Utah Power 25 Rankings: Week 5 (April 4-9)

Week 6 Key Matchups

Week 5 is complete, and not much changed, except the shuffling of six teams moving up and down a few slots. Skyridge moves into the top ten with wins vs #14 Bingham, Mountain Ridge and #18 Bear River. One of the key matchups to look for this coming week, is the Skyridge three game region matchup vs #19 Pleasant Grove, as two of the states premier RHP will be involved in the series, with #4 ranked 2023 grad Tyler Ball, a Stanford commit taking his turn on the mound for Skyridge, and #10 ranked Brayden Marx of Pleasant Grove as well. Both pitchers touch the 90 mph mark with their FB’s and Marx has one of the top two spin rate CB’s in the state.

American Fork vs Lone Peak (3 Game Region 4 Game of the Week)

Another big match up to look out for, is #11 American Fork who has been idle for 10 days, as they take on #7 Lone Peak. American Fork has not been playing as well as they have wanted, but with their fire power offense led by TCU commits, senior SS-Fisher Ingersoll and junior 2B-Ryder Robinson, to go along with Utah commit, senior LHP/OF-Kaden Carpenter, BYU commit, senior 3B-Easton Jones and junior RHP and Utah Valley commit, Austin Laycock. Lone Peak is led by a premium junior CF-Crew McChesney, who is being recruited by 5-6 division 1 teams currently, with two offers on the table and more to come, and is one of the fastest runners in the country with a 6.24/60 yard dash. Lone Peak also has been getting solid production from senior’s in Mesa CC commit, LHP/1B-Chris Billings and SS-Kade Gambill, who has national top 20 program JUCO offers on the table. Junior 3B-Kaden Hodson is having another solid campaign and is talking to a handful of schools. 

Crimson Cliffs vs Dixie (2 Game Region 10 Game of the Week)

#1 ranked Crimson Cliffs 14-1, split their two game series with #12 Pine View and saw their hopes of an undefeated season go by the wayside as they lost a one run game for their only defeat of the season. They face a tough two game region series this week vs #4 ranked Dixie, who is playing really good baseball right now and stands at 14-3. Crimson is led by super sophomore LF-Trey Evans, who is one of the better hitters in the state regardless of classification, and has a power 5 offer and many more will come this summer, as he makes a return trip to the PBR Future Games. Dixie State commit SS-Petey Soto is a slick fielding middle defender with graceful actions and a powerful bat in a small frame. CF and College of Southern Idaho commit, Logan West is having a fantastic senior season, as well as 2-3 other hitters who will receive offers this summer and are being recruited by a handful of schools. Dixie is led on the mound by RHP-Cayson Bell, who is being courted by 3-4 JUCO’s and made a visit to an in-state D1 school this past Saturday. The hitters such as soph DH/3B-Logan Leavitt is having a solid year and is the younger brother of Dixie State CF-Jagun Leavitt. Soph SS-Boston Vest, the son of former SUU standout in the late 90’s, and Dixie asst coach Scott Vest is having a really good season and is also the younger brother of BYU’s, Cooper Vest. A brother combination in senior 3B-GJ Erickson and sophomore catcher Ridge Erickson form a middle of the order along with Vest, and last but not least is 1B/C-Dane Thorpe, a Salt Lake CC commit rounding out the top bats. This series should be a doozy! 

Lehi vs Jordan (3 Game Region 8 Game of the Week)

#3 Lehi takes on #5 Jordan and this should be a must see game if you're a Utah high school baseball fan. There will be plenty of future college baseball players on display in this huge Region 8 showdown. Lehi sports one of the best SS in the state in Junior Jake Olsen, who is having a season to build on for recruiting purposes. Maddux Madsen the Boise State QB football commit and son of former Utah Valley head coach, Eric Madsen transferred to Lehi for his senior year, after playing football at American Fork. The big bat of Jackson Brousseau, who is a top football QB recruit is having a superb junior campaign, as he has 20 RBI in 16 games played. Jordan is one of the top if not the top big school hitting teams in the state, as they sport college type hitters up and down the lineup for the Beetdiggers. Led by 2021 6A triple crown leader, 1B-Cole Kershaw, a Utah commit, who possesses big raw power and anchors the middle of the lineup. Junior catcher Cade Nalder, is having another All-Region caliber year with his .375 BA. The bat that is the most intriguing is junior LF-Hunter Gatti, who after hitting .462 as a sophomore, is hitting .514 and the stat that is the most amazing is he struck out only 3 times in 3 times in 98 PA’s and this year has yet to strike out in 52 PA’s. That equates to only 3 punch outs in his last 150 AB’s!!!!!! Junior leadoff hitter and CF-Stockton Mathis is hitting .438 and is the catalyst at the top of the order and runs em down in CF.

Summary

There are some other big matchups in the state, but this highlights some of the battles that I will be paying attention to. Below is the Week 5 Utah Power 25 Rankings and things could change quite a bit after this coming week with two to three game series tilts of highly ranked matchups, teams inside key regions will start beating up on each other. It should also be noted that the cream always rises to the top and the top teams show the best as crunch time comes, and with region play fully in swing, teams that were expected to rise to the occasion will, as well as surprise teams emerging…Enjoy!!