Utah HS Team Preview: Dixie HS
February 19, 2023
Utah HS Team Preview: Dixie Flyers
"Flyer Field" Home of the Dixie Flyers
Opening Day is around the corner, try outs have been scheduled starting Feb 27th, and rosters are soon to be set. The Utah High School Activities Association has announced that opening day of the 2022 season will commence on Monday March 6th. Jeff Scholzen (Utah Scouting Director) begins the 2023 season coverage with our annual preseason team previews, where we will take notes from coaches, and highlight returning players, newcomers, and some sleepers. Over the next couple weeks and leading up to opening day, we will be highlighting some of the top programs in the state in our team previews.
PBR Utah will also be publishing its state “Power 25” rankings that will be updated every Monday once the season begins. Throughout the season, PBR Utah will be pumping out coverage, highlighting individual players, games, rankings, scouting reports and naming players/pitchers of the week, every Tuesday as well. PBR Utah looks forward to getting out there this spring to see some great baseball.
Dixie Baseball History
One of the richest histories of Utah HS Baseball, along with the many rich traditions of Northern Utah baseball. But as far as Southern Utah Baseball, Snow Canyon has the richest tradition of the past 20 years with 4-5 state titles in the that span, but the Dixie Flyers have 2 titles in the past 5 years, along with the longest and richest tradition of any Southern Utah baseball team of the past 45 years!
The state powerhouse coincidentally started in the Don Lay coached days of the mid-70’s, when a young fireballing LHP by the name of Bruce Hurst came along! As many baseball fans of my age (54) can remember, Hurst caught national attention in 1976, when MLB scouts would track his every move. (I was 7 years old, when I would get out of school, to go trail my uncle, who was an All-State SS at Hurricane HS, and I was able to witness the throng of scouts attending Hurst’s games in that era). Hurst would go on to be selected 22nd overall in the 1st Rd of the MLB Draft, by the Boston Red Sox
Hurst would go on to win 145 games as a star LHP that tag teamed with the great Roger Clemens in the 1980’s, to form a duo that was dubbed “Clemens and Hurst and fear the worst!” Hurst would go on to star in the 1986 World Series and was inadvertently named the World Series MVP, before the big comeback late in the game of Game 6, when Red Sox 1B had a ball go through his legs and the New York Mets would pull off one of the wildest comebacks in series history.
Hurst became a local legend, as his name would be honored as the name of Utah Tech’s baseball stadium in 1994 as “Bruce Hurst Field.”
Many Dixie players have gone onto college baseball success during my lifetime and a handful drafted in the MLB draft. Current Asst Coach, Chunner Nyberg, would go onto to pitch at BYU, but not before being drafted out of HS in the 49th Rd by yours truly with the Los Angeles Angels. Chunner is the only Utah HS pitcher to start the state championship game all four years of his HS career, winning 2 of them!
The current team is stacked with young sophomore and junior class college talent, along with a senior ace on the mound! With that said, we present the 2023 Utah HS Team Preview of the Dixie Flyers…Enjoy!
Dixie by the numbers
Head Coach: Danny Ipson
Classification: 4A
Region: 9
2022 Win-Loss: 23-6
2021 Win-Loss: 17-13
State Playoff appearances in last 10 years: 9
State Championship appearances last 10 years: 4
State Championships last 10 years: 2
Key Returners with Class/Position
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Boston Vest SS / Dixie, UT / 2024Rankings State Rank: 15 / POS: 3
UNCOMMITTED8/05/22
The son of a former D1 player (Who played for me in college) and his brother Cooper plays at BYU, so the bloodlines are aplenty! Boston played very well defensively at SS and 3B during the Future Games and made some nice plays, while starting a couple DP’s and some nice tags on runners thrown out at 3B. Boston is a baseball player and was a 4A 1st ™ All-Region/2nd ™ All-State award winner in ‘22 and carried that success into Atlanta. With some hard hit balls on a line, and keeping innings extended with base hits to keep the line moving, Boston is a fundamentally sound player. From a narrow upright setup to hit, he strides forward and pulls his hands back into the stretch/load position, to get separation and takes his hands direct to the plane of the ball and keeps his plane of attack on a flatter plane with the bat, to stay in the zone with the bat head and give himself enough room for error, to spray barreled balls to all fields. Able to cut down his swing and stay back to take what is given and guide the baseball the other way, which you don’t see often in players at 16 yrs old. Boston May not stay at SS at the next level, however I would keep him there as long as possible to keep him at that athletic spot on the diamond, which creates the instincts and baseball IQ to slide over to 2B or 3B and the power is there to be an offensive 2B at the best level and it’s not out of the question, to see his power pot to stick at 3B as well. But colleges should take notice of his baseball IQ, high rate of barrel efficiency and fundamentally sound glove, to provide a winning player at the next level!
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Ridge Erickson C / Dixie, UT / 2024
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Committed: 
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Cayson Bell RHP / Dixie, UT / 2023Rankings State Rank: 27 / POS: 8
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Committed: 
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Logan Leavitt 3B / Dixie, UT / 2024Rankings State Rank: 24 / POS: 3
Uncommitted8/14/22
The brother of former Utah Tech U, OF-Jagun Leavitt, Logan showed well on workout day, as he took a crisp, clean INF w/plenty of arm and made a really smooth, EZ play in front, on a hot shot right at him at 3B in game play and finished the play w/a strong throw to 1B. Shows smooth actions at 3B and has educated feet and gets into proper throwing position w/his front shoulder closed and is very accurate with his throws. At the plate, Logan shows more hard LD contact vs power and through the gap type now, but the swing is controlled and show’s rhythm and timing to square balls up consistently. Hitting .406 as a sophomore at the DH spot, with a senior at 3B, Logan will man the hot corner over the next two years for the Flyers, and the power should come as he learns to lift the ball and get stronger with maturity. Look for bigger things to come as we move forward, but the foundation to hit and field is currently in place to build from. -- Jeff Scholzen (Utah Scouting Director)
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Key players lost to graduation
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Malcolm Bartholomew - LHP (College of Southern Idaho)
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GJ Erickson - 3B (USU-Eastern)
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Shea Anderson - 2B (Salt Lake CC)
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Dane Thorpe - C (Salt Lake CC)
Who is your X Factor to your success
Boston Vest - Unparalleled work ethic and commitment
List the names of returning players who were named All-Region / All-State
SS-Boston Vest - Jr (2022 PBR Future Games) 2nd Team 4A All-State
C-Ridge Erickson - Jr (2022 PBR Future Games) 2nd Team All-State
RHP-Cayson Bell - Sr (2022 PBr West Coast Games) 2nd Team All-State
Player lost to graduation and College Baseball
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Malcolm Bartholomew - LHP (College of Southern Idaho)
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GJ Erickson - 3B (USU-Eastern)
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Shea Anderson - 2B (Salt Lake CC)
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Dane Thorpe - C (Salt Lake CC)
Coaches Summary and Outlook
Very junior heavy team this year. Success will be dependent on the advancement of a couple key contributors. Those returning starters will need to continue to improve and learn to dominate their positions.
Danny Ipson (Head Coach)
UPCOMING EVENTS
| SHOWCASE | STATE | DATE | LOCATION |
| Preseason All-State (Invite-Only) | UT | 03/04 | Hurricane High School |
| Northern Utah Rising Stars ID | UT | 04/22 | American Fork High School - American Fork, UT |
| Southern Utah Rising Stars ID | UT | 05/06 | Hurricane High School |
RELATED NEWS
JEFF SCHOLZEN (BIO)
Scholzen was brought on as the Utah Scouting Director for Prep Baseball Report after serving 9 years as the Four Corners Scouting Supervisor with the Milwaukee Brewers (2011-2020). Prior to his run with the Brewers, Scholzen worked for the Los Angeles Angels for 11 years (1999-2010), serving in a similar capacity as the Four Corners Scouting Supervisor. In all, Scholzen served as a full-time scout for 20 years. Scholzen also received a 2002 World Series ring for his contributions as a scout.
With the Angels, Scholzen created an Angels Scout Team, in which he coached the likes of current and former major league players: Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Greg Bird, Tyler Wagner, Aaron Blair, Joey Rickard, Donn Roach, Johnny Field, Taylor Cole and Paul Sewald to name a few. During his run with the the Angels, Scholzen served as the hitting coach for the Angels rookie ball affiliate with the Pioneer League Orem Owlz, helping guide the Owlz to the 2005 and 2007 Pioneer League titles.
Prior to becoming a professional scout, Scholzen served as the head coach at Southern Utah University between 1993-1997. At the time, Scholzen was the youngest Division I head coach when he was first hired at 24 years old. The Southern Utah baseball program was dropped after the 2012 season. While coaching at Southern Utah, Scholzen served as the hitting coach for the Alaska Goldpanners in 1995, as they won the Alaska League Championship.
A native of Utah, Scholzen played at Hurricane HS and was twice named 1st team All-State and an AAU HM All-American, before moving on to Utah Valley CC and Eastern Oregon University, earning All-Conference honors on three separate occasions. Scholzen played in the Angels’ organization from 1991-1992.