Baseball State Rankings By Divisions

Campolindo of Moraga pitcher Trent Shelton throws during last year’s Dave Stewart/Oakland A’s High School Baseball Showdown in Oakland. Campo moved up in this week’s division rankings. Photo courtesy Clovis West H.S.

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With one swing of the bat on Tuesday afternoon of this week, there’s a new team in the No. 1 position in the Northern California prep baseball pecking order.

Austin Hatfield from Bellarmine of San Jose swung the bat and launched a triple that scored teammate Tyler Bindi to break a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Bells a 1-0 win over St. Francis of Mountain View.

Coming into the game, St. Francis was No. 2 overall in the state and was No. 1 in Northern California at 24-1. With the loss, Granada of Livermore is able to move in front of the Lancers. The Matadors won their early game this week 7-2 over Foothill of Pleasanton to remain unbeaten.

This week’s overall top 20 state rankings were released on Monday so those two results were not included. This week’s new divisional state rankings do include those results so they are different.

Both Justin Calomeni of Bellarmine and John Gavin of St. Francis took no-hitters into the seventh inning of the Tuesday game in San Jose. Calomeni gave up a hit in the top of the inning, but the Lancers didn’t score. Gavin gave up a walk with two outs in the bottom of the inning, then Bindi came in to pinch-run, setting the stage for Hatfield to break up the no-hitter with his triple.

Please also note that the Cal-Hi Sports five-divisions will not match the same divisions in some CIF sections because some of those sections have more than five divisions for the playoffs. In the CIF Southern Section, for example, Division I is Division I and Division II is Division II for our state rankings. The CIFSS Division III and Division IV teams, however, are combined for our format. This means that Division V for the CIFSS is the same as Division IV for us and that Division VI is the same as Division V.

Here are this week’s rankings (after games of Wednesday, May 1; previous rank in parentheses; could be a few scores from early this week still unaccounted for):

DIVISION I
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 22-1
2. (4) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 21-3
3. (5) Granada (Livermore) 19-0
4. (2) St. Francis (Mountain View) 24-2
5. (3) Fountain Valley 23-2
6. (9) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 22-3
7. (6) Buchanan (Clovis) 22-3-1
8. (12) Turlock 23-1
9. (10) Serra (San Mateo) 21-5
10. (14) Clovis North (Fresno) 22-5
11. (NR) Bellarmine (San Jose) 20-6
12. (NR) Carlsbad 20-4
13. (11) Elk Grove 19-4
14. (15) Canyon (Anaheim) 19-5
15. (NR) Lincoln (Stockton) 18-3-1
Dropped Out: Previous No. 7 Lutheran (Orange); No. 8 Granite Hills (El Cajon); No. 13 El Toro (Lake Forest).
Bubble Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: While St. Francis’ push toward Mater Dei’s No. 1 ranking lost some steam, the Monarchs won 2-1 in their first of two big games this week against Lutheran of Orange. Also already losing this week would be Buchanan of Clovis (4-3 to Clovis) and Lincoln of Stockton (6-5 to Tracy). If Buchanan hadn’t lost, it possibly may have jumped ahead of St. Francis in this week’s rankings. If Lincoln hadn’t lost, it still would have probably dropped behind Bellarmine due to the Bells posting such a huge win against St. Francis.

DIVISION II
1. (1) Casa Grande (Petaluma) 20-1
2. (4) Cypress 20-6
3. (5) Campolindo (Moraga) 13-6-1
4. (9) Redlands East Valley (Redlands) 19-4-1
5. (8) Benicia 23-3
6. (10) South Hills (Covina) 18-5
7. (NR) Clayton Valley (Concord) 15-3
8. (7) Valencia (Placentia) 20-5
9. (2) San Clemente 21-6
10. (NR) Foothill (Palo Cedro) 26-4
Dropped Out: Previous No. 3 Beckman (Irvine); No. 6 Redlands.
Bubble Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Two of the top six teams in this division from last week dropped out due to losses. Beckman’s loss was to Woodbridge of Irvine while Redlands lost two to archrival Redlands East Valley. With the two wins, REV also made a big jump from No. 9 to No. 4. Casa Grande has already won this week 14-0 over Santa Rosa. Sophomore Casey Longaker led the way with three hits and two RBIs. With just one loss, the Gauchos can be No. 1 in the division despite a weaker schedule than either Cypress or Campolindo. This is because they will probably have to beat Campolindo to win their section title. No. 7 Clayton Valley plus bubble team College Park make are two more top teams to watch in the CIF North Coast Section for D2 as well.

DIVISION III
1. (1) Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 20-3-1
2. (2) Bonita (La Verne) 22-3-1
3. (4) Whitney (Rocklin) 24-1
4. (5) Serra (Gardena) 20-5
5. (3) San Dieguito (Encinitas) 21-5
6. (8) Kaiser (Fontana) 20-3
7. (NR) Laguna Beach 22-2
8. (NR) Vista del Lago (Folsom) 23-4
9. (9) Acalanes (Lafayette) 13-6
10. (NR) Diamond Bar 18-4
Dropped Out: Previous No. 6 Quartz Hill; No. 7 Antelope; No. 10 Northview (Covina).
Bubble Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: A loss to Escondido is going to drop San Dieguito from next week’s overall top 20 (the team was inserted at No. 20 to start the week) but the Mustangs stayed in the top five for this division. As noted in those rankings, No. 1 Oaks Christian and No. 2 Bonita played in the finals last weekend of the Redondo tourney and Oaks Christian won 4-1. If both of those teams were to win CIFSS titles (they will be in different divisions), that result will loom even larger for the final rankings. Previous No. 7 Antelope’s loss early this week was to Cordova of Rancho Cordova and gave legendary Cordova coach Guy Anderson his 894th career win.

DIVISION IV
1. (1) Pacific Grove 25-0
2. (2) Kerman 22-3
3. (4) La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 17-5
4. (5) Oak Hills (Hesperia) 19-6
6. (6) Paraclete (Lancaster) 18-3
7. (10) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 19-5-1
8. (3) Central Catholic (Modesto) 18-5-1
9. (NR) Palma (Salinas) 17-6
10. (NR) Ontario Christian 18-5
Dropped Out: Previous No. 7 Taft; No. 8 Templeton.
Bubble Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Chris Clements pitched a three-hitter and struck out seven as Pacific Grove improved to 25-0 with a 2-0 win early this week over Stevenson of Pebble Beach. Getting to 25 straight wins to start a season gets the Breakers into the state record book. They match a feat shared by several teams, but locals will want to know that one of those was San Lorenzo Valley of Felton in 1990. That team won its first 25, then lost. Another local team to Pacific Grove, Palma of Salinas, has played a stronger schedule and might have moved up higher than No. 9 this week if not for a head-to-head loss to Central Catholic of Modesto.

DIVISION V
1. (1) Desert Christian Academy (Bermuda Dunes) 21-2
2. (2) Head-Royce (Oakland) 17-1
3. (5) Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento) 19-5
4. (3) Caruthers 21-2-1
5. (4) Malibu 21-3
6. (6) Webb (Claremont) 17-2
7. (7) Mariposa County (Mariposa) 18-2
8. (8) Fall River (McArthur) 21-1
9. (10) St. Bernard (Eureka) 13-4
10. (NR) Crean Lutheran (Irvine) 16-6
Dropped Out: Previous No. 9 Firebaugh.
Bubble Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Even though Caruthers and Malibu did not lose last week, we just had to give a bump to Bradshaw Christian for being able to pull out a win over D1 powerhouse Elk Grove last week. We couldn’t put the Pride in front of No. 2 Head-Royce, however, after pitchers Steven Farinaro and Ian Lituchy combined to throw an 8-0 no-hitter earlier this week over Redwood Christian of San Lorenzo. Farinaro struck out 11 and went the first six innings. Litcuchy finished it up in the seventh. Owning two wins over St. Margaret’s has helped Crean Lutheran grab the 10th position. We’re pretty sure this is the first time in any sport in which Crean Lutheran is in the state rankings.

Paul Muyskens contributed to this report.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports