National High School Baseball Rankings as of
April 21, 2008 By: Jon Mahoney and
Matt
Remsberg4/22/08
Three of the nation's Top 5
teams took a huge drop in the rankings. Then-No. 1 Owasso
(Owasso, Okla.) and then-No. 2 Tupelo
(Tupelo, Miss.) fell to No. 14 and No. 15, respectively,
after each lost twice last week. Meanwhile, Moody
(Corpus Christi, Texas) went from No. 4 to No. 16 after
its third defeat of the season.
Those losses,
along with the one handed to then-No. 9 Orange
Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) enables four new teams to
move into the Top 10 in No. 7 Plano
West (Plano, Texas), No. 8 Farragut
(Knoxville, Tenn.), No. 9 Opelika
(Opelika, Ala.) and No. 10 Park
Vista (Lake Worth, Fla.).
RANK // SCHOOL // LOCATION //
RECORD // *PREVIOUS
RANK
1. Bishop
Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) - (28-1)
*3 The Gaels tallied three wins last
week. Jeff Malm, who's considered one of the
nation's top juniors, was 3-for-4 with three RBI
in a 14-9 win over Coronado.
Fellow junior Joey Rickard was 4-for-5 with four
runs scored, two doubles, a homer and four RBI in
a 24-4 win over Durango.
3. Paul VI
Catholic (Fairfax, Va.) - (19-0)
*6 The Panthers
won three games last week, including road
victories over Gonzaga and
Ryken.
4. Sarasota
(Sarasota, Fla.) - (22-2) *7 Junior
shortstop Scooter Gennett was 3-for-4 with two
double, a homer and five RBI in an 8-2 win over Venice.
5.
Don
Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) - (9-0)
*8 Senior right-hander Mike Dennhardt
fanned six and allowed just three hits with no
walks in six innings of work in a 10-0 win over Cranford.
6.
Brookwood
(Snellville, Ga.) - (19-1) *10 Senior
Jordan Erisman hit two homers, while junior lefty
Matt Adams (4-0) fanned 10 and scattered three
hits in a 6-0 victory over Shiloh.
7.
Plano
West (Plano, Texas) - (27-0)
*11 Senior outfielder Jason Coats was
named Player of the Week by The Dallas Morning
News after going 4-for-7 with two doubles, a
homer and three RBI in two wins last week. Through
Monday, Coats was batting .500 with 14 doubles,
seven homers and 36 RBI.
8. Farragut
(Knoxville, Tenn.) - (26-0) *14 In
five wins last week, the Admirals plated 62 runs
while allowing just 10 runs.
9. Opelika
(Opelika, Ala.) - (34-1) *15 The
Bulldogs swept Northview
in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs. Opelika
won the first game, 5-1, and blanked Northview,
12-0, in the second. Senior right-hander and Auburn
recruit Zach Blatt struck out nine and allowed
just an unearned run to pick up the victory in the
first game. Opelika
plays Satsuma in the second round this
weekend.
10. Park
Vista (Lake Worth, Fla.) - (24-1)
*18 The Cobras cruised past Windsor
(Windsor, Conn.), 11-1, for their 23rd consecutive
win.
11. Lakota
West (West Chester, Ohio) - (12-0)
*19 The Firebirds
keep rolling with four wins last week. West will
be tested this week with two games against Mason,
which is in second place behind the Firebirds
in their conference.
12. Rowlett
(Rowlett, Texas) - (25-0-2) *20 Senior
pitcher Andrew Smith improved to 7-0 on the season
after a 2-0 win over Sachse.
Smith, who yielded only two hits in the game, has
44 strikeouts and a 1.47 ERA on the
season.
13. Orange
Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) - (17-3)
*9 Senior right-hander Gerrit Cole
pitched a one-hitter with 11 strikeouts in a 4-2
win over Servite.
Meanwhile, senior outfielder Aaron Gates helped
out Cole at the plate with a three-run homer in
the bottom of the fifth. However, the Lancers drop
four spots in the rankings after falling to Servite,
11-0, in their next game.
14. Owasso
(Owasso, Okla.) - (25-2) *1 The Rams
relinquished their title as the nation's No. 1
team after losing twice to Broken
Arrow (18-7) last week. Broken
Arrow senior Spencer Barnett hit a
bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh
to lead the Tigers to a 4-3 win in the second
meeting.
15. Tupelo
(Tupelo, Miss.) - (25-2) *2 Tupelo,
like Owasso
(Owasso, Okla.), lost twice last week. The Golden
Wave were edged by South Panola, 6-5, and were
bested by Oxford,
14-10.
16. Moody
(Corpus Christi, Texas) - (25-3)
*4 Senior left-hander Marc Gomez (9-1)
struck out 14 batters and allowed only four hits,
but the Trojans still fell to Ray,
1-0. Ray's
Roy Lumetta hit the game-winning RBI single in the
bottom of the seventh.
17. Plant
(Tampa, Fla.) - (21-3) *12 Plant,
which ended the regular season with an 8-3 loss to
Sickles,
will participate in the district tournament this
week. The Panthers
have lost in the district semifinals the last two
years.
18. Lake
Brantley (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) - (23-2)
*13 D.J. Hicks went 3-for-4 with a
homer, but it wasn't enough as Lake
Brantley lost to University,
6-2. The loss snapped Lake
Brantley's 21-game winning
streak.
19. Socorro
(El Paso, Texas) - (28-1) *22 The
Bulldogs scored a total of 28 runs in wins over Coronado
and Hanks
last week.
20. Los
Alamitos (Los Alamitos, Calif.) - (17-3)
*23 Two of the Griffins' three wins
last week came against Marina.
In a 4-2 win over Marina
in nine innings, junior pitcher Beau Wright struck
out 12 in eight innings.
21. Seminole
(Seminole, Fla.) - (23-1) *21 Seminole
was dealt its first loss of the season by Dunedin,
which edged the Warhawks, 6-5, in the PCAC finals.
Junior outfielder Michael Carlin hit a three-run
homer for Seminole,
which is the No. 1 seed in its district tournament
this week.
22. Clearwater
Central Catholic (Clearwater, Fla.) - (21-2)
*24 CCC is the No. 1 seed in its
district playoffs this week.
23. Lake
Orion (Lake Orion, Mich.) - (8-0)
*NR The defending Division 1 state
champion Dragons have scored 107 runs in their
eight victories through Monday.
24.
Crespi
(Encino, Calif.) - (16-5) *25 Senior
right-hander Tyler Johnson ran his career record
to 15-0 by picking up the win in a 12-1 victory
over Harvard-Westlake.
25.
Reagan
(San Antonio, Texas) - (28-2) *NR The
Rattlers blanked Smithson
Valley, 4-0. Senior left-hander Casey Selsor
struck out 15 to help Reagan
earn its third district title in four
years.
Dropped
Out:
No. 16 Long
Beach Wilson (Long Beach, Calif.) -
(18-5-1) Losses to Lakewood
and Torrance West drop the Bruins out of the Top
25 for the first time this
year.
No. 17 Creighton
Prep (Omaha, Neb.) - (19-1) Millard
North handed Creighton
Prep its first loss of the season with a 5-3
victory over the Junior Jays in the Metro
Conference baseball tournament quarterfinals.