Amateur baseball: Diverse group leading Rockers to the top of the Rock River League – Madison.com

For summer baseball players residing in Madison, the Home Talent League is not an option, as no teams are able to draw athletes from the city.

But there is another choice for high-level amateur baseball: The Rock River League, where the Madison Rockers are dominating the Southwest Division with a 9-2 record. They lead other area teams like the Janesville Aces and Madison Black Sox by 3.5 games.

The team is made up of area players, including three from the University of Wisconsin’s Club team. Nick Newburg (Madison Memorial), John Raff and Colten DeMorett (Madison Edgewood) are all currently on the team. Sean Blythe (Madison West) played on the club team before graduating in 2015.

The Rockers are comprised of more than just college-aged kids, though. The roster ranges from 44-year-old Mike Kauffman to 19-year-old Rock Cates. This mix of veterans and young talent has been a key for Madison this summer, despite the generational gap.

“It’s well known that it’s a possibility (Kauffman) could be their dad,” player-manager Dan Haueter said. “Mike is a great guy to have around. It’s good to have veterans teaching how we play the game.”

One of the younger players leading the charge for the Rockers is Paul Mutch, a senior baseball player at Winona State. The third basemen is currently second in the league with a .533 average.

“I don’t want to jinx him, but Mutch is a leading candidate for MVP at this point,” Haueter said.

Mutch said part of his success can be attributed to Winona State’s coaching staff for preparing him for the season. He also credited the wide variance in ages for the team’s strong campaign.

“The older guys have been around the league so they know what the teams are like; they know what teams bring to the table,” Mutch said. “That helps the younger guys know what they are getting into. The younger guys have a bit more energy, so it brings out a good all-around aspect.”

Mutch, who usually hits fourth in the lineup, is preceded by center fielder Alex Brown, who won the league MVP last season. Brown, a Madison West graduate, is now a junior playing at UW-La Crosse, a squad that reached the NCAA Division III World Series this year.

Mutch, a Madison Edgewood graduate, played with Brown in little league before parting ways during high school. Their reunion has wreaked havoc on the rest of the Rock River League.

“It’s always nice to have good hitters in the lineup so pitchers can’t pitch around one guy,” Mutch said. “They have to be on their toes throughout the whole lineup.”

The Rockers pitching has also been instrumental in their dominance. Tyler Dierke and Ben Kennedy do the bulk of the work on the mound and have held their opponents to two runs or less in all but three games.

With just five games left in the regular season, the Rockers are closing in on a division championship. After that, they have their sights set on a league title, which will be decided in the eight-team Rock River Grand Championship Playoffs.

Land-O-Lakes League

The third major amateur baseball league in the area is the Land-O-Lakes League, made up of teams from outside Milwaukee. The league is in its 95th season this year.

The New Berlin Lakers and Burlington Barons are currently tied atop the Southwest Division with 8-1 records. The Pewaukee Muskies (11-1) and the Lannon Stonemen (9-2) lead their respective divisions in the Western half.

Around the HTL

Logjam in the East

The Eastern Section race continued to heat up after the two-game weekend. Poynette (8-4) picked up a huge victory over first-place Portage (10-3). The win puts the Indians just 1.5 games back. Sun Prairie picked up two victories over the weekend, improving its record to 9-3 and narrowing Portage’s lead to a half-game. The Redbirds scored three runs in the top of the ninth to come back and defeat Monona (6-5) on July 4th.

With four teams making the playoffs from the Eastern Section, Portage, Sun Prairie, Poynette and DeForest (7-4) would all qualify if the season ended today. Sitting just outside the playoff picture are Cottage Grove (7-5) and Monona. Monona dropped both of its games over the weekend, including one to Cottage Grove.

Rio playing spoiler

Rio won its third straight last weekend after dropping its previous nine. They upset Cottage Grove 8-0 thanks to a Kevin Wopat complete-game shutout.

A week earlier, the Railmen defeated DeForest, another playoff contender. Rio’s recent surge is thanks to them breaking out of a team slump, according to head coach Steve Plenty. He said the team’s average had been around .200 before the DeForest game.

“We are tearing the cover off the ball since then,” Plenty said. “Hitting is contagious and it has been catching on.”

Rio will take on Monona this weekend with another chance to hurt a team’s playoff chances.

“We’ve dealt some pretty good blows to some pretty good teams the last few weeks,” Plenty said. “We’re going to spoil some team’s seasons.”

The Railmen also had a heated exchange with Cottage Grove last weekend after a close play at the plate led to some contact. Cottage Grove shortstop Bobby Blakely fielded a groundball and threw home, where the Cottage Grove catcher blocked the plate with his shin guard. The slide by the Rio player sent the catcher backwards.

“They’re competitive guys, so emotions can run a little bit,” Plenty said. “We don’t walk away with any bad blood.”

And then there was one

Middleton is now the only undefeated team remaining. At 11-0, they are just seven games away from completing a perfect regular season. Fort Atkinson lost its first game of the season to Utica 11-9. Utica scored six runs in the first inning in its victory.

Braves on fire

West Middleton is one of the hottest teams in the league, winning its last ten games since losing the first game of the season. They sit atop the Western Section’s North Division at 10-1, two games ahead of defending champion Verona (8-3).

Game to Watch

Poynette travels to Cottage Grove this weekend in a pivotal Eastern Section matchup. A win for Cottage Grove would give them the same record as Poynette and move them back into the playoff picture. A victory would also give Cottage Grove the tiebreaker against Poynette, as they defeated them earlier this year.

Player of the Week

Austin Leggett helped West Middleton to two weekend wins, going 4-for-6 on July 3rd and then throwing a complete game on the fourth against Blanchardville.