Milwaukee City Conference Aiming For Bounce Back Year
By Spencer Flaten, lead writer
The city of Milwaukee is a baseball hub in the state of Wisconsin. As the home of the Brewers and Miller Park, it serves as a hotspot for fans of America’s pastime in the Badger State. However, it is no secret that the Milwaukee City Conference has been half a step behind the competition on the baseball diamond in recent years.
A team from the City Conference has not played in the state tournament since 2009, when Milwaukee Riverside lost 18-2 in the quarterfinals. Further, a City team has not made it to the state semifinals since Milwaukee King did it in 2003.
There is good news, though.
2015 might be a bounce-back year for the Milwaukee City schools. Milwaukee Reagan, last year’s conference champions, return five starters this season, all of whom hit over .300 last year (including last year’s conference Player of the Year Jacob Foshey, who hit .500 at the plate). On the mound, they’ll have seniors Michael Perez (7-2, 1.81 ERA) and Joel Potega (8-0, 2.78 ERA) returning. However, the team’s biggest strength may be a newcomer. Junior Alec Marsh, who is one of the best pitchers in Wisconsin’s junior class, will play for the Huskies this spring. Marsh recently touched 92 MPH with his fastball, and he should dominate City Conference hitters with his repertoire. With the best pitching staff in the conference, the Huskies are the strong favorites to repeat as champions.
“With losing four starters from last year, there are some holes that need to be filled. That's not going to stop us from repeating as conference champs. New players are going to have to step up to the best of their abilities. Being the hunted is a feeling that we want and are going to use to our advantage. It's baseball and anything can happen, leading me to believe that it's going to be a tough task to repeat, but it's not impossible and our players and coaches believe that we as a whole can repeat with hard work and dedication,” said Reagan infielder Devin Williams.
Reagan won’t be the only good team in Milwaukee. The Riverside Tigers, who made it to the sectional finals last year, have a few key players returning, including 1st team all-conference pitcher Josiah Roundtree and 1st team outfielder Charlie Parlier. King will have three all-conference players back, including sophomore infielder Collin Sathe and junior pitcher Kellen Brush. Williams expects that both of those schools will challenge for the conference title.
“In the past seasons, it has tended to be a three headed race [between Reagan, Riverside, and King] to see who will be conference champs…It's going to be competitive race at the end of the season just like last year between Reagan and Riverside but you can never count out King or anyone else in the conference.”
For years, Hartford Union has dominated the Milwaukee schools in the postseason. That won’t be the case this year, as the Orioles will play in a different sectional, but there may be a new sheriff in town this time around.
Arrowhead, who is making the switch from the summer season to the spring, is in the Milwaukee sectional this year. They figure to be one of the top teams in Wisconsin this spring. In fact, they are ranked as the second best team in Division 1 in our preseason rankings. They will have three future NCAA Division 1 pitchers in their rotation, which spells trouble for any team they face. Still, the City schools feel that they might have a chance to cause an upset.
“Arrowhead is a great team. We respect them 100% just like we do with any other team. They are solid and well-rounded from top to bottom. When looking at the matchup, obviously everyone is going to write us off. It's baseball though, a game of consistency. Just like every other game we're going to go into that [potential] game feeling that we have prepared ourselves well enough to win the game,” Williams said.
Any City team that wants to get to the state tournament will almost surely need to beat Arrowhead, which will be no easy feat. However, if there were ever a year where it would happen, it might be 2015. Whichever team wins the City Conference should feel like they have an honest chance against the Warhawks, especially if it’s Reagan.
In the end, having a Milwaukee City team play at Fox Cities Stadium in June would go a long way towards increasing the reputation of high school baseball in the city. If things go the way that the Milwaukee schools want, this could be the year that the five year state tournament drought ends.
“A City team making the state tournament would be a huge, huge step for the conference as a whole. This will show that teams that don't even have a practice field and limited resources have the ability to do what it takes to get something they want,” Williams commented. “The conference will gain a ton of respect and teams will take into consideration what they're up against when scheduling and playing a City team.”
