College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Wednesday (April 21, 2003)

A&M CONSOLIDATED NO. 1 IN EASTON SPORTS COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER (www.baseballnews.com) POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — A&M Consolidated High School of College Station, Tex. has been ranked No. 1 in the latest Easton Sports Original National High School poll.

The Tigers, off to a 25-1 record with 15 consecutive wins, replaced La Quinta H.S. of Westminster, Calif. which lost twice during the Toyo Tires National Classic in Fullerton, Calif. During its first 24 games, A&M Consolidated has pushed across 192 runs while giving up only 37 earned runs. Opponents are only hitting .168 against the Tigers.

The pitching staff has struck out 198 batters while walking only 75. In fact, the staff has thrown 10 shutouts this season. On offense, the Tigers are hitting .353 with 64 extra base hits. Hitters have worked counts for 90 walks as well. The team also has stolen 31 bases.

"We have a great group of baseball players who love the game," said Rex Sanders, head coach of the Tigers for the 23 years. He has announced this will be his final year of coaching. The kids we have in our program were part of a tremen-dous Little League program and stayed together. In district play, we have scored 155 runs and given up only 14 in 15 games."

Sanders said this team is the best he has had in 23 years of coaching at A&M Consolidated.

"There’s no question about that. It is the best overall team I’ve had. We are pretty solid. The difference with this team is our pitching depth. We have pitchers from the left and right sides who com-pliment each other. Our team has a couple of guys who nip at the corners and then others who can throw the ball by you."

Sanders said he doesn’t have a single player who is expected to be drafted. But he does have four players who have signed on to play with colleges.

One key player is 6-foot-4, 215-pound 1B Brett Lawler who has belted nine doubles and 3 homers this season and signed early with the University of Arkansas. He leads the team with 26 RBIs. Lawler is the son of Texas A&M pitching coach Jim Lawler.

Another quality position player is SS/RHP Kyle Nicholson who throws 90-mph fastballs and is a superb shortstop. He has signed with Texas A&M and is the fourth hitter in the lineup. Three other players which have had superb seasons thus far include RHP/OF/SS Wade Michalsky, CF/LHP Bobby Bramhall and 3B Keith Stein.

No. 2 Taylorsville, Utah (13-1) won the Toyo Tires National Classic over a superb field. They began the tournament by drilling La Quinta H.S., 10-1 behind the brilliant pitching of RHP Chad Barben. He struck out 15 Aztec batters. Taylorsville also beat two other quality California teams in El Capitan (Lakeside, Calif.) and El Dorado (Placentia, Calif.) for the title. After La Quinta lost twice in the tournament, the Aztecs slipped to 10th in this week’s poll.

Poll Notes…No. 5 Capistrano Valley H.S. (Mission Viejo, Calif.) is about halfway through its schedule. The team has had some great hitting performances from two of its players. SS Adam Sorgi, who recently received a scholarship offer from Stanford, was hitting .475 with six home runs, and P/LF Jason Corder was hitting .395 with six home runs.

No. 6 ranked Horizon H.S. (Scottsdale, Ariz.) is off to a 20-2 record. The Huskies have been backed by a 6-man pitching rotation. In the team’s first 16 games, the team ERA was 2.25. Four of the six pitchers are juniors with two being southpaws.

Bellaire H.S. in Houston, Tex., ranked 11th, has been hitting .363 as a team with 21 home runs and 227 RBI. The team is lead offensively by Adam Hale, who was hitting .479 with 38 RBI and Derek Myers who had 27 stolen bases so far this season. Bellaire has been the top-ranked team in Houston.

John Curtis H.S. (River Ridge, La.) is No. 12 this week. The Patriots beat No. 1 5A Southwood H.S. and 10-run ruled top-ranked 3A St. Charles Catholic. No. 16 Westminster Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) won the Westminster National Baseball Classic over a talented field. The Lions (22-3) beat Kings Academy, Fla., 4-2 in the title game