A new No. 1 emerges in the Buchanan Bears of Fresno. Central Section teams are ranked here because they are regularly placed in CIF Northern California Regional playoffs.
De La Salle and California are No. 2 and 3, followed by rivals Valley Christian and Mitty.
NorCal Top 20 high school baseball rankings
1. Buchanan (Clovis)
Record: 7-2 |
Last week: 2
Update: The Bears have played teams in Northern and Southern California, including a 3-0 effort over Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo and 1-0 over Dana Hills of Dana Point behind arms Jayden Mandel, Sam Tookoian and Austin Watson. An early big win was 3-2 over De La Salle.
2. De La Salle (Concord)
Record: 7-1 |
Last week: 3
Update: The Spartans inch up to No. 2 with a nice body of work that includes a 6-5 win at then-No. 1 Elk Grove, a 13-4 win over Folsom and 6-2 over St. Mary's of Stockton.
Tanner Griffith had two home runs last week. The loss was 3-2 to Buchanan.
3. California (San Ramon.)
Record: 10-0 |
Last week: 4
Update: The Grizzlies beat Washington of Fremont 8-2 and Oakmont of Roseville 8-2 behind slugger
Brady Wetzel, and
Nic Bronzini struck out 10 in less than 5 innings of work against Oakmont.
4. Valley Christian (San Jose)
Record: 7-2 |
Last week: 6
Update: The Warriors avenged a nonleague loss to league rival Mitty with a 13-8 win over the Monarchs behind two RBI each from
Jaden Bitter,
Michael Castaneda,
Hunter Fujimoto and
Jacob Hudson.
Buchanan has risen to No. 1 in the NorCal Top 20 baseball rankings after wins over NorCal and SoCal powers.
Photo by Heston Quan
Record: 6-1 |
Last week: 5
Update: The Monarchs lost a West Coast Athletic League contest to rival Valley Christian 13-8, followed by a 10-5 win over Serra.
Matteo Blandino had a big week at the plate.
6. Clayton Valley Charter (Concord,)
Record: 6-1 |
Last Week: 1
Update: The Ugly Eagles rolled Benicia 10-0 as
Jordan Bolden struck out six in four innings before falling 5-4 to the same Panthers team. Earlier wins are over Buchanan and Cardinal Newman.
7. Elk Grove
Record: 5-2 |
Last week: 7
Update: Top-ranked by The Sacramento Bee with no Sacramento-area losses, the Thundering Herd swept rival Pleasant Grove in Delta League action behind pitcher
Andrew Hutcheson and
Korey Williams, who had a 4-for-4 days.
8. Stockdale (Bakersfield)
Record: 9-0 |
Last week: 8
Update: The Mustangs were again led by
Austin Charles, who drove in runs at the plate and denied them as a pitcher in a 5-4 extra-innings win over Frontier of Bakersfield.
9. McClatchy (Sacramento)
Record: 9-0 |
Last week: 9
Update: The Lions roar and roll on behind leaders Malcolm Moore, a Major League Baseball prospect,
Leo Taormina,
Gabe Henderson and
Alex Hocking.
10. Palo Alto
Record: 9-1 |
Last week: 10
Update: The Vikings went 3-0 behind senior star
Henry Bolte, who makes big catches, hammers home runs and more. He homered in a 5-0 win over Homestead of Cupertino.
Danny Peters and
Sam Papp have pitched well. The loss was to highly ranked Valley Christian in the Mike Hazlett Tournament.
11. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa)
Record: 6-1 |
Last week: 12
Update: The Cardinals beat Heritage of Brentwood 8-4 as
Gavin Rognlien homered, followed by a 3-2 win over Rocklin as
Nate Phelps had four hits. The loss was 6-0 to Clayton Valley Charter with a win over Buchanan.
12. Bullard (Fresno)
Record: 7-2 |
Last week: 11
Update: The Knights beat Frontier of Bakersfield 10-2 as Logan Judd drove in two and Hudson Barrett struck out four in three innings.
13. Woodcreek (Roseville)
Record: 6-1 |
Last week: 13
Update: The Timberwolves swept Yuba City to open Capital Valley Conference play, 6-0 10-3 and 10-0 before beating Folsom 6-1 in nonleague action.
Conner Barth drove in five in the 10-0 win as
Noah Madsen struck out six. The loss was 7-3 to Rocklin in a season opener.
14. Clovis West (Fresno)
Record: 7-2 |
Last Week: NR
Update: The Eagles have losses of 2-1 to Liberty of Bakersfield and 3-1 to Bullard of Fresno and a lot of good wins otherwise, including 9-2 over Memorial of Fresno as
Cayden Munster drove in three and
Jacob Haros two.
15. Granite Bay
Record: 3-3 |
Last week: 15
Update: The Grizzlies have been led at the plate by
Avery Isola,
Brett Ott,
Preston Fondren and
Kyle Jones. The losses are to highly ranked Elk Grove 3-1, Woodcreek 4-2 and Palo Alto 6-0, and there's a 7-6 win over Franklin of Elk Grove.
16. Willow Glen (San Jose)
Record: 8-0-1 |
Last week: 16
Update: The Rams beat Oak Grove 9-0 and Del Mar of San Jose 13-0 as pitchers
Chase Ostrowski struck out five in the first game and
Jacob Torres five in the second.
Jonas Primrose struck out all three batters he faced in the second game.
17. Saint Francis (Mountain View)
Record: 7-2 |
Last week: 18
Update: The Lancers beat Sacred Heart Prep of San Francisco in WCAL action 1-0 after beating Serra of San Mateo 1-0 behind pitchers
Jack Surdey and
Ned Righellis. The loss last week was 5-0 to De La Salle.
Record: 7-1-1 |
Last week: 28
Update: The first loss of the season was a tense one, 1-0 to rival Saint Francis in WCAL action, spoiling a superb 9-strikeout effort by
Cristian Padilla.
19. Heritage (Brentwood)
Record: 5-3 |
Last week: 20
Update: The big win last week was 2-0 over San Ramon Valley as Jaron Nevarez struck out four, before an 8-4 setback to Cardinal Newman.
20. San Ramon Valley (Danville)
Record: 8-2 |
Last week: 21
Update: The Wolves are a threat in the East Bay League and won last week's games 6-3 over Livermore, 11-3 over Dublin and 8-3 over Amador Valley.
Nick Putnam drove in three against AV.
The next 1021.
Foothill (Pleasanton), 8-1
22.
Franklin (Elk Grove), 6-3
23.
Wilcox (Santa Clara), 7-4
24.
Mountain View, 6-3
25.
Casa Grande (Petaluma), 7-2
26.
Pleasant Valley (Chico), 8-0
27.
Leigh (San Jose), 7-2
28.
Pittsburg, 9-1
29.
Serra (San Mateo), 7-4
30.
College Park (Pleasant Hill), 4-4
Joe Davidson has covered high school sports in Northern California since 1984, including since 1988 at The Sacramento Bee.
