WHITEFISH BAY, Wis. — The Whitefish Bay baseball team might be the best Wisconsin high school squad in several years.
The team boasts five Division One college commitments and the son of Brewers manager Craig Counsell.
"It's kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity," Jay Wojcinski says. "It's no big secret that the kids can play a little bit and the programs that they're going to in college and stuff like that kind of speaks for their talent."
"To have five D-1 commits, and then another dude going D-3? It's kind of crazy," JD Dix says. "You have the peers kind of lead you the way and that's what you kind of want to strive to be when you're older."
Dix is one of those five potential D-1 players. He is a sophomore shortstop committed to Alabama.
"I try to keep my head kind of small," Dix says. "Keep grinding. Keep that everyday, wake up every morning not thinking that I'm too big,too special, and keep thinking man, that you gotta get somewhere someday. You got these big league dreams and you just gotta keep going."
"He's the real deal," Wojcinski says. "He really is. He does things out there now as a sophomore that you don't see a lot of seniors doing."
"It's a lot of fun first off, just to play all like my teammates from Hitters and just like the younger guys from Hitters. Then also my town friends to be honest," Louisville commit Michael Lippe says.
While another D-1 commit is Jack Counsell, the Michigan bound son of Brewers manager Craig, whose name and number is in left center field.
TMJ4's Lance Allan asked Jack what it is like when he looks out and sees his dad's name on the wall.
"You know, I feel like it's playing with a bit of a chip on your shoulder, but I mean, it's awesome knowing that he played here too and hopefully I can just carry on his legacy," Jack says. "It's never something he really pushed upon me. But all of us have felt that it's kind of in the name and we all love the game so much, so I'd say it's part of the family business."
Now the mission? Take the title.
"The goal is to win state, no question," Michigan recruit Mitch Voit says. "We believe we can do it. We just gotta keep everything we got going and stay hot."
"I do think we should go pretty far," Milwaukee Panthers recruit D.J. Kojis says. "I think that it isn't a secret that we have a bunch of talent. We're just hoping to keep each other accountable and make it as far as we can."
"I just say keep watching, because we're nowhere close to done yet," Jack says.
The proof for the Blue Dukes is the state tournament, which will be held June 14-16.
