harrison Cook (CR Prairie), Lorenz Elion (Chicago Simeon), Josh Fitzgerald (MC Newman), Clayton Hromidko (CR Prairie), Max Slavens (Pleasant Valley), Peyton Williams (Johnston).

To see all the teams, here's the link: https://www.perfectgame.org/events/Rosters.aspx?event=5757.

I'll be following the 2018 teams this fall. If anyone is interested, I'll keep posting some weekly updates along with some of the snippets I see and hear about the other teams.
 
Other players notable for not being on the roster are Luke Patzner (Urbandale), Daniel Powers (Dav Assumption), and Brady Bunten (CR Wash). Each are D1 commits from the 2018 class that were on the PG Select teams last fall, and both Patzner and Powers did the spring league earlier this year as well. I'm not sure what their plans are for this fall.
 
The 2018 Black team went 2-1 on the weekend. They were behind the Hitters team when rain hit, so that game wasn't completed. The defeated White Sox ACE 2018 (10-0 in 5 innings) and Longshots Teal 2018 (4-2), the latter of which was a very good team. They lost to Chicago Scout Association (6-3), a team loaded with D1 talent from Vanderbilt, Louisville, LSU, and Illinois, among others.

Ian Beddell pitched against the CSA team and looked pretty solid. He was probably at 90+ and showed pretty good command with his breaking ball. Had a little difficulty with first pitch strikes, but only gave up one run, I believe.

Connor Van Scoyoc relieved that game and looked good in his first inning, but had command issues with his fastball in his second inning (6th inning), and the game got away from the Black team.

Other pitchers who looked solid over the weekend included Nettleton, Christopherson, McCay, and Krob. Schooley was hit pretty hard by the Hitters team, but I expect he will get stronger in upcoming weeks.

Several scouts were there to watch Bedell and Levi Usher. I haven't seen much of Usher until this weekend. He is obviously an amazing athlete, and he can run like the wind. He beat out an IF single and later glided to a triple on a hit to the fence right of centerfield. However, he is still pretty raw overall and had trouble with a couple routes to balls in the outfield.

At the plate, several kids had a good weekend. The most consistent at the plate was Brayden Frazier, who is also extremely athletic in the field. Trevor Burkhart also hit the ball well and showed great speed and athleticism, but made a couple outs on the base paths. Kade Vander Molen had several hits including a long shot over the left field fence, and both Jaden Rolffs and Luke Ira had several hits as well.

Overall, I was most surprised with Tony Barreca's play behind the plate. He is really athletic and hustles consistently. He also had a shot to the fence in left center that went for a triple, I think. Another pleasant surprise was Casey Day who looked good on the mound, though it was against a White Sox ACE 2018 team that played poorly. It'll be interesting to see how he does against better competition later this fall.

Next weekend, the team travels to Jacksonville, IL to take on the St. Louis Pirates, Reds Midwest Scout Team, and Cangelosi Sparks 2018 White.

It sounds like the 2018 Royal team struggled a little bit as four of their regular pitchers weren't there this weekend. I didn't see it but heard that Duckett left the ball up a little bit and got hit pretty hard. He didn't get a ton of innings this summer, so I'm sure he'll clean that up.
 
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The Perfect Game Iowa Select Black & Royal 2018 teams both competed at Jacksonville, IL last weekend at a nice field turf facility, Lenz Sports Park. The Black team had two very different days. On Saturday, they faced awesome competition: St. Louis Pirates & Reds Midwest Scout Team. On Sunday, the Cangelosi Sparks White 2018 & Prospect Training Academy 2018 teams were significantly weaker.

The Black team competed really strongly and went 3-0-1 on the weekend.

The St. Louis Pirates pitched Ben Cruikshank, who is a tall, lanky lefty committed to Missouri State that has recently been clocked at 93-94 mph. Two other right handers pitched, but the Iowa Select Black team won 4-3 behind one strong inning at the plate. Casey Day of CR Prairie started the game on the mound, and he did just fine, but the real story was Clayton Nettleton (Iowa commit) who struck out all 12 batters he faced. In fact, only 3 foul balls were hit off him. It was a sight to behold, and they weren't slouches at the plate either. They had many D1 commits themselves, so Nettleton definitely looked strong.

Neither team could muster a run in the game against Reds Midwest Scout Team. I believe all but about two of the Reds players were already committed to D1 programs including commits to Michigan State, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisville, Ball State, Illinois State, among others. They are a top midwest program, but they couldn't muster any offense against Ian Bedell or Connor Van Scoyoc. Van Scoyoc in particular looked really good... by far the best I've seen him. He was 91 mph+ with a hammer curve that he was throwing for strikes.

Both teams had runners in scoring position in the 7th inning but couldn't capitalize. Reds, in fact, had a lead-off triple that was stranded after a pop up and two strikeouts.

As you might expect, the bats were challenged on the weekend, especially on Saturday. Tyson Williams (1B; Lisbon) had a double and a HR on Saturday, and there were a lot of singles otherwise en route to 7-1 and 8-0 wins on Sunday.

Unfortunately, Levi Usher broke his leg on Friday night playing football, so the Black team is down to one true outfielder. Brayden Frazier, Trevor Burkhart, and Luke Ira are getting the most innings in the middle infield, and Kade Vander Molen is getting more OF playing time as a result. Some of the POs even got in the lineup, including Austin Krob (who got an oppo line drive past the left fielder for a triple), Connor Van Scoyoc, and Nic McCay.

With their pitching, the Black team is going to be in nearly every game no matter how strong the competition. Even aside from Nettleton's dominating outing, there were a lot of strikeouts thrown this weekend. I shudder to think what it would be like if Patzner, Powers, and Jackson Bennet were with Perfect Game this fall.

I heard that Jared Beck, the big lefty pitcher from Davenport who's on the Royal team, visited Purdue a couple weekends ago, so that's pretty cool. And 2019 player Sam Goodman (Western Dubuque) committed to Wichita State a week ago.
 
Does Perfect Game know you are writing a parent authored blog? I find it hard to believe that they do.
 
Not that I'm aware of. Is there some issue with that? The games are open to the public and I'm not sharing any protected information. I would think it would shed a good light on PG, so what's the issue?
 
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And that would bother PG in what way?

I'm not saying I'm unbiased. That'd be ridiculous. Show me a person who isn't. If being unbiased is the criteria for message board use or participation in a baseball program like PG, things would be pretty silent here and PG wouldn't exist.

You are welcome to just ignore my posts or put me on ignore if you wish. Then you don't have to be concerned with my bias. It won't bother me.
 
And that would bother PG in what way?

I'm not saying I'm unbiased. That'd be ridiculous. Show me a person who isn't. If being unbiased is the criteria for message board use or participation in a baseball program like PG, things would be pretty silent here and PG wouldn't exist.

You are welcome to just ignore my posts or put me on ignore if you wish. Then you don't have to be concerned with my bias. It won't bother me.
I think it is in poor taste is all. When you started the blogs, did you announce you were a scout, parent or general fan? That would have been a good idea.
 
OK. I'll bite.

Look at my most recent weekend review post (9/13 at 4:32 pm). Tell me what I should change because of my obvious bias.

Disclaimer for all in the future: I'm not a scout and general fans don't follow a Perfect Game team around the midwest for an entire fall season. I think it's pretty clear to everyone that I'm related to one of the players. I'm not trying to hide it.

If anyone considers myself incapable of providing interesting information about the games and the players because of that, please put me on ignore. This information isn't for you.
 
I think you are providing a great piece of insight for people. The game run downs are interesting and allow people to stay in the know about players in our state. I'm assuming you go to the events as a fan and not a PG contracted employee. And, as a fan you have the right to observe and report. I highly doubt PG cares a less, if anything you are promoting their events. There is nothing malicious in that, especially compared to any other thread. You keep doing your thing.
 
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I think you are providing a great piece of insight for people. The game run downs are interesting and allow people to stay in the know about players in our state. I'm assuming you go to the events as a fan and not a PG contracted employee. And, as a fan you have the right to observe and report. I highly doubt PG cares a less, if anything you are promoting their events. There is nothing malicious in that, especially compared to any other thread. You keep doing your thing.

I agree. I thank you HawkPT for the information/updates on these players. My son is sitting out this Fall to work on a pitching program (non-throwing), so I enjoy hearing how everyone is doing.
 
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The Black 2018 team was off this past weekend and will play in Joliet/Lockport this upcoming weekend. They have games on Saturday against Rhino Baseball 2018 and Wisconsin STiKS. The Royal 2018 team was also off and heads back to Jacksonville, IL and the nice Lenz Sports Complex this weekend.

The Black 2019 team had an awesome weekend winning the WWBA Midwest Underclass Qualifier in Cedar Rapids, and they knocked off some really good teams in the process. It is really difficult to win those tournaments, so that's an accomplishment. Peyton Williams (Johnston; Iowa commit) was named MVP & Tate Kuehner (Marshalltown) was named MVPitcher.

Tony Barecca (2018 North Scott) committed to Georgetown this week, and non-PG guys Duncan Davitt and Brendan Sher, both of Indianola, committed to Iowa.
 
This past weekend, the Iowa Select Black 2018 team played in the Joliet area. They had three lop-sided wins against two programs from Wisconsin: Rhino Baseball 2018 and Wisconsin STiKS (twice). Frankly, there isn't much to write about because virtually everyone performed well. That tends to happen when you win 15-0, 11-4, and 12-2.

The team was low on players - particularly pitchers - due to Homecoming events across the state, which is why they played three games instead of the usual four. Many POs got time in the field and at the plate, and they still outclassed the competition.

Will Christopherson (RHP; Pleasant Valley) was visiting Michigan State this weekend, and I read that he committed to the Spartan baseball program last night. Jaden Rolffs also committed to Iowa Western last week. Many other players on the team are visiting both D1 and juco programs, so you should hear decisions from many of them over the next 4-5 weeks leading up to signing day.

This weekend is a big event in the Cedar Rapids area, the WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship that features 40+ teams from around the midwest including more Iowa players on the Iowa Sticks and Peak Performance programs from central and western Iowa. There will be lots of high level high school talent on display between Friday evening and Monday. If you want to watch in person, you can find the complete schedule here: https://www.perfectgame.org/events/TournamentSchedule.aspx?event=4494.

Luke Patzner (RHP; Urbandale) is now listed on the Iowa Select Black 2018 roster for this weekend, so that will definitely help that team compete. I believe that they definitely have a chance to make the Final Four on Monday, but there are many very good teams with a ton of D1 commitments on the roster, so you never know how that will play out.

Also, I just read that Andrew Irvine (RHP; Waukee), who plays with the Iowa Sticks program, just committed to Iowa earlier today.
 
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Well, it's been an excellent weekend for the Iowa Select Black 2018 team. They went 4-0 and have advanced to the Kernels Foundation Championship Final Four round. They play a very talent Cangelosi Sparks Black 2018 team in the semi-final game, a team that has players committed to Illinois, Indiana, Louisville, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Houston, Kent State, and Eastern Illinois.

On the other side of the bracket is Hitters Baseball and the Minnesota Blizzard. Both of those teams are also loaded with D1 talent.

Iowa Select Black 2018 knocked off good competition including a 17-2 quarterfinal win against a St Louis Pirates team with a lot of 2019 & 2020 D1 commits. They were obviously low on pitching by the time this game occurred as it was a short 3-inning game.

Many players are playing well. Clayton Nettleton struck out 6 of the 7 batters he faced on Friday night, which means that he has struck out 18 of the last 19 in the past two weekends. He is scheduled to start tomorrow, so that'll definitely give them a chance get to the finals.

Offensively, Evan Crawford (Pleasant Valley) is putting together a tournament resume that will make him a strong contender for the tournament offensive MVP. He had a HR on Friday night and a long shot just left of center that went for a grand slam today. He also just missed a home run on a double in the left center gap that short-hopped the fence earlier in the game.

Austin Krob (Lisbon) got the three-inning complete game win on the mound today, but the big story was how he helped himself going 3 for 3 at the plate with two triples and a walk-off two-run home run!

Having Patzner and Jackson Bennett has helped this weekend as they provided extra pitching depth and, in Bennett's case, an extra bat in the lineup. This was particularly helpful because the Iowa Select team was without Luke Ira for this weekend.

It sounds like the Iowa Sticks had a good weekend too, but they weren't able to win their 4-team pool after losing a lead in their opening pool play game against a solid Longshots Baseball Teal team. Overall, though, they went 3-1 including a win in their consolation game.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a good weekend for the Iowa Select Royal 2018 (0-3-1) or Black 2019 (1-3) teams.

If anyone is interested, the games tomorrow will be on the Perfect Game Field at Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. Iowa Select plays at 9:00 am and, if they win, the championship is at 2:00 pm.
 
Well, it was a fun run, but the Black 2018 couldn't muster enough offense against the Cangelosi Sparks 2018 Black and lost this morning 3-0 in a semifinal match-up.

Nettleton looked very good in defeat but not unhittable like in his previous two outings. He only gave up three hits in 5 innings. His defense let him down in a 2-run third inning as they didn't defend the bunt well and made a couple of errors... both physical and mental. The Cangelosi team was excellent defensively and looked like a team that had been playing together for the entire summer.

The only hit for Iowa Select came on the second pitch of the game, a double down the left field line by Trevor Burkhart (Davenport West). Unfortunately, he was erased on a TOOTBLAN when he was back-picked at second base by the catcher. Otherwise there were two walks, and the Cangelosi pitcher faced only one batter over the minimum due to a double play that eliminated one of the other runners.

Cangelosi pitcher Ryan Palmblad is an uncommitted player from Orland Park, and he was named the tournament's most valuable pitcher for his effort. He's a lefty that didn't throw particularly hard and mostly went fastball-changeup. I didn't see much, if any, breaking ball action, but he kept the Iowa Select batters off balance.

Cangelosi ended up easily defeating Minnesota Blizzard Blue 2018, who had defeated Hitter's Baseball (Wisconsin), by a score of 12-0 in the finals and earned the championship.

All in all it was a great weekend for the Iowa Select 2018 Black team. I'd be pretty optimistic about their ability to compete in the WWBA World Championships in Jupiter in a few weekends, but I'm guessing several regulars won't make the trip due to football and other commitments. It is also rumored that Van Scoyoc may pitch for a different team that weekend. We'll see.
 
Iowa Select 2018 Black is off next weekend before returning to action in St. Charles/St. Louis the weekend of October 14-15. They then end their fall season in Jupiter, FL at the WWBA World Championships from Oct 19-23.
 
The Iowa Select team finished its season last weekend at the WWBA World Championships in Jupiter, FL. They were without Bedell, Van Scoyoc, and a handful of other regulars, so a few players from other teams were added to the roster.

They won their first game against a DRB Elite team from Georgia in 5 innings, 10-1. Christopherson started and pitched really well, but the show was stolen by Tyler Lewis (RHP; WDM Valley), one of the roster additions, who hit 94 on the radar. I'm sure his cell phone was busy that afternoon.

After day two was rained out, they played a very talented Twins Scout Team in the next game. They knocked out a Miami (FL) commit pitcher in the first inning and had a 7-1 lead after a few innings. A few walks and several hits in the 5th inning got the Twins back in the game with five runs, and they walked off with a come-from-behind win in the bottom of the 6th of a time-shortened game, 8-7.

That was disappointing because the final pool game was against the top Evoshield Canes team (National) that was loaded with a ton of high level talent committed to major programs (roster here: https://www.perfectgame.org/events/Tournaments/Teams/Default.aspx?team=70916), including several Top 50 players in the 2018 class. The Canes won 6-0 behind the strength of a pitcher who topped out at 94 mph.

That meant that the Iowa Select team had one remaining consolation game. They competed with a depleted roster due to many players leaving to return home, and that led to an ugly game and a 11-4 loss to an Orioles Scout Team.

It was a really fun event and amazing to see so much talent in one location... and so many scouts there to see the talent. I just read today that close to 300 pitchers (on the 80+ teams) hit 90 mph or greater.

The Iowa Select team should be proud of a great fall. Now it's time to rest the arm and strengthen the body.
 
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