With district baseball beginning in Nebraska this weekend, we dove into our Nebraska baseball rankings and sifted through the strength of schedule data to determine which Cornhusker State clubs competed against the toughest baseball schedules this season. As usual it was tight. Seven programs are within two MaxPreps strength of schedule points of each other.
We also discovered that some of the state's top teams played the toughest schedules. Eight of Nebraska's Top 15 squads landed in this week's Top 10. Elkhorn South and Millard South, two of the state's top five clubs, grabbed the top two spots with the Storm edging the Patriots by one-tenth of a point, 10.8-10.7, in strength of schedule.
Millard West owns a 10.0 MaxPreps strength of schedule ranking and sits in at No. 3 while Millard North and Omaha Creighton Prep round out the top five with 9.7 and 9.6 strength of schedule rankings respectively.
The Storm also played the top schedule among members of this week's Top 10 when it comes to combined opponent winning percentage. Elkhorn South's opposition put together a 420-246 record collectively, which calculates to a .631 winning percentage. Millard South (.602) and Millard North (.602) were the top challengers to the Storm in that category.
Bellevue West and Papillion-LaVista South actually tied for the No. 10 spot this week. Thunderbird opposition did put together a better collective winning percentage. Both clubs, however, were included in this week's Top 10.
Every member of this week's Top 10 resides in Class A, but that doesn't mean Class B baseball programs didn't play tough schedules in 2021-22. With a slate that owned a 6.8 strength of schedule, Elkhorn played the toughest schedule in Nebraska's second largest classification while Elkhorn North competed against the second toughest schedule with a 6.5 strength of schedule ranking.
As you browse through this week's Top 10, listed next to each team is its won-loss record in parentheses, its opposition's combined won-loss record and the school's MaxPreps strength of schedule rating. On the second line, of course, is each team's MaxPreps Nebraska ranking as of Tuesday.
Austin Hoff, Elkhorn South
Photo by Nathanial George
Ranked No. 5 in Nebraska
2. Millard South (Omaha) (21-8) | 456-302 | 10.7 Ranked No. 4 in Nebraska
3. Millard West (Omaha) (24-5) | 418-318 | 10.0 Ranked No. 1 in Nebraska
4. Millard North (Omaha) (11-16) | 424-280 | 9.7 Ranked No. 23 in Nebraska
5. Creighton Prep (Omaha) (25-5) | 433-348 | 9.6 Ranked No. 2 in Nebraska
6. Gretna (16-12) | 434-292 | 9.1 Ranked No. 12 in Nebraska
7. Omaha Westside (Omaha) (17-13) | 449-337 | 9.0 Ranked No. 11 in Nebraska
8. Lincoln Southwest (Lincoln) (14-13) | 390-276 | 8.7 Ranked No. 18 in Nebraska
9. Papillion-LaVista (Papillion) (9-17) | 387-301 | 8.1 Ranked No. 31 in Nebraska
10. (tie) Bellevue West (Bellevue) (16-11) | 392-305 | 7.4 Ranked No. 14 in Nebraska
10. (tie) Papillion-LaVista South (Papillion) (15-11) | 367-313 | 7.4 Ranked No. 15 in Nebraska
