Creighton Prep's upcoming baseball showdown with Omaha Westside features Cornhusker State's two most dominant baseball programs over the past decade.
Video: Outfielder takes on fence for catch of the year candidate
See this New Jersey play channel his inner Jim Edmonds with a diving catch at the fence.
Just as the Nebraska high school baseball season was hitting its stride, MaxPreps was hard at work thumbing through the Cornhusker State's baseball schedules in order to come up with a list of the top baseball games still to be played in April and early May.
We scoured through state rankings, last year's All-State teams, our statistics database and the history of many of Nebraska's baseball programs in order to come up with this list. Unfortunately some very good matchups had to be left out, including Creighton Prep's battle with Kansas City (Mo.) power Rockhurst, who comes to Omaha on April 17.
Still, the 10 games we came up with are sure to entertain Cornhusker State baseball fans whether two cross-town rivals are playing for bragging rights or two of the state's top players from two different teams are scheduled to set foot on the same field at the same field.
Records used for this post take into consideration games played on or before Wednesday and the rankings were pulled from MaxPreps computer rankings, which were updated Tuesday.
Nebraska's Top 10 regular season baseball games
1. Class A No. 3 Creighton Prep (Omaha) (7-3) @ Class A No. 5 Omaha Westside (10-3) May 1With six state titles and nine championship game appearances between them, the Junior Jays and Westside are the top two most dominant baseball programs in Nebraska over the past decade.
2. Class A No. 2 Millard South (Omaha) (11-1) @ Class A No. 1 Millard West (Omaha) (8-2) April 24You can't go wrong here. Two huge rivals with No. 2 traveling to No. 1.
3. Class A No. 3 Creighton Prep (7-3) @ Class A No. 1 Millard West (8-2) April 10A year ago, Creighton Prep bumped Millard West 13-8 to secure the Nebraska big school state championship. In 2016-17, the Wildcats appear to be the team to beat at least according to MaxPreps' Class A computer rankings.
4. Class A No. 7 Lincoln Southwest (6-4) @ Class A No. 8 Grand Island (8-2) April 27Lincoln Southwest fell just short of the Class A state championship game a year ago, falling to runner-up Millard West 6-4. Grand Island bowed out at the hands of Southwest (8-4) last spring. Both of these clubs are looking to build some momentum just before the playoffs, and a win over the other in late April would be a great start for that.
5. Class A No. 10 Millard North (Omaha) (6-5) @ Class A No. 9 Bellevue West (9-3) April 25Millard North does scoring runs very well with
Derek Botaletto (17),
Aaron Gerdes (15) and
Noah Sacco (14) all listed in the top six of MaxPreps' runs scored database. But hold on. Bellevue West is loaded with great pitching.
Cam Taylor (37) and
Cale Hlavac (27) have combined for 64 strikeouts to this point in the season.
6. Class B No. 2 Norris (Firth) (8-2) @ Class B No. 3 Elkhorn South (Omaha) (10-3) April 17If you choose to attend this matchup of ranked teams, Norris'
Austin Schultz and
Carson Pilkington of Elkhorn South are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Both have put up some huge offensive numbers this spring. Schultz is in the top five of every offensive statistical category in MaxPreps' database, while Pilkington is hitting .442, has a couple of home runs, leads Nebraska with 17 RBIs and has scored 15 times himself, trailing only Schultz's 16 runs scored.
7. Class B No. 9 Concordia/Brownell/Omaha Christian Academy (Omaha.) (5-2) @ Class A No. 4 Burke (Omaha) (8-3) April 29Both of these clubs are solid at the plate and on the mound. A great matchup just before district play begins.
8. Class A No. 13 Papillion-LaVista (Papillion) (8-4) @ Class B No. 1 Pius X (Lincoln) (11-0) April 12After a 6-1 start to the season Papillion-LaVista lost three times a week ago - once to Elkhorn South and twice to Lincoln Southwest. But the Monarchs appear to have righted the ship just in time to face the state's top team. Pius X is the only team in Nebraska to remain unbeaten.
9. Class B No. 4 Seward (5-2) @ Class B No. 5 Skutt Catholic (Omaha) (7-3) April 21This matchup will pit two outstanding Class B squads that are ranked in the top five. But only one of them will come away with a huge win here.
10. Class B No. 6 Roncalli Catholic (Omaha) (4-4) @ Class B No. 8 Elkhorn (7-5) April 20Roncalli hits .347 as a team and lists three batters in the top eight in MaxPreps' batting average database. Elkhorn, meanwhile, will rely on a Top 5 pitching staff to shut down the Crimson Pride.
