Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 12 Hortonville

X-Factor

Hortonville cracked what had become a predictable Fox Valley Association Conference. Kimberly and Appleton North (but mostly Kimberly) had rotated winning conference titles for the past decade plus and the Polar Bears of 2017 thought it was time for someone else to bask in the Fox Valley spotlight. Though they didn’t knock off Kimberly entirely, and the Papermakers wound up getting the last laugh in the form of a state championship, Hortonville can forever say it forced the Division-1 champs to share their conference trophy.

Last year’s edition of the team proved to be a perfectly balanced mix of experience and talent. They made it to sectionals in a merciless D-1 pool because of it. The graduates will be sorely missed but the Polar Bears aren’t a one-and-done program and they should be vying for another shot at the FVAC title this spring.   

Hortonville’s strength will lie in its pitching staff as Jennerjohn is flanked by returning all-conference selections Drew Lauterborn (5-1, 2.55 ERA) and Justin Bonikowske (3-0, 1.08), both lefty seniors. Eli Kramer, Hunter Hanson and Liam Weber also return innings to the staff in 2018, though notably Kramer will be most valuable to this team elsewhere.

What Hortonville has in its strength in arms, it’s lacking in experience within a youthful lineup. The Nebraska commit Kramer is the top returning hitter, sporting a .328 average and even more impressively developed a reputation as an on-base machine in his sophomore season (.541 OBP). His numbers were good enough for a first team all-conference selection as an underclassman and he’ll likely hit near the top of the lineup again this year while patrolling center field. Senior Connor Roesler will likely move over to shortstop in place of the graduated Bryce Cross (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) where he led the team in RBIs from the three-hole a year ago. Senior OF Kole Ellenbecker is the only other varsity starter from last year’s playoff team.

Coach Greg Yeager will certainly have to fill some voids and could look to his younger classes to do so. He has some interesting names among the school’s 2020 and 2021 classes that could help out including RHP Parker White, LHP Reed Hafeman, C Jose Concepcion, INF Parker Lawrence, and LHP Colton Baumann could be some names called upon.

All in all, Hortonville should find themselves in many lower scoring games but will have the edge in these sorts of scenarios because of their depth and experience on the mound. Manufacturing offense with the dynamic Kramer and run-producing Roesler could be enough for their arms to lift them to another 20-plus win season.