BASEBALL RANKINGS: St. Francis Tops Poll For Second Straight Week

Patch unveiled its Silicon Valley high school baseball rankings last week. The top-15 weekly rankings are drawn from all schools that fall under the Silicon Valley Patch cluster

The Silicon Valley sports cluster includes 12 different cities: Milpitas, Campbell, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Los Altos, Mountain View, Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, Capitola-Soquel, Watsonville and Gilroy.

The schools that are eligible to be ranked are: , , , Leigh, Branham, Prospect, ,, , , , Homestead, Lynbrook, , , , St. Francis-Mountain View, , , , , , , , , , , and .

A stop-and-go start to the baseball season because of rain has meant postponements of games, reduced practice time and some surprising early results. The welcomed arrival of sunny skies means the final stretch of the regular season will be loaded with action as teams work make-up games into their schedules.

Records are based on reported games played through Monday, April 18.

BASEBALL

1. St. Francis 19-1, 11-1 WCAL (Last week: 1) – Lancers will travel south and take part in National Classic at Cal State Fullerton this week.

2. Los Altos 14-5, 9-1 De Anza (2) – Eagles sit atop stacked De Anza league with some key bouts ahead. Two-game series versus defending league champ Palo Alto kicks off Wednesday in Los Altos

3. Palo Alto 14-7, 7-3 De Anza (4) – Vikings go 3-1 during busy Spring Break week capped off with wins over Leigh and Bellarmine Prep. Next up is showdown with first place Los Altos on Wednesday.  

4. Homestead 14-6-1, 9-3 De Anza (5) – Impressive sweep of Los Gatos lifts Homestead to within earshot of first place in league. Non-league tussle with Archbishop Mitty takes place on Wednesday night at PAL Stadium in San Jose.

5. Los Gatos 14-6-2, 7-5 De Anza (3) – Swept by Homestead last week. The schedule doesn’t get any easier with two games against Wilcox up next.  

6. Westmont 10-7, 7-6 Mt. Hamilton (8) –  Warriors beat Bellarmine to close out week. Still four games back of first place Pioneer in league.

7.  Leigh 13-4-1, 12-1 Santa Teresa (9) – Longhorns split tough non-league tests in Leland tourney by besting Soquel and falling in low scoring affair to Palo Alto.

8.  Aptos 8-6, 3-1 SCCAL (7) – Up-and-down Mariners face Monta Vista in Lions tournament on Wednesday at PAL Field in San Jose. Split games in Leland tourney last week, including 8-1 win over Del Mar.

9. Soquel 10-5-1, 6-1 SCCAL (9) – Knights struggled in losses to Leigh and Leland during Spring Break week. League play resumes next week.

10.  Monta Vista 10-6, 8-2 El Camino (10) – Red-hot offense scored 24 runs during 3-0 week, highlighted by two wins over league foe Fremont High. Face Aptos on Wednesday.

11. Del Mar 11-6-1, 8-4-1 Santa Teresa (11) – Shocked Palo Alto before coming back to earth with lopsided losses to Willow Glen and Aptos.

12. Gilroy 12-9, 8-7 TCAL (12) – Mustangs defense needs to improve during imposing stretch of non-league schedule.

13. Milpitas 9-3-1, 5-3 El Camino (13) – Two-game series with Gunn begins on Tuesday in Milpitas.

14. Monte Vista Christian 12-6, 11-2 MBL (14 – MVC rolls through three more MBL games, sweeps Christopher.

15. Gunn 7-6-1, 4-3 El Camino (15) – Two-game set with Milpitas is crucial towards league title hopes.

Just missed the cut…….

Harbor 7-7, 3-2 SCCAL

Watsonville 8-11, 3-9 MBL

Scotts Valley 6-9-1, 3-4 SCCAL

Santa Cruz 7-11, 2-4 SCCAL