Monday, May 19, 2008

The Final Weeks of The Top Twenty


1. American Heritage - Florida – 29-2 (1)
On Tuesday, the Pats play for a state title against Pensacola Catholic. They have had plenty of rest and hopefully the 10 days off won’t ruin their mighty mo of 12 straight wins. Good Luck American Heritage.

2. Don Bosco Prep - New Jersey – 23-0 (2)
Don Bosco Prep began their County Playoff Bracket on Saturday, beating Rutherford H.S. 6-1. Mike Dennhardt (7-0) (Boston College) throwing a complete game with 10 strike-outs and 1 walk. HR by Bryan Struk. Shortstop Anthony Gomez doubled, singled and knocked in 2 runs. Don Bosco continues this week with 3 regular season games to finish the season, while County and State Playoffs begin. Lets hope the weather cooperates, they have a very busy week! Don Bosco Prep is now 23-0.

3. Bishop Gorman HS - Nevada – 41-3 (3)
There's something about Bishop Gorman's baseball team and late-inning rallies in the state tournament. The Gaels scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth Saturday at UNR's Peccole Park to break a 3-all tie and beat Green Valley 8-3 to capture their third consecutive Class 4A state title. Stephen Manthei started the sixth-inning rally by lining a single to left field, and Corey Laffler then singled through the right side to chase Green Valley starter Joe Robinson, who had turned in a solid performance despite having thrown 72 pitches Thursday. After Joey Rickard popped out, Johnny Field lined a single to right to score pinch runner Matt Hall to break the tie. The Gaels added an RBI triple by Jeff Malm, an RBI double by Paul Sewald and an RBI single by John Rickard. Another run scored on an error. Congrats on a three-peat Bishop Gorman.

4. Plano West –Texas- 34-0 (4)
The Wolves take two from Rockwall in the regional quarter final 3-2 and 6-4. At 34-0, they are making quite a historical run.

5. Los Alamitos-California - 25-3 (5)
The Griffins continue their hot streak of 12 straight wins and eek out a tough one against Long Beach Poly. Next up is Canyon of Anaheim.

6. Crespi Carmelite College Prep – 22-5 California (6)
The Celts of Crespi continue their streak with 9 straight wins. They shut-out Gahr 8-0 and move on to the next round of the Play-offs against La Serna.

7. Owasso High School-Oklahoma 36-3 (7)
State Champs AGAIN!!! Oklahoma’s top-ranked Rams (34-3) overcame four errors to capture the school's 10th overall baseball championship and seventh since the start of Class 6A in 1996 with a 5-2 victory over Moore (28-17) in front of 1,853 fans Tuesday at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Congratulations Owasso!

8. Alvin HS - Texas – 31-4 (8)
Houston 5A Baseball web site reports…The Alvin Yellow-Jackets found themselves in a Region Quarter-Final series against a very familiar foe in the Brazoswood Buccaneers. Both teams reside in district 24-5A and had already met twice in the regular season with Alvin claiming both games in late inning rallies. But that is ancient history and this is the play-offs where the records are 0-0 at the start. In game 1, the Bucs powered past Alvin with home runs by the Buc's Joey Bacica, and Andrew Garner. Anthony McIntyre picked up the win for the Bucs while Tyler Green picked up the two inning save. In game 2, The Yellow-Jackets picked up the 3-2 victory with a walk-off home run by Michael Guerra. Game three was another one run affair but Alvin lead 4-1 most of the way and Josh Land squashed a seventh inning rally where the Bucs were only able to pull within one dropping the contest 4-3, and the series 2 games to 1. Alvin will now face the Bellaire Cardinals in the Region Semi-Final.

9. Brookwood - Georgia – 28-3 (9)
The Broncos take two of three from Norcross and advance to the Semi-finals.

10. Pensacola Catholic Florida 28-2 (NR)
The Crusaders cruise to a huge Top 10 Showdown vs. American Heritage today. The winner advances to the title game on Tuesday. Back to back games like this favor deep pitching staffs and Steven Groves and Wes Mugarian are the stalwarts on the mound and are pumped to give it their best effort.

11. Reagan HS – Texas – 33-1 (11)
A 24 game win streak is on the line this week after the Rattlers rattle Stevens of San Antonio 6-2 and 3-2 to advance.

12. Dunedin High School – Florida – 26-5 (12)
STATE CHAMPS! Dunedin's run to the Class 5A state title, the first baseball championship at the school in 44 years, was filled with exhilarating moments. In the seventh inning of the state championship game, nearly every Falcon fan had their fingers clenched at the edge of their seat. The score was tied at 2, and Stuart South Fork had the bases loaded with no outs. Nevertheless, Dunedin managed to escape. Alex Norris pitched to one batter for the first out. Jake Rogers came in to get the final two outs. The Falcons scored the winning run when Max Kreuter singled in Max Priest in the top of the 10th inning.

13. Farragut -Tenn.-39-3 (13)
Farragut freshman left-hander Phillip Pfiefer was improving to 11-1 while striking out 10 and allowing just two soft singles in the four inning he worked, before giving way to UT signee Matt Ramsey, who worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning against Sullivan South. The Admirals begin play Tuesday in the Class AAA state tournament in Murfreesboro.

14. South Caldwell – North Carolina 20-1 (15)
The 2007 State 4A state champs look to repeat as the Spartans top Mt. Tabor. They advance to the sectional play-offs against Providence.

15. Barbe - Louisiana – 35-7 (16)
Ryan Doiron won his second game in two days and drove in the winning run in Barbe's 7-5 victory over Jesuit in the Class 5A championship game, giving the Bucs their fifth baseball state championship. Barbe also won titles in 1998, 2000, '01 and '06. The Bucs (35-7) rallied twice to overcome Jesuit leads, scoring four runs in the second inning after falling behind 3-0 then scoring the final three runs of the game in the fifth inning after Jesuit went ahead 5-4. Congratulations Barbe!

16. Aptos HS - California – 26-4 (17)
The Mariners win handily in their first two rounds of their sectional play-offs. The latest victory was an easy 10-0 win against Santa Clara. Next up is Los Altos on Thursday.

17. Calallen – Texas- 34-1 (19)
The Wildcats crush Robstown twice and advance to the semi’s.

18. Richland - Washington 21-1 (NR)
Central Valley and Redmond were no match for the Bombers as they advance.

19. Poway - California 26-5 (NR)
The Titans re-enter our poll after a long absence after extinguishing Torrey Pines in the Sectionals..

20. Rowlett Texas 30-1-2 (NR)
The Eagles take a best of three series against Allen and not only advance, but crack our top twenty.

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