Rankings from Prior Weeks:  March 19  March 29

 

Class A Notes: 

 

Our top five has a newcomer this week as Papillion LaVista South (6-2) advances upward to nab Millard North's #5 spot.  The Titans take advantage of a misstep by the Mustangs who lost to Class B #2 Skutt, 10-8, on April Fool's Day.  The Mustangs, in turn, slip to the #6 spot formerly occupied by the Titans.  On the season Papio South has a marquee win over #2 Millard West, with losses only to #3 Millard South (6-5, 8 innings) and to Prep by a score of 4-1.  The other four  teams in the top five hold their ground.

 

Westside, with an eight-game win streak since the opening day loss to Papio, has a solid grip on the #1 spot.  During the streak, the Warriors have allowed a total of just eight runs while averaging more than nine per game.  Those wins came against the Class A #3, 4 and 7 teams and Class B #1, among others.  Great pitching, solid defense, good hitting and the ability to win close games over quality opponents are good signs for Warrior fans. 

 

Westside will need to continue playing well to stay ahead of #2 Millard West.  Wednesday's 4-1 win over Bellevue East shows that the Wildcats' pitching is getting into gear.  The hitting has been there all season so putting the two together will keep the Wildcats' in striking position of the #1 Warriors.  The Wildcats host their Invitational this weekend with Millard West and Westside in the same bracket, setting up a potential semi-final meeting between #1 and 2.  Both, however, have to get past tough first round opponents -- Millard North for the Wildcats and Lincoln Southeast for the Warriors. 

 

Millard South hangs onto the #3 spot with a pounding of #7 Bryan and a close 1-0 loss to Westside in an outstanding pitchers' duel. 

 

Prep picked up a couple of wins this week against unranked Pius and North Star before heading to St. Louis where they were officially 2-1 in the Jesuit Classic.  We say "officially" because the opening loss to Loyola of Chicago won't show up in the NSAA's Wild Card system since Illinois is a non-contiguous state.  

 

The lower half of this week's Top Ten undergoes a bit of a shakeup as Lincoln Southwest climbs from #10 to #7 on the strength of three quality wins on the week.  The first of those was an exciting 2-1 win over crosstown rival Southeast on Wednesday, followed by a doubleheader sweep on Saturday of Papillion LaVista, our former #7 team.  Look for the talented and deep Silver Hawks to continue to climb up the charts.  Southeast is 2-3 but two of those losses were one-run games that slipped away from the Knights in the bottom of the seventh this week.  The Knights move up to number nine.

 

Although we don't intend to make a habit of a "shared #10 spot" each week, we find ourselves in that position again as Bellevue East and Papio both slide a bit after being overtaken by the Lincoln schools, but there are plenty of reasons to keep both teams around.   After cracking the Top 10 last week following a 4-0 start that included wins over #1 Westside and #3 Millard South, the Monarchs have lost five of their last seven.  But, four of those losses were to Top 10 teams, including a 6-4 loss to #2 Millard West and a one-run loss to Southwest.  A loss to an unranked, but very solid Burke team isn't cause for dropping out of the Top 10, though a win certainly would have helped.  Meanwhile, Bellevue East, played the #2 Wildcats tough but ended up with a 4-1 loss and then dropped a one-run game to a good, but somewhat unpredictable Central team the next night.  Neither team seems deserving of an exit from the Top 10 at this point. 

 

Bryan holds steady at #8 after 3-2 week in which the Bears' lost to #2 Millard West and #3 Millard South.  The Millard South loss was ugly (16-6), and the Bears had to rally from a five-run deficit to beat unranked Northeast yesterday.  

 

Knocking:  At the end of Week 2 Burke was getting itself into position to contend for a Top 10 spot if any of the leaders faltered, but a 16-7 loss to Class B # 6 Gross keeps Burke on the outside looking in.  We're keeping an eye on Grand Island (4-2).  And here's a team that no one should look past if they're on your schedule:  Lincoln North Star.  The Navigators are young, talented and very well-coached.

 

CLASS A
This Week	Last Week	Team	Season Win-Loss	Wins Last Week	Losses Last Week
1	1	Westside	8-1	M. South, Ralston, South, Central	None
2	2	Millard West	6-2	Skutt, Bell. East, Bryan	None
3	3	Millard South	5-2	Bryan, Benson, East	Westside
4	4	Creighton Prep	5-3	North Star, SLUH, Rockhurst, DeSmet	[Loyola]
5	6	Papillion LaVista South	6-2	Burke, Norfolk (x2)	None
6	5	Millard North	5-3	Papio, Northwest, North	Skutt
7	10	Lincoln Southwest	5-2	Southeast, Papio (x2)	None
8	8	Omaha Bryan	7-3	South, Lincoln High, Northeast	Mill. South, Mill. West
9	10	Lincoln Southeast	2-3	Pius	Pius, Southwest, North Star
T10 T10	9 7	Bellevue East Papillion LaVista	3-4 6-5	Bell. West, Ralston South	Mill. North, Burke, LSW (x2) Mill. West, Central
Class B Notes:    Elkhorn continues to cruise in the number 1 spot with wins this week over #5 Roncalli, #9 Gretna and unranked Wahoo.  Skutt's hold on #2 requires a little thought considering the forward progress of Beatrice and Nebraska City, both now at 6-1.  Despite Skutt's 3-3 record, it must be remembered that those three losses came against two Class A Top Ten teams (#2 Millard West and #10 Bellevue East) and to Class B #1 Elkhorn (a one-run loss in 8 innings).  If that's not enough to keep the challengers at bay, consider Thursday's upset win over Class A #6 Millard North, which removes any doubt that the SkyHawks are a solid #2.  That's not to take anything away from Beatrice and Nebraska City, both of whom continue to pile up wins and will continue to challenge for a higher ranking.   To make way for Beatrice and Nebraska City, former #3 Roncalli drops to #5 following a winless week.  Although two of those losses come against the top two teams in the class in close games, the loss to previously winless Blair allows the two surging challengers to take the inside lane and burst past the Pride in the turn.    Gross and Ralston trade places as Gross moves upward with a big win against a Class A Burke team that was getting into position to crack the Top Ten in that class.  To its credit, all three of Ralston's games last week were against Class A teams, and the Rams played Class A #1 Westside very close in a 4-2 loss.  It's a close call between Ralston and Gross, but Ralston did lose, 14-1, to the Papio team that lost to Burke, 9-5, the day after Gross pounded Burke, 17-6.    Pius, Gretna and Crete hold onto their respective places in the bottom three spots.  After starting the season 0-3, Gretna had a nice turnaround last week, going 3-1, including wins over Beatrice and Class A Central.  Gretna deserves to move up after a week like that, but all the seats in the upper deck are filled at this time.  Number 8 Pius split a doubleheader with Class A #9 Lincoln Southeast, and Crete saw limited action, losing by a run to Class A Lincoln High.
CLASS B
This Week	Last Week	Team	Season Win-Loss	Wins Last Week	Losses Last Week
1	1	Elkhorn	8-1	Roncalli, Gretna, Wahoo	None
2	2	Omaha Skutt	3-3	Millard North, Roncalli	None
3	4	Beatrice	6-1	Seward, Bergan, Pius	Gretna
4	5	Nebraska City	6-1	Bergan, Norris, Wahoo, Yutan	Roncalli
5	3	Omaha Roncalli	2-4	None	Blair, Elkhorn, Skutt
6	7	Gross	4-2	South Sioux, Burke	None
7	6	Ralston	3-4	Northeast	Westside, Papio
8	8	Pius	2-4	Southeast, Lincoln High	Beatrice
9	9	Gretna	3-4	Wahoo, Central, Beatrice	Elkhorn
10	10	Crete	3-1	None	Lincoln High