New Baseball State Top 20

One of the top players for new No. 1 St. Francis of Mountain View is outfielder Kort Peterson.

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By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Paul Muyskens

(After games of Tuesday, March 19; previous ranking in parentheses)

1. (3) St. Francis (Mountain View) 12-0
Coach Mike Oakland was able to work five pitchers during Tuesday’s 6-1 victory over St. Ignatius of San Francisco. There’s a good reason why he may have wanted to save some innings and that’s because on Friday the Lancers will play Serra of San Mateo in a battle between two of the top teams in Northern California. Offensively, Chris Baker led the way against SI with two hits and two RBIs. St. Francis’ rise to No. 1 in the state also was paved with a win last Friday over Archbishop Mitty of San Jose.

2. (2) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 9-1
We will keep the Wolverines in the second spot after their split of two games last week with league rival Loyola of Los Angeles. They bounced back after the one loss with a win over Buckley of Sherman Oaks and on Tuesday they topped Crespi of Encino 5-1.

3. (8) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 4-1
Moving to 3-0 in the Trinity League, the Monarchs defeated St. John Bosco of Bellflower 4-1 in a game played on Monday. Mater Dei has moved up to No. 1 in both the L.A. Times and Orange Country Register rankings.

4. (20) Granite Hills (El Cajon) 6-1
Wins last week over previous state No. 1 Cathedral Catholic and previous No. 4 Rancho Bernardo have lifted the Eagles to No. 1 in San Diego and all the way up to No. 4 in the state. Their only loss was to Rancho Bernardo and that one has now been avenged with a 1-0 win in the final of Hilltop/Lolita’s tourney. Trenton Brooks (four innings) and Daniel Vasquez (three innings) combined for a no-hitter. The 4-0 win over Cathedral Catholic was followed by two more shutouts for four in a row. The streak ended with a 2-1 win early this week over Santana of Santee.

5. (1) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 6-1
After the loss last week to Granite Hills, the Dons have put it quickly behind them so far this week. They already have wins of 9-1 over Mission Bay of San Diego and 4-2 over University City.

6. (11) Buchanan (Clovis) 11-0-1
The Bears won a showdown game last week over Central of Fresno and already this week have put a 20-1 pounding on Clovis East. Jeremy Vollberg had a double and triple in that game while Colton Worthington hit a home run and Colin Winn went 3-for-3.

7. (19) Canyon (Anaheim) 6-0
A 1-0 win already this week over Esperanza of Anaheim keeps the Comanches unbeaten. That game went to eight innings and featured a complete game from Austin McGeorge (no walks, nine strikeouts) and a game-winning RBI single by Cole Garcia. Canyon’s big win last week over previous No. 7 Fountain Valley also contributed to the team’s huge bump in this week’s rankings.

8. (4) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 6-1
The Broncos don’t drop too far following last week’s loss to Granite Hills because they have an earlier win over that same team. They also had wins last week over El Capitan and Rancho Buena Vista and already have a 7-0 win this week against Del Norte of Poway.

9. (7) Fountain Valley 7-1
The Barons are still among the state top 10 despite a loss last week to Canyon of Anaheim. That’s because Canyon has climbed higher and is still unbeaten plus Fountain Valley still has strong wins over Cypress and El Toro.

10. (5) Elk Grove 5-1
A loss to Campolindo of Moraga (which for the preseason was ranked among the top five in the state) drops the Thundering Herd five positions in this week’s rankings. They rebounded to beat Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills 6-5 this week and still have big wins on their ledger against Valley Christian of San Jose and St. Mary’s of Stockton.

11. (9) Serra (San Mateo) 9-2
If the Padres had won their game Tuesday against Archbishop Mitty instead of losing 2-1, they’d be 10-1 and would have been No. 5 or No. 6 in the state heading into Friday’s showdown with No. 1 St. Francis of Mountain View. They still notched a quality win last week over Valley Christian of San Jose, which is why the loss Tuesday didn’t drop them too far in the rankings.

12. (12) Chaminade (West Hills) 7-1
The Eagles posted a 2-0 shutout on Tuesday over Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks behind senior Kevin Lewallyn, who tossed a three-hitter and struck out nine. Their only loss remains the one to No. 2 Harvard-Westlake.

13. (10) Cypress 7-2
The Centurions split a pair of games last week with JSerra of San Juan Capistrano. They are still highly ranked by both the L.A. Times and Orange County Register.

14. (14) Central (Fresno) 10-2
We can’t really drop the Grizzlies at all for losing a 1-0 game to Buchanan, which hasn’t lost yet this season and is now up to No. 6 in the state. Central also has won a significant game early this week with an 8-6 triumph over Clovis West.

15. (18) De La Salle (Concord) 3-2
The Spartans headed over to Stockton on Saturday and racked up a 10-0 win against three-time defending Sac-Joaquin Section champ St. Mary’s. A.J. Puckett struck out four in throwing a five-inning no-hitter. DLS also has a win over Campolindo with losses to higher-ranked St. Francis and Serra.

16. (NR) San Dieguito (Encinitas) 7-0
The Mustangs are climbing in the San Diego Section rankings. We even have them higher than St. Augustine (which is 8-0) because one of their wins is against Great Oak of Temecula, a CIF Southern Section team that is 6-1 (only loss to San Dieguito) and moved up to No. 7 in this week’s L.A. Times’ top 25.

17. (NR) Valencia 6-1
Wins last week over Golden Valley of Santa Clarita and West Ranch of Valencia pushes the Vikings up into the state top 20. Their only loss came in a 1-0 game to No. 2 Harvard-Westlake and another win that sticks out came against defending L.A. City Section champ El Camino Real.

18. (NR) Granada (Livermore) 6-0
Another East Bay team to watch along with De La Salle and Campolindo may be the Matadors. They have three shutouts among their six wins, with one coming against perennial East Bay power James Logan. Granada also has an impressive 20-1 romp from last week over Enochs of Modesto.

19. (NR) West (Torrance) 8-1
A 6-5 loss to Chino started the season for the Warriors, but they immediately beat the Cowboys 16-5 and haven’t lost since. Among the team’s wins is one from last week against preseason state-ranked Agoura of Agoura Hills.

20. (NR) Valley Christian (San Jose) 8-4
The defending CIF Central Coast Section Division I champs break back into the top 20 after a 3-0 win on Tuesday over Bellarmine of San Jose (which was 8-2 coming in). Theron Kay pitched the shutout and struck out seven while junior Isaiah Azua had three hits, including a homer. Valley Christian lost last week to Serra of San Mateo, but that is offset by the team owning two wins over Archbishop Mitty.

Teams That Dropped Out:
Previous No. 6 Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo), No. 13 Lutheran (Orange), No. 15 San Benito (Hollister), No. 16 West Ranch (Valencia), No. 17 Woodcreek (Roseville).

Teams On The Bubble:
Agoura (Agoura Hills) 5-3, Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 8-3, Bellarmine (San Jose) 8-3, Benicia 10-1, Campolindo (Moraga) 2-4, Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo) 9-3, Casa Grande (Petaluma) 6-1, Clovis 10-3, Clovis North (Clovis) 10-3, El Toro (Lake Forest) 5-4, Great Oak (Temecula) 6-1, Huntington Beach 5-3, La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 6-0, Lincoln (Stockton) 7-0-1, Lutheran (Orange) 7-3, Madera 9-2, Nogales (La Puente) 9-0, Redlands East Valley (Redlands) 10-1-1, St. Augustine (San Diego) 8-0, St. Mary’s (Stockton) 2-7, Turlock 8-1, Vista 3-3.

Corrections or comments? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.