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College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: Tuesday (March 10, 2009) BISHOP GORMAN H.S. NO. 1 IN EASTON SPORTS COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER POLL TUCSON, Ariz. — Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) has been ranked No. 1 in the latest Easton Sports National High School poll. The Gaels, ranked No. 1 for the second straight poll, are slated to start their season in mid-March and will be seeing plenty of competition from outside the state of Nevada. Bishop Gorman is scheduled to play in the Big League Dugout Invitational in Scottsdale, Ariz. and the Cherry Field Classic in Tucson, Ariz. as well as two other tournaments at home. After winning three straight state championships and the American Legion World Series last summer, Bishop Gorman is the odds on favorite to win the national title. In the past three years, Bishop Gorman (41-3) has posted a 9-0 record in its state tournament. Last summer, the team went through the state, regional and World Series undefeated to win the American Legion title. Fifteen of the 18 players on the summer team return for the 2009 high school spring season. With five senior players already committing to NCAA Division 1 programs and one junior making a verbal commitment, the Gaels are heavily favored to win a fourth state title and be the top team in the nation. The already proven pitching staff is led by projected high draft pick LHP/1B Jeff Malm. Malm, who has signed with Southern California, posted an 8-2 record with 74 strikeouts, 9 walks, 2.90 ERA in 50.2 innings last spring. In addition LHP/CF Joey Rickard (7-0, 2.09 ERA, 57 K, 22 BB, 37 IP, Arizona), RHP Stephen Manthei (9-0, 2.23 ERA, 45 K, 37.2 IP, Arizona), and junior LHP/OF Matt Hall (11-0 last summer) will help round out the pitching staff. Offensively, the Gaels will be strong with Malm (.564, 73 RBI, 28 2B, 7 HR), Rickard (.489, 54 RBI, 16 2B, 12 HR, 34 SB), junior 2B Johnny Field (.431, 32 RBI, 9 2B, 5 HR), junior C/OF Neil Lawhorn (.411, 41 RBI, 8 2B, 8 HR) and sophomore C/OF Erik Van Meetren (.337, 18 RBI, 5 2B, 2 HR). Ranked second, El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.) started the season with two wins against Long Beach Millikan, 3-0 and Marina of Huntington Beach, 6-2. No. 4 Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.) has seven straight wins that includes three shutouts. Jesuit has outscored opponents 76-18 so far. The team is hitting .411 and has a team ERA of 1.71.Leading on the mound is Daniel Gibson who is 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA, 26 strikeouts in 17.1 innings. Top hitters are Alex Bacon (.556, 2 2B, 1 3B), Nick Lockwood (.409, 2 2B), Austin Hartzler (.450, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 1 HR), and Joe Hudson (.500, 10 RBI, 2 2B, 1 HR). Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.) shutout two teams to begin its season, ranked at No. 5. Lefties Tyler Matzek and Kevin Chambers both pitched shutouts against Huntington Beach (8-0) and Esperanza (6-0) respectively. Both contributed seven hits between them.Defense has been solid with four double plays and only two errors in 14 innings. Centerfielder Steve McMichael drove in four runs in the first game including a two-run homer. Nolan Clark had a double and triple in the second game and closed out that game with a perfect seventh inning. No. 8 Owasso, Okla. has a perfect 3-0 record. They have outscored opponents 32-5 in the first three games.Pre-season All-American Austin Kirk, Brandon Bargas and Jessie Baird each picked up wins, striking out a combined 27 in 19 innings. The team ERA is 1.11. Bargas is hitting .500 with a home run and 6 RBI and catcher Caleb Compton is .571 with 4 RBI and six runs. No. 9 Bellaire, Tex. has a 9-0-1 record for the season. They outscored their opponents 103-22 and recorded four shutouts against Sam Houston, Fortbend Baptist, Channelview and Willowridge. They tied Travis, 0-0. Pre-Season All-American Toller Boardman threw a 7 inning game allowing three hits and striking out 13. Jesuit (Carmichael, Calif) opened its season with a win, defeating Christian Brothers (Sacramento), 3-0. They are ranked No. 10. American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) dropped down slightly from the pre-season poll. The Patriots opened their season with a win against Douglas, 2-1, but dropped two before coming back with a 6 game win streak. No. 12 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) started the season 3-0. The pitching staff has only allowed one run in 21 innings. Aaron Northcraft has gone 6-for-9 at the plate and earned a win as a pitcher. No. 13 Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) is 6-0 and went through the Desert Vista Tournament undefeated. Parkview Baptist (Baton Rouge, La.) is No. 14 with a 7-3 record, but is No. 1 in Louisiana’s 3A division. No. 16 Providence (Charlotte, NC) started the season 1-1. The one loss was to Greenville Rose, 3-4 on a balk call. Coppell, Tex. was ranked No. 1 in Texas’ pre-season poll; however, against tough opponents for its first games of the season, Coppell is 5-2 and ranked No. 19. No. 20 Cherry Creek (Centennial, Colo.) was 1-0 with a 3-0 win over Thomas Jefferson. Tito Nava pitched a 7-inning no-hitter with 16 strikeouts. No. 21 Foy H. Moody (Corpus Christi, TX) has suffered only one loss on the way to a 10-1 record. The loss was to Laredo United, the No. 4 team in the 5A Texas poll. They beat Moody, 6-4 in the championship game of the Board Olympics Tournament. Moody pitchers Justin Meza, Andrew Cantu Christian Gallegos and AJ Longoria all have recorded two wins. Rudy Flores and Michael Franco each have three home runs, and Meza hit a grand slam in a game against Ray. Ray Herrera has two saves. No. 22 Barbe (Lake Charles, La.) has an 8-1-1 record for the season’s start. They tied a game with East Ascension, 5-5, and their only loss is against Central, 3-7. Sarasota, Fla. moves into the poll at No. 23 with a 5-1 record. Their only loss is to Lakeland by one run and two of their wins were shutouts. Moving into the No. 27 spot is Sylvan Hills (Sherwood, Ark.) with 9 straight wins to start the season. They recently won the Evangel Baseball Classic, defeating Fayetteville, Ark., Airline, La., Evangel Christian Academy, La. and Texas High School, Tex. Shortstop Justin Treece was 8-for-15 with five home runs. He also won a game and saved another. Both DJ Baxendale and Nathen Eller have three wins on the season. Also moving into the poll are Andrean, Ind. and Blue Valley (Stilwell, Kan.) at No. 29 and 30 respectively. Dropping out of the top 30 from the pre-season poll are Cullman, Ala. (8-6), Fayetteville, Ark., Tupelo, Miss. (2-2) and Zachary, La. (6-4).
NEXT POLL: March 24, 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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