Wisconsin Power 25: Update

May 27, 2025
By: Andy Sroka & Josh Fields
Wisconsin Staff

We’re updating the Power 25 today after the holiday weekend, which tees us up for the final stretch of the regular season inside Division 1, while the Division 2, 3 and 4 postseasons begin on Thursday.

The Power 25 itself took a beating last week amid some of the poor weather too, which made for a pretty hectic rearranging of the top-25 order. That brought in four teams – two of which had been ranked at one point earlier this season – and that means four previously ranked teams have been bumped off the board as a result.

We’ll break down the playoff picture, as it stands, in addition to the ups and downs that the Power 25 brought about across the state last week.

AT THE TOP

All in all, it was a somewhat quiet week near the top of the Power 25. No. 1 Hudson (18-5) stays put at the top overall spot for the fourth straight week after its two-game sweep of Rice Lake. They have two conference games left this spring, both against Eau Claire North, and two wins would clinch them the Big Rivers Conference title outright. Elsewhere in the top-10, No. 3 Sun Prairie East (16-6) took two big wins over Verona to create a little separation between them and VPM at the top of the Big Eight Conference.

No. 5 Sussex Hamilton (18-7) has been one of the stories of the season, but they are coming off an 0-3 week with two losses to Germantown and another to Brookfield East, the two teams ranked right behind them from the Greater Metro. They clinched the conference by the time this game week started, so that softened the blow of the three defeats, but it still pushed them down a couple spots on the Power 25. They were also named at top overall seed in the Oconomowoc Sectional, which shaping up to be one of the toughest brackets in Division 1.

+ No. 2 Arrowhead (17-5): The Warhawks are playing their best baseball of the season right as their regular season ends and the playoffs begin. They earned the No. 2 seed in the Oconomowoc Sectional, but since dropping both games to Mukwonago a couple weeks ago, Arrowhead has won six straight, including victories over Menomonee Falls, Muskego, Whitnall, Sun Prairie West, and WISCO. LHP Tanner Buhlmann (2026; UW-Milwaukee commit) was excellent in his start at Wisconsin Lutheran on Friday, which reflects how he’s been all spring, while backstop PJ Hamel (2025; McHenry County JC) has been heating up offensively, and OF/RHP Cameron Carter (2026; UIC; video below) has been one of the best two-way players in the state this year.

+ No. 4 De Pere (18-3): The Redbirds won both games last week, against Manitowoc Lincoln and Notre Dame Academy, and they move inside the top-five now after those two wins aided by some losses from the teams previously ranked ahead of them. RHP Lucas Koskey (2025; uncommitted) carved in the shutout over Lincoln while seniors Ryan Wettstein and Isaac Poehlmann (Dakota County Tech JC) led the way from the plate in the win over NDA.

+ No. 7 Germantown (17-4): G’town scored three huge wins last week that pushed them to the highest spot on the Power 25 that they’ve been in all spring. A sweep of Hamilton while facing two of their best arms that sandwiched a win over one of the top Division 2 teams in the state, New Berlin Eisenhower, has them trending way up headed into the postseason. They, too, are headed to the Oconomowoc Sectional where they’re the No. 3 seed. RHP Evan Lauer (2025; Bryant & Stratton JC; video below) has been a stellar senior starter in the area this spring and he authored an excellent outing against Hamilton on Friday that started the weekend right. RHP Liam Hagland (2026; uncommitted) followed him up with a strong five innings over Ike that guided them to the win, which preceded a walk-off win shortly after against Hamilton again on a game-winning single delivered by senior Ian DeMichiel. They’ve won eight straight games and they’ll face the winner of Tosa West and Brookfield East on June 5 in regionals.

WELCOME…

+ No. 9 Mukwonago (17-5): Mukwonago has been on the brink of debuting on the Power 25 for the last few weeks, and after a 4-0 week – boosted by a two-game sweep of Arrowhead a few weeks back – the Indians are shoved to No. 9 overall in this week’s update. On this current nine-game winning streak, OF Braeden Vogds (2025; uncommitted) is hitting .500 with a 1.350 OPS while two-way star senior LHP/1B Adam Kudronowicz (2025; Iowa Western JC) leads the team with 15 hits (3 2B) over that same stretch. Junior RHP Ben Jones (uncommitted; video below) has been dominant over this same stretch of time, with only one run allowed in his last 21.1 innings on just nine hits, five walks, and he’s punched out 26 batters.

They’re tied with Arrowhead atop the Classic Eight currently with four quality games left on the calendar, including two against Oconomowoc that will help determine the finish to one of the state’s most competitive conference races.

+ No. 15 Hartford Union (17-6): The Orioles fell off the Power 25 in last week’s update, and it wound up being the lone week this spring they went unranked, as they won all four of their games last week to return to the Power 25, landing at No. 15 overall. Hartford completed its season sweep of Slinger last week as well, which guarantees them a share of the North Shore Conference with Whitefish Bay, at least. Senior 3B/RHP Carter Kutz (2025; Nebraska) steered them to that Slinger win on Thursday, with a complete-game effort on the mound. Junior RHP Ayden Grulke and senior LHP Jack Perkowski (Highland JC) each delivered strong outings against West Bend East and Grafton to end the week, which helped them return to the Power 25. Offensively, 2B Brady Helms (2027) has been one of the team’s brightest spots all spring, and it remained that way again last week.

They’re the top overall seed in the Oshkosh North Sectional that also features Slinger and Beaver Dam as Nos. 2 and 3 seeds.

+ No. 21 Milton (18-7): The Red Hawks came up clutch last week with the Badger-Large Conference on the line and they came out of the other side as conference champs after sweeping a scrappy Watertown side that’s been tough all spring long. In between the Watertown wins, Milton beat Sun Prairie East, 3-2, that really helped them land on the Power 25 for the first time this spring. Junior Easton Agnew singled home the walk-off run in the first game against Watertown that picked up senior LHP Trey Jones (Milwaukee Area Tech JC), who went seven strong again as one of the best pitchers in the conference. Against SPE, RHP Nathan Birkhimer (2025; Milwaukee Area Tech JC) pitched 4.2 quality innings and talented freshman RHP Ben Schultz got the final seven outs cleanly. Then, in game two at Watertown, senior Karson Lueck made it a third straight quality outing for Milton pitching, while the freshman Schultz drove in two runs and junior Charlie Fitzke tallied three hits.

The Red Hawks have a balanced squad with a quality mix of seniors and some gifted prospects at all levels pulling their weight. They’ll be a tough out as the top-ranked seed in the Oregon Sectional, a strong one that also features Mukwonago, Monona Grove, and Badger.

+ No. 24 Monona Grove (18-7): The Silver Eagles spent three weeks near the start of our season as the No. 1 team in the state before the offense sputtered midseason. It cost them the conference, but Monona Grove just put together their best week of the spring since the earlygoing, going 5-0 while allowing just four runs in those five games combined. A big non-conference win over ranked Madison Memorial helped place them back on the top-25, a game that featured a couple key hits from senior backstop Terek Verhage (2025; St. Thomas, MN; video below), who also earned the save. Junior INF/RHP Calvin Moreau (2026; UCF) homered twice last week and also made a couple important appearances from the mound, as did INF/RHP Dom Najacht (2025; St. Mary’s, MN). Our staff still feels like this team has the pieces to make a run all the way through state this spring, and this could be just the start.

ALSO ON THE RISE

+ No. 13 Menomonee Falls (17-6): Falls picked up three conference wins across the week. Monday in a tight win over Marquette University, right-handers Jayden Forbes (2025, Southeastern CC) and Cail Geiger (2026) would combine to shutout the Hilltoppers striking out seven total on just four hits allowed. Falls would go on to sweep Brookfield Central, scoring 21 runs across both games, senior infielder Henry Lynde would lead the offense in a 15-1 victory on Thursday going 2-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs on the day, Logan Vande Zande (2026) would add three hits himself on the day. In Saturday’s extra inning win the Falls would walk-off Central on a base hit by Cade Kosnick (2026) in the bottom of the tenth.

+ No. 18 Muskego (15-8): The Warriors are up four spots after a 4-1 week with a close loss against Oconomowoc on Thursday night. On Monday, in a 4-0 win over Waukesha South, Dylan Jeske (2026) and Jake Kardelis (2026) would combine for the shutout, only allowing one hit between them while striking out seven batters. Thursday’s doubleheader would see the Warriors toss another shutout, this time Tyson Grulkowski (2026, South Florida) and Dean Staudacher (2025, Wabash Valley CC) would combine for 11 strikeouts across seven innings allowing two hits between them. Daniel Hauboldt and Staudacher would provide the production at the plate leading the team in RBIs for the game. The lone loss of the week came down to a double play in the bottom of the seventh inning in game two on a ground ball down the line with runner in scoring position. The Warriors would rebound the next two days picking up wins against Marquette University and Wauwatosa East.

+ No. 19 Whitefish Bay (18-5): The Blue Dukes move up four spots after going 3-1 on the week and now sit tied at the top of the North Shore conference with Hartford Union. Monday, the Blue Dukes would score runs in bunches, doing their damage on offense in the first and fourth innings, junior infielder Matthew Schoenfeldt drove in three, two on an RBI double in the fourth inning. Senior picked up two wins on the mound throughout the week, continuing his standout season, tossing 13 innings on the week, allowing one unearned run while striking out 13 batters. The second win came against conference rival Slinger picking up the win after a complete game shutout.

DROPPED OUT

Because of the amount of losses that piled up inside the top-25 last week, it made for some difficult decisions at the bottom of the board.

D2’s Seymour still looks like, to us, one of the top state contenders this spring and a one-run loss to Shawano spoiled a tremendous run they’ve been on. Meanwhile, D.C. Everest dropped a game to Merrill that pushed them just off the Power 25, but they could replicate the runs SPASH has been accustomed to making to Appleton from inside this same part of the state, where they’re currently the No. 2 seed opposite Hudson. The Southern Lakes Conference was a dogfight this spring, and Waterford Union slipped off the rankings after dropping both games to Burlington, though they still earned a share of the conference crown with Badger, which is on the bubble themselves. The Wolverines are a D2 contender too, though they’re inside one of the toughest sectionals in the division.

And then there’s Slinger, a program that had been on the Power 25 since the preseason. The Owls are one of the last teams you’d want to see in the Oshkosh North Sectional, but they’ll be unhappy with the way they closed the regular season – though a win over West Bend West today would at least earn them a share of the North Shore with Hartford and Whitefish Bay.

+ D.C. Everest (20-4)
+ Seymour (20-3)
+ Slinger (18-5)
+ Waterford Union (17-8)

ON THE BUBBLE

+ Appleton East (14-7)
+ Appleton North (14-6)
+ Badger (17-6)
+ Beaver Dam (15-6)
+ Beloit Turner (19-3)
+ Campbellsport (17-7)
+ Cedar Grove-Belgium (17-3)
+ Chilton (15-6)
+ Chippewa Falls (16-7-1)
+ Fennimore (19-2)
+ Franklin (18-5)
+ Jefferson (18-6)
+ Kettle Moraine Lutheran (19-5)
+ Kewaskum (20-5)
+ La Crosse Aquinas (18-3)
+ Mayville (18-4)
+ Pacelli (20-4)
+ Reedsburg Area (18-4)
+ Seneca (20-2)
+ Watertown (13-10)
+ Wittenberg-Birnamwood (21-2)