Rankings from Prior Weeks:  March 19  March 29  April 5

 

Class A Notes:  "Good morning, Wildcats.  This is the front desk with your wake up call."  Millard West drops from #2 to #6 this week after failing to show up for a much-anticipated showdown with #1 Westside on the Wildcats' home turf Friday evening.  Well, perhaps "failing to show up" isn't quite accurate since the Wildcats did get off to a nice start in the top of the first.  It was more a case of "failing to stick around."  Championship teams fight through adversity rather than folding their tents.  This team has enormous talent and good coaching.  We expect they'll figure it out and start playing good team baseball.  When they do, they'll climb back up the rankings.

 

Millard South moves up to take over the #2 spot surrendered by the Wildcats.  The Patriots have always had plenty of offensive firepower, and their pitching staff is now starting to show some depth. 

 

Lincoln Southwest rides an impressive offensive week and a nine-game win streak up the charts to #3.  A double-header Tuesday at Millard West will measure how much progress the Silver Hawks have made since an 11-9 loss to the Wildcats on the third day of the season.  All indications are that this is a very talented team that is playing very well right now.

 

Southeast moves up on a very strong showing in the Millard West Tournament, beating Millard North and Bryan and losing a one-run game in the bottom of the 7th to #1 Westside.  The good news for Southeast fans is that the strong showing came without Josh Scheffert carrying the team.  Scheffert threw only one inning of relief (getting the save) and didn't make much noise offensively.  There's no doubt the talented senior can be a dominant force, but it's certainly a confidence-builder for his young teammates to come through with wins even when he's quiet. 

 

The upward advance of the Lincoln teams comes at Millard North's expense as the Mustangs slide from #6 to #8 following three losses on the week.  Two of the losses were to higher ranked teams (Millard West and Papio South) and the loss to then #9 Southeast was only by one run.  But six losses on the season, including two to Class B teams Skutt and Ralston, make it hard to keep the Mustangs higher in the ratings at a time when other teams are making a move.

 

Bryan also slides a spot to #9 following a three-loss week, including a 15-8 loss to Southeast in which the Bears gave up ten runs in the sixth inning.  The Bears have the potential to play with anyone but will need to consistently perform at the level of their ability to move up.

 

Gone from the Top 10, but not forgotten, are the Bellevue East Chieftains who dropped three of four this week, including a 2-1 loss to Lincoln High on Saturday. 

 

Readers along the Hwy 81 corridor and west thereof may be wondering what it takes to crack the Top 10.  Defending state champ Grand Island is 7-4, and Columbus is 7-3.  And, both have respectable Wild Card numbers.  Basically, what it takes is playing and beating some of the teams listed above.  We're keeping an eye on you.  Beat some good teams, and your stock will go up.

 

 

CLASS A
This Week	Last Week	Team	Season Win-Loss	Wins Last Week	Losses Last Week
1	1	Westside	13-1	North, Skutt, LSE, Mill. West, Mill. So.	None
2	3	Millard South	9-3	Burke, Bell. East, Linc. East, Elkhorn	Westside
3	7	Lincoln Southwest	10-2	LNS, LHS, Norfolk, Bell. East, LNS	None
4	4	Creighton Prep	8-3	PLV, Burke, GI	None
5	5	Papillion LaVista South	12-2	Mill. No., Bryan, North, Gross, LNE, GI	None
6	2	Millard West	10-3	Ralston, Bell. W, Mill. No., Elkhorn	Westside
7	9	Lincoln Southeast	5-4	Elkhorn, Mill. North, Bryan	Westside
8	6	Millard North	7-6	Central, Lincoln East	PLVS, Mill. West, LSE
9	8	Omaha Bryan	10-6	Norris (x2), Lincoln East	PLVS, Elkhorn, LSE
10	10	Papillion LaVista	7-6	Benson, Central	Prep
Class B Notes:    Elkhorn is a solid #1 despite three losses on the week.  Those losses, plus the Antlers' one win, came against Class A Top Ten  teams, and playing top competition is never discouraged here.  Of course, you have to be competitive, and the Antlers were, except for the final game of the Millard West tournament where they were short on pitching and ran into a Wildcats team motivated by an ugly loss to Westside.    Skutt drops from #2 to #4 following the 6-0 loss to Nebraska City.  Yes, Nebraska City lefthander Logan Ehlers is a special case, but giving up four insurance runs to an opponent in the top of the 7th can't be blamed on facing a tough pitcher.  Beatrice at 7-1 and Nebraska City at 9-1 have earned the right to move up.   The Beatrice - Elkhorn matchup Monday afternoon will be interesting.  Elkhorn spent a lot of pitching to claim a fourth place finish in the Millard West Invite while Beatrice only played one game last week (a 6-1 win over Wahoo on Thursday).   On the season Beatrice has played only one Class A team (a win over 5-4 Bergan) and only two of the Orangemen opponents, including Bergan, are above .500.  Meanwhile, the Antlers have played six Class A contests, resulting in two wins, a one-run loss to then #3 Millard South, and three losses against the then #1, #2 and #9 teams in Class A by margins of 13, 10 and 8 runs, respectively.    Nebraska City moves up from 4th to 3rd following a 3-0 week, which included the win over Skutt.  Things get tougher this week as the Pioneers play three games against Class A opponents before heading into the EMC Tournament on Thursday.    Speaking of the EMC, its nice to see a second conference tournament in Class B (in addition to the River Cities Conference Tournament) so that twelve of the eighteen teams in the class will be participating in a conference tournament prior to districts.    Number 5 Roncalli and Number 6 Gross hold their ground.  The Crimson Pride were 2-0 on the week, and the Cougars' were 2-2, with all four games against Class A opponents.   Ralston drops from seventh to tenth following a winless week in which the Rams suffered four losses.  A second loss to South Sioux and a loss to unranked Blair drop the Rams.  Pius and Gretna both move ahead of the Rams.    After being out of the rankings for a couple of weeks, the South Sioux City Cardinals, our pre-season #10 pick, return in the #9 spot following wins over Yutan and Ralston.   Knocking on the door:  Blair (4-3) has shown nice improvement and has knocked off a couple of Top 10 teams (Roncalli and Ralston) in the past two weeks after starting 0-2.  If someone falters, the Bears are posed to join the Top 10 club.
CLASS B
This Week	Last Week	Team	Season Win-Loss	Wins Last Week	Losses Last Week
1	1	Elkhorn	9-4	Bryan	LSE, Mill. South, Mill. West
2	3	Beatrice	7-1	Wahoo	None
3	4	Nebraska City	9-1	Skutt, Waverly, Omaha North	None
2	2	Omaha Skutt	4-5	Gretna	Neb. City, Westside
5	5	Omaha Roncalli	4-4	Wahoo, Benson	None
6	6	Gross	6-5	Central, Omaha Northwest	Papio South, Columbus
7	8	Pius	4-5	Northeast, Bergan	Northeast
8	9	Gretna	4-5	Crete	Skutt
9	N/R	South Sioux City	5-4	Yutan, Ralston	None
10	7	Ralston	3-8	None	Mill. West, Northwest, Blair, SSC