By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
Who’s No. 1 in California? The state arguably has some of the finest baseball talent in the country, but trying to figure out which team is the best in the Golden State can be a difficult task. Here’s a look at some of the top teams in California through the month of April, along with some of the other top programs in the West.
California
It’s been a topsy-turvy season in California where close to half a dozen teams have found their way to the top of the state rankings or found their way into the national spotlight. Long Beach Wilson started out the season as the top-ranked team in the country, but that ended when the Bruins lost in the second game of the season to Katella at the Loara tournament. In the past week alone, Wilson has lost to West Torrance and Lakewood to slip to 18-5-1 on the season.
Crespi stepped into the spotlight with a first place finish at the Anderson Bat National Classic in late March with wins over Orange Lutheran, St. John’s College of Washington DC and Jupiter, Florida. However the Celts hit a rough spot earlier last week with a loss to Loyola and a loss to Thousand Oaks.
In Northern California, Valley Christian of San Jose got off to a great start with an 18-2 record, which was enough to put the Warriors at the top of the Cal-Hi Sports state ratings. But a 16-1 loss to league rival Serra dropped Valley Christian from the top spot. The Warriors also lost to De La Salle on Saturday, 4-3, to drop to 20-4 on the season.
That left the door open for Orange Lutheran, which started out the season as one of the top teams in the nation by Baseball America, but dropped an early game to Esperanza and then fell to Crespi at the Anderson Bat tournament. However five straight wins against Trinity League competition put the Lancers at 17-2 on the season heading into Saturday’s game against Servite. After beating Servite earlier in the week, the Lancers managed just three hits off of the Friars and fell 11-0. The Lancers have the state’s top prospect in Gerrit Cole, who is 5-1 on the mound with 72 strikeouts while batting .333 with six home runs.
Orange Lutheran had moved all the way to No. 7 in the latest Baseball American national rankings while Valley Christian (No. 9), Wilson (No. 10) and Vista Murrieta (No. 13) were other California teams ranked among the nation’s best. Ironically, Vista Murrieta is ranked No. 13 in the nation by Baseball America, yet ranked No. 5 in the Southern Section Division 2 poll.
The next logical choice for the top team in the state of California, then, would be Poway, which was ranked No. 2 in the state last week by Cal-Hi Sports. One problem, the Titans lost to Rancho Bernardo on Wednesday of last week, although they did manage to win the two other games in the three-game set.
That would seemingly make way for Serra of San Mateo to move into the No. 1 spot. It would make sense since the Padres moved up to No. 3 in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings last week following the big win over Valley Christian. However the Padres promptly lost to St. Ignatius, 12-7, just four days after whipping Valley Christian.
With all of the top teams thus absorbing at least one loss last week, look for Orange Lutheran to remain at the top of the rankings.
Idaho
In 2007, Lewiston, Minico, Kimberly and Orofino all finished second in the Idaho state baseball tournament. After the first month of the season, all four teams appear headed back to the finals with the possibility of capturing the crown that eluded them last year.
Lewiston is unbeaten in 5A play and is regarded, along with Boise, as the top team in the division. Included in Lewiston’s most recent wins was a doubleheader sweep of Lake City, last year’s 5A champions. Lewiston has scored 10 or more runs in seven of its 11 wins this year.
Minico, meanwhile, has run off 13 straight wins since starting the season 1-1 with a split against Madison. Minico was a runnerup to Columbia last year, however the defending champions are a reported 12-6 on the season. Minico’s top threat could be Bishop Kelly, which is 15-4 after a two-game sweep of Middleton this week.
Kimberly got off to a strong start, but has hit some bumps in the schedule this past week. After splitting a twinbill with Buhl on Tuesday, Kimberly lost both ends of a doubleheader to Jerome on Friday. Nevertheless, Kimberly still ranks among the top teams in the 3A division with a 14-6 overall record.
Finally, Orofino has been on a roll since falling to Timberlake 1-0 on March 22. Since then, Orofino has won seven straight games to push its record to 11-1. A runnerup to Grangeville last year, the Maniacs face the Bulldogs in a doubleheader on April 25.
Colorado
The defending state 5A champion Rocky Mountain Lobos are back at the top of the state rankings, compiled by the Denver Post, as they hold a 12-2 overall record and a 4-0 mark in the Front Range Conference.
The Lobos have won eight in a row since falling to Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, one of the nation’s top baseball programs. Rocky Mountain also fell to Hamilton, 9-1, in the same tournament back on March 19. Since the loss, the Lobos have averaged just under 13 runs a game while posting four shutouts. Alex Kelly leads the Lobo offense, batting .487 with 19 RBI and four home runs.
Last year’s 4A runnerup, Thomas Jefferson, holds the top spot in the 4A rankings. The Spartans lost their first game of the season to Cherry Creek, 5-4, but have won their last 12 in a row, including a 14-4 win over George Washington on Friday. Kian Jost and Brett Nathan have lit up opposing pitchers with Jost batting .542 and Nathan hitting at a .537 clip. Both players have 26 RBI and seven doubles with Nathan ripping four home runs and Jost adding three.
Utah
Defending state champions have had a rough go of late in Utah, where 5A champion Jordan and 4A champ Cottonwood have gotten off to slow starts.
Jordan began the season with three straight wins, but has gone just 1-4 in its last five games. The Beetdiggers were swept in a two-game series by Alta two weeks ago. They then went 1-2 against Brighton last week, including a 14-4 loss on Friday.
Meanwhile Cottonwood, which has won the last two 4A championships and three overall state titles in a row, is 4-2 on the season with a loss to Spanish Fork and a lost to Cyprus. Both of those losses came back in the first two games of the season, however, and the Colts have won four in a row since including blowout wins over West (11-0), Highland (13-0) and East (10-0).
Spanish Fork (10-1), Timpanogos (11-1) and Alta (8-0) all figure to challenge for the 5A title. Spanish Fork’s only loss is to 6-1 Viewmont while Timpanogos lost to Vista of California. All three teams know what it’s like to win a state title. Timpanogos won the state 4A crown three times between 2002 and 2005 before moving up to the 5A level. Spanish Fork won the 5A title in 2006 and Alta was the champion in 2004.
Nevada
Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas retained its spot at No. 4 in the Baseball America national rankings earlier this week. At 28-1, the Gaels are behind No.1 Tupelo, No. 2 American Heritage, and No. 3 Sarasota.
Bishop Gorman’s only loss is an 8-7 defeat at the hands of Newbury Park in the finals of the Bishop Gorman Easter Tournament. The Gaels are averaging 13 runs per game and have an incredible .436 team batting average with 42 home runs on the season. Brandon Garcia and John Rickard each had eight home runs while Joey Rickard has seven and Jeff Malm six. The pitching has also been superb with Donn Roach, Joey Rickard and Stephen Manthei all sporting perfect 6-0 records.
Among the impressive wins on the Gaels’ resume include an 11-0 win over Brophy College Prep of Arizona, 8-0 over Rocky Mountain of Colorado, 6-0 and 5-1 over American Fork of Utah and 12-2 over Southridge of Florida.
Washington
Returning Class 4A finalists Richland and Snohomish have plenty of company in the Class 4A rankings by the Washington State high school baseball coaches. The top eight teams in the rankings have only one loss each. Defending champion Richland tops the poll with an 8-1 mark, but Puyallup and Redmond are tied with the best record, as of April 14, at 12-1. Snohomish, last year’s runnerup, is 11-1 while Jackson of Mill Creek is 10-1, Kentlake is 11-1 and Mead and Prairie are both 10-1.
Richland is actually tied with Pasco in the CBL 4A standings at 3-1. Pasco is a story in itself. After going 0-20 two years ago, the Bulldogs are in first place with the defending state champions.
Snohomish won its first nine games of the season before falling in 4-3 to Mariner. After pushing its record to 13-1, Snohomish fell to Stanwood on Friday.
Puyallup could give the defending champions their best challenge. Since losing to Olympia 7-3 in the third game of the season, Puyallup has won 13 in a row, including three wins last week.
Oregon
It’s not like North Medford senior pitcher Andrew Jones didn’t warn everybody.
Last year, following the Black Tornadoes’ 3-2 win over Westview in the Oregon 6A state championship game, Jones predicted a bright future for North Medford.
“We’re going to rock it next year,” Jones told the Portland Oregonian.
So far, Jones’ prediction has been dead-on. The Black Tornadoes are 14-0 and are ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 6A.
Jones has had a major part in that strong start. After going 9-0 as a junior and earning all-state honors, Jones is 5-0 on the season following an 11-1 win over Grants Pass last week. The Black Tornado have also received solid mound work from sophomore Matt Maurer. The winner in last year’s state championship game as a freshman, Maurer is 4-0 on the season. North Medford had a crucial conference doubleheader matchup with Roseburg on Saturday.
Hawaii
The Punahou Buffanblu were expected to be the top team in Hawaii this year with a number of returning all-state players from last year’s championship team. However Saint Louis has posted three wins over Punahou this season and risen to the top of the Hawaii state rankings by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
The Crusaders are 16-1 on the year, including wins of 7-3, 10-8 and 10-8 over Punahou, which dropped to 8-5-1. Saint Louis also edged Mid-Pacific Institute 3-1 on April 15 in the final game of the regular season heading into the playoffs. MPI is 13-2 on the season with the only losses coming against Saint Louis.
MPI coach Dunn Muramura recorded a milestone win two weeks ago in a 3-2 win over Punahou. The long-time coach recorded his 400th career win at MPI.
