Utah Power 25 Rankings: Week 6 (April 11-16)

April 18, 2022
Jeff Scholzen
Utah Scouting Director

Week 6 Recap

As I mentioned in last week's key matchups to look for, the top players had key roles and showed why they are the best players in the Beehive state.

In the Skyridge vs Pleasant Grove series, the Vikings prevailed in 2 out of 3 games, with their two 90 mph arms having the biggest say in the matter. 2023 Brayden Marx-RHP was pumping FB’s in the 88-90 mph range and topped out at 93. With the U of Arizona in the crowd, as they were in town, playing a PAC 12 conference series against Utah, they were able to take in 3 innings, to see Marx, and he didn’t disappoint, as Marx went all 7 innings and allowed only 5 balls in play and struck out 16 Falcon hitters en-route to a 8-1 decisive victory. In game two, it was 2023 Cruz Blackhurst-RHP and his upper 80’s to 90 mph FB that recorded 9 strikeouts, on his way to a 10-0 affair. 2023 Ryker Schow-OF, and a BYU commit, had a big series going 6-11 w/5 runs scored, while 2022 Kaden Davis-3B, a USU-Eastern commit went 7-11 with a HR and 7 RBI’s to lead the Viking offense!

The American Fork vs Lone Peak matchup was another sign that the Cavemen may be back to their ‘21 status, as they took 2 out of 3 from the Knights, as the star bats were on display. The middle infield combo of #1 ranked TCU commits, in junior Ryder Robinson-2B and senior Fisher Ingersoll-SS combined in game three for 7 hits, 6 extra base hits and 9 RBI’s. Lone Peak took game one and then the Cavemen bats woke up and put 30 runs on the board in the next two games to secure the region series win.

The Crimson Cliffs vs Dixie two game series, with Crimson ranked #1 going into the matchup, was all Dixie, as they too, have a very deep hitting lineup and took game 1 by a score of 15-6 and had to go 3 extra innings in a 10 inning affair as sophomore Logan Leavitt, who is having a solid campaign with the bat, but a walk off bullet to the CF wall, to bring in the decisive run to secure the series sweep by a score of 4-3. For Dixie it was their 11th win in a row and jumped them up a spot from #4 to a Power 25 ranking of #3. With the wins, the Flyers are now 16-3 as the Mustangs from Crimson Cliffs are now 14-3 and fell off the the top perch to #6.

The Lehi vs Jordan matchup lived up to its billing, as Lehi prevailed in games one and two by scores of 11-10 and 8-0, but Jordan avoided the series sweep by taking game 3 by a score of 10-7. Lehi’s 3 star QB recruit, Jackson Brousseau-RHP/INF, a man child at 6-5 215 took the series over, as he is having an All-State season on the diamond as well. All Brousseau did was scatter 7 hits over 7 scoreless innings on the mound and go 7-10 from the plate with a HR, 5 RBI’s and 2 2B’s to lead the Pioneers who are now 15-4 and jump them up a spot, to #2 in the Power 25 rankings.

Summary

As teams are finished with spring breaks and entrenched in Region play, when key matchups occur, it’s tough to either maintain your ranking or move up vs move down. In northern Utah, with a 3 games series tilt, someone is gonna win the series or sweep the series, creating significant movement in the rankings, and in southern Utah, with 2 game series matchups, a team will either split or sweep.

Rankings Disclaimer: Remember in the end, the cream always rises to the top and teams that built big win totals can take a fall as region play is a better indicator of true success and overall status as a top team with a good RPI vs a team with stacked win totals and a low RPI

In conclusion, to determine rankings, I use the UHSSA RPI to determine strength of schedule, win/loss records, and ranked opponent matchups. In the end, I separate teams that are close with overall individual talent on a given team. If a team has college commits or a number of college commits, especially D1 commits, it’s easier to know who the talent is behind the win/loss record. NO ONE knows the talent behind the records more than PBR Utah. With showcase events, rankings, player stats, future college level ability and data to back up subjective eye ball scouting, the Utah Power 25 is as close to a perfect ranking as a state can get.

Where other outlets just rank based on RPI and a computer or big school vs small school status, I rank when separating all the factors in play, my personal subjective opinion in the end, based on the number of next level players on a team, and if I feel like a smaller school could beat a bigger school, based on talent level, not school size or past reputation, that’s my opinion. But Dad’s and coaches who are limited in their view and scope of just seeing who is on their current teams schedule, NO ONE has seen more Utah HS baseball teams and players filtering through our events, than PBR Utah.

With a scouting career at the MLB level of 20 years, being a former D1 head coach and not limited to just seeing one region, or just the teams on one teams individual schedule, I’ve seen over 500 players in different showcase events and game play, in the past 18 months, with well over 50-60 teams seen just this year! I scout players and the name on the back of the jersey, not the name on the front of the jersey or the reputation of a team or school. Also if a team is having an off year and is missing D1 caliber talent, due to injury and that team is holding down the fort without those players, and the player will return at some point during the season and could alter the outcome of future games down the stretch, that is factored in as well.

Just like drafting a talent in the MLB draft, no stone is not turned over in considering the absolute best potential outcome for a team with or without that player. A prime example of this is Janzen Keisel-RHP, who is in the starting rotation as a true freshman at BYU, sits on the radar gun at 92-96, while touching 98 mph with his FB and played his HS baseball at 2A Gunnison. With Keisel on the mound weekly at that level, if he faced a big 6A school, he single handedly could beat any school on a routine basis. I hope you enjoy these weekly looks at the top teams in the state, and it should be mentioned that we are trying to grow the game in the Beehive State with no respect to just one classification or a handful of schools, but to give credit to schools who deserve recognition and attention, that over the years haven’t received much attention…Enjoy!!