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Four Janesville players get All-Big Eight first-team baseball honors

JANESVILLE — Driven to succeed.

That’s the formula that helped Ben Yaucher become Player of the Year in Big Eight baseball.

Thanks to a stellar work ethic that included countless hours in his backyard batting cage, the Janesville Craig High School senior outfielder heads the list of all-conference selections announced Wednesday.

Yaucher is joined on the first team by senior teammate Trevor Foss at pitcher, as well as senior Kaleb Eichman at catcher. Janesville Parker senior Matt Beyer has moved up from the second team to the first team as an outfielder.

In repeating as a first-team selection, Yaucher put together an impressive season in right field. He batted .467 with 35 hits, including nine doubles, and he had an on-base percentage of .535 and a slugging percentage of .587.

The Iowa Western College recruit said baseball consumed him, at times.

“I’ve always had a passion for baseball,” Yaucher said. “The last three years, I spent a lot of time taking swings in the batting cage in my backyard. And two or three times a week, I played soft toss with my little brother.

“This year, I went into the season thinking I needed to be a good team leader and set a good example by working hard and staying positive.”

No one got a closer look at Yaucher’s contributions than Craig coach Victor Herbst. He thinks Yaucher is one of the better all-around players to come through this baseball-rich city.

“Ben’s a kid that has earned everything’s he’s gotten,” Herbst said. “He does everything the correct way, and is a well-rounded person, both academically and athletically.

“His best baseball is ahead of him because he will do everything it takes to be successful.”

Thanks to a strong right arm, Foss helped Craig finish the season with a flourish. He had a 5-1 record and a 2.15 ERA, along with a whopping 76 strikeouts in only 55 innings.

“When Trevor was in a zone, he was as tough to hit as anybody,” Herbst said. “He had great velocity on his fastball, and his breaking pitch was a hammer.”

Eichman was a rock behind the plate. He batted .415 as the cleanup hitter, and was second on the team with 16 RBIs.

Defensively, Eichman blocked everything, and it was nearly impossible to steal off him.

“I said coming into the year that it was going to be nice to have the best catcher in the league on our team,” Herbst said. “With the kind of year Kaleb had for us, I would say he proved that he was.

“He called pretty much every pitch for us, and he saved us a lot of runs with his glove and his arm.”

Beyer came on strong the second half of the season. The senior hit .364 in the Big Eight and .388 overall. He scored 24 runs and was 10-for-10 on stolen bases.

“Matt’s play, especially in our tournament run, was as good as anyone around,” Parker coach Brian Martin said. “He created a lot of runs for us on the bases with his speed, and he saved a lot of runs for us in the outfield with his speed.

“As of right now, Matt is planning on trying out for baseball at UW-Whitewater next year. He’s got enough talent to help that program, and I think he will.”

Meanwhile, Janesville has two players who were named to the All-Big Eight second team. The include Craig junior first baseman Dylan Grall, who led the Cougars in RBIs with 19, and Parker senior B.J. Scharenbroch as a utility player.

Craig’s Zach Bayreuther, along with Parker’s Garrett Morris and Alex Koel, have received honorable mention.

ALL-BIG EIGHT BASEBALL

FIRST TEAM

1B—Spencer Lorrig, Memorial, sr.

2B—Evan Mascitti, West, sr.

SS—Shane Adler, Middleton, soph.

3B—Brooks Braga, Middleton, jr.

OF—Ben Yaucher, Craig, sr.

OF—Jake Murray, Memorial, sr.

OF—Matt Beyer, Parker, sr.

P—Trevor Foss, Craig, sr.

P— Nick Cyganek, Memorial, sr.

C—Kaleb Eichman, Craig, sr.

DH—Kyle Annen, West, sr.

Utility—Kyle Schmidt, La Follete, sr.

SECOND TEAM

1B—Dylan Grall, Craig, jr.

2B—Casey Trass, Memorial, sr.

SS—Michael Handel, Sun Prairie, soph.

3B—Danny Amundson, East, sr.

OF—Jake Zadra, La Follette, jr.

OF—Derek Layton, Middleton, jr.

OF—Nate Wright, Middleton, sr.

P—Joe Heise, Middleton, sr.

P—Brandon Lenz, Sun Prairie, sr.

C—Patrick Ritchie, Memorial, jr.

DH—Kevin Drunasky, Middleton, jr.

Utility—B.J. Scharenbroch, Parker, sr.

Player of the Year—Ben Yaucher, Craig.

HONORABLE MENTION

Janesville Craig—Zach Bayreuther, ss, jr. Janesville Parker—Garrett Morris, p, sr.; Alex Koel, of, jr. Beloit Memoial—Max Mauel, p, sr.; Corbin Lawver, c., sr.; Brandon Marshall, of, sr. Madison East—Sam Topping, p, sr.; Jake Page, c, jr.; Josh Holmes, 2B, sr.; Ryan Reuter, ss, sr.; Al Mayne, of, sr. Madison La Follette—Mitchell Dunse, c, sr.; Tony Ales, 1B, jr.

Madison Memorial—Dave Schneider, p, jr.; Zach Kreisler, ss, sr.; Craig Czuprynski, of, sr. Madison West—Evan Mascitti, 2B, sr.; Chet Lubarsky, of, jr.; Josh Minkoff, utility, jr. Sun Prairie—Cody Playter, c, sr.; Matt John skln, 2B, sr.

FINAL STANDINGS

Madison Memorial, 12-4; Middleton, 12-4; Janesville Craig, 9-7; Madison East, 8-8; Madison La Follette, 8-8; Beloit Memorial, 7-9; Janesville Parker, 6-10; Sun Prairie, 6-10; Madison West, 4-12.