Baseball Rankings: Bishop Amat takes over top spot; Bonita, Sierra Vista drop from rankings

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Above: Bishop Amat lefty Paul Paez off to a terrific start.

Tribune Baseball Rankings
1. Bishop Amat (4-1) — In a week that they beat defending Division I champ Capistrano Valley and are moved to the top-ranked team in the state by MaxPreps, they finally lose in the Newport Elks tourney title game to Orange Lutheran. But lets face it, the wins and shockwaves they sent throughout the Southland justify the top ranking here.
2. Glendora (4-0) – They are who we thought they were, a team that can pitch, hit, and will win a lot of games. The Glendora tourney still had Northview, Bonita, Charter Oak, etc, but those teams aren’t what they were the past two years, and without Amat in the tournament, the Glendora tourney lost some of its luster, but the Tartans are legit, there is no doubt about that.
3. South Hills (5-1) – A solid win over Los Osos, and a great start until the hard-to-understand loss at home in the Don Lugo tourney final to Chino Hills. If they want to be considered among the best in the Southland like Amat, they have to win the games they’re supposed to win.
4. Damien (4-1) – The Spartans got pounded by Redlands East Valley in the Chino tourament semifinals, but they opened with three big wins. They can hit as well as anyone, it’s all a matter of pitching and consistency.
5. Diamond Bar (3-2) – The Brahmas go 3-2 in the Loara Tournament, losing to a very good El Toro team. They’re a lot like Damien, all the hitting in the world, which means they can beat teams like Katella 14-6, but also can lose games like Woodbridge, 10-7. Can you win out-slugging teams? DBar will have to find out.
6. Charter Oak (2-2) – They beat Glendora finalist Crescenta Valley and Northview in a consolation game. You’d have to think they’re the early Miramonte League favorites, but only by a nose.
7. Wilson — (4-1) — The area’s biggest surprise, their only loss to undefeated El Rancho. To be fair they haven’t beaten anyone that raises your eyebrows, but still a good start.
8. Los Altos (3-1) — Hey, its only loss came to Los Osos in the Don Lugo tourney. With Charter Oak, Bonita, Wilson and Los Altos, the Miramonte is going to be fun.
9. Northview (1-2-1) — The problem with Northview is that they’re Eddie Pedroza or bust. Without the lefty on the mound they’re a very ordinary team. With him, they can compete with anyone. Sounds like a .500 season from here.
10. San Dimas (2-2) – They’re a lot like Northview, but without a dominating pitcher they can depend on like Pedroza. Three years ago I thought the Valle Vista was the best in the Valley, but now they’re somewhere in the middle.

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  • larvi

    nice top ten.
    I am ready for the kh meltdown…

  • LetEmPlay

    Fred, Northview graduated some really outstanding defensive talent in Richie Pedroza, Kevin Jones, Ruben Ramirez and RJ Arnold. It’s about the RANGE, the arms, the dependability at those positions and the baseball smarts when the big play comes to you. The whole defense from 2008-2009 was particularly strong for their Division 4 level competition.

    Some of what’s showing up as slightly weaker pitching are balls finding holes that didn’t used to be there, runners getting the extra base where they otherwise would be shut down or held back and just a lack of varsity experience on the part of the replacements. It’s a fine group of players they’ve got this year. They’re not making gross errors or playing sloppy at all. We’re just forgetting who’s boots their expected to fill.

    I’ll be surprised if by the end of the season Xavier Martinez, the #2 starter isn’t considered amongst the best in the SGV. The boys have to pick it up on offense more than anything. This isn’t a team that’s going to win scoring 1-2 runs a game.

  • observer

    was at the pony field for the championship game of the glendora tournament…..Glendora is LOADED with arms. They threw three guys out there that all looked very impressive, especially Plutko. I’ve heard a lot of negative stuff about Plutko but from what I can see he is the best pitcher in the SGV.

  • i agree

    south hills does need to win the games they are expected to win, clearly they were out-coached

  • DamienScore

    Damien defeats Rancho Cucamonga HS 17-3. RHP,Guillen starts but is relieved by entire bullpen. Sierra League opener on Friday @Chino Hills

  • Huh??

    Hey Fred, good list dont really think wilson is no. 7 like team but when they do got Baltierra on the mound u cant go wrong with them…..

  • Revision #1

    Tonight’s final Bonita 7, San Dimas 3. Does BHS go to #10 on the list? Just wonderin’…

  • No one

    fred, no one has really just banged northview’s pitching…so how can you say their pedroza or bust. it was even proved in the CO,ayala game, bonita game. They didnt hit Martinez, noorwood, or mejia solid. Someone is right about the boys not winning scoring on 1-2runs a game, but Northview is anything but a ordinary team. These kids have one thing that other teams dont…..they wont become complacent with just being the school they are, They also have nothing to be complacent about, they know they have a target on their chest everytime they step out on the field, how one game will be dictate what kind of team they are,&how they lost too much talent. Northview is northview straightup!

  • A totally confused JCAZ here

    Ok, let me se if I got this one right here.cause Im a little bit confused here (maybe not the first time eh ?)

    In times past, a number one had to lose before he was to be able to drop down from the top spot right ? Well, so far so good I guess, because the number one guy from last week just lost a game.

    Ok, but here is where it gets a little bit confusing for me.

    We had two very good, and two very undefeated teams play a game this week. One of those two very good teams just happened to lose to an equally good team and the other team lost, but just barley.

    So why in the world is it that Amat gets absolutely slaughtered by OL, and South Hills barely loses its game, but South Hill gets thrown down not one, but two places in these rankings ??

    And dont sit here and say, well, Amat played a better team and SH didnt play against a quality opponent in their loss because its always been about wins and losses and never about quality opponents in here no matter what Fred said in here just the other day.

    One more thing, why is it that Glendora, who is undefeated, isnt at the number one spot right now ?

    Look, I dont get it, because if your going to try and be consistent in here, you should at least make it look like it.

    During the football season, you had an undefeated Charter Oak team on top of these rankings most of the time. Yet, when they played a cupcake schedule and never lost a game, and when Amat played and lost a game (or two) to a state or a national power, the powers that be, never took that same philosophy into consideration.

    I just dont get this whole ranking thing in here I guess…

  • Sherlock

    Fred,

    It just goes to show what happens when amat is not involved in something, you dont get the respect you deserve. Heck Glendora did not even merit a nice article the next day or Monday, ouch. Ill bet if Amat won it, well u get my drift.. For Amat to pass on the Glendora tourney , was a travesty and a huge injustice to the SGV. I bet napoleon figured out that he would have had to face one of their 5 count em 5 stud senior pitchers (Plutko, Gonzales, Smigelski, Cage, and Winterburn). Without doubt the best total staff in the SGV and quite possibly socal. Coach Henley is now smart and taking a page from Northview by giving the kids roles: starters, middle relievers, and a closer (like Andrade). Great formula for winning. (just loved how cage pitched the other night, he would be most schools #1)

    For all the Amat fans I do not want to hear about the level of competition because whoever they would have played in the Glendora tourney would have thrown their number 1 anyway. And baseball is all about pitching. Period. Getting crushed by O lu when their guy did not have their best stuff and they had to bring in a very average reliever well that is not what elite teams are all about. Amats pitching that night was exposed. And wait to their arms get tired in 2 weeks..

    And the question now remains does amat have enough pitching to win it all? That sound u hear is me throwing up some of the words I ate a few days ago. And what happened to the hitting? Amat is very very good , nice to see our valley doing so well. But and this is a big butt will they have enough pitching, we will see come natl classic time. Sure would have liked to see Glendora with plutko going against amat with paez, now that would have been fun and what a crowd that would have turned out. Glendora is very very good and should have been ranked number one. And if they go to Diamond Bar and win against Ken Mathews (i think DB will win though) well what else do you need to change the ranking??? If it stays the same (even if amat wins a game or two) well as Jack said in a few good men you want the truth you cant handle the truth.

    My now ranking is Glendora, Amat, So Hills call them the Big 3 as they will be swapping places all season long in the rankings. Now just rank the rest of the also rans as the rest.

    To Let em play, well said and great points on Northviews defense last year and 2 years ago. (remember too they had a great closer which they do not have this year).

  • Wow

    Wow Fred,
    Northview .500 rest of way? Ok, you take the team to pizza when they finish a lot better than .500 record. You saw one game that they went toe to toe with Glendora (areas best team)and you formulate that opinion? Tournaments are like quarterbacks, get too much credit when you win and too much scrutiny when you lose. Tournaments are misleading bigtime. As for top team, it’s Glendora. It’s about pitching at this level and they have multiple arms that can get it done. They play solid defense behind the dish and up the middle, but unfortunately for Glendora is that they won’t be able to keep the top ranking long…because they will lose a game or two in their league because it’s a really good league, while Amat and S. Hills will skate through theirs. Hope Fred considers this when doing rankings.

  • FredJ

    Sherlock, just to understand each other, we couldn’t cover the Glendora tournament final because of daylight savings time, we were given a firm 9:15 p.m., deadline on Saturday night, which I explained to coach Henley after they won their semifinal. On Monday, we followed up what happened. That’s why we chose to cover the other Glendora in the San Dimas final, it started at 6 and there was a reasonable chance to get it it. Steve Ramirez covered a 7 p.m. Citrus game in the state semifinals and couldn’t even get quotes from the coaches, sending his story the second the game ended. We felt 7 p.m., baseball game would have run past 9:15 which most do, so that’s why we didn’t cover the championship, Amat or not. Or maybe you missed the front page spread of Glendora beating Northview in the semis, or our daily scoring updates of the tournament.

  • my2cents

    Hey Sherlock you dont need a lot of “roles” in league play when your only playing 14 innings per week. A lot of depth at Glend.? Yes. Only need really 3 arms to win it all though. Which 2 get screwed out of innings in the equation? That may be the story and can Henley massage the whole thing and motivate the boys to play for the 2010 season (and not look beyond to the next level)And seriously in my opinion we’re only talking about 2 draftable arms here in Plutko and Smigelski. Winterburn is a converted catcher that will need to develop at UCSB and Cage and Gonzalez are not div 1 bound (albeit very good hs pitchers) Should be interesting. Another factor also is that Henley does not have too many playoff victories on his resume. Not sure he can lead the boys where hes never been. Just my 2 cents.

  • patrick

    Who won the game between Diamond Bar vs Walnut yesterday?

  • WOW

    Walnut won 12-11 in 9 inns. Some big changes need to be made over at Diamond Bar H.S. League starting Friday oh man what a long season it is going to be………

  • Dbar’s toast

    Walnut deserved the win over Diamond Bar, DBAR’S Coach is horrible. Diamond Bar’s defense is horrible. When was the last time Walnut beat Diamond Bar in baseball? Wow! Good Job Shitley! It’s going to be a long season.

  • Dbar’s toast

    Walnut deserved the win over Diamond Bar, DBAR’S Coach is horrible. Diamond Bar’s defense is horrible. When was the last time Walnut beat Diamond Bar in baseball? Wow! Good Job Shitley! It’s going to be a long season.

  • Dbar’s toast

    Walnut deserved the win over Diamond Bar, DBAR’S Coach is horrible. Diamond Bar’s defense is horrible. When was the last time Walnut beat Diamond Bar in baseball? Wow! Good Job Shitley! It’s going to be a long season.

  • WOW

    I agree with you Dbar’s toast said:

    How can a team with 3 D-1 players on it be this average. Something is not right over at D-Bar.
    This team should be winning a lot of games if the pieces are in the right spot. Walnut should be a win every time over at D-Bar. Man how times have changed!!!!

  • Get rid of Eric

    The Coaching at Diamond Bar is the problem.

  • socal baseball fan

    Diamond Bar needs to find a 3rd starter and a closer. Mathews can finish games however the #2 starter needs help. I could not find the stats for the game vs Walnut however they had 2 chances to close out the game and failed in the 8th-9th innings. After a slow start the hitting seems fine.
    Upland after beating 3 cupcakes in their own tournament lost the baseline opener vs Alta Loma.

  • One trick pony

    So Cal Baseball,

    Were you at the same game? They were out hit, coached, and out pitched all the way around. Kenny is a one trick pony!

  • amat lover565

    anyone know about amat’s freshman baseball teams. Hows the future looking?

  • amat lover565

    anyone know about amats freshman baseball teams?

  • where’s randy?

    If you DB guys keep complaining about DB baseball I’m going to give randy a call and he’ll give you a piece of his mind !

  • Lancerville

    AmatLover565

    I believe the Freshman have two teams..Blue/Gold.
    I got to see a home game against Servite, and I believe it was the “Blue” team playing. From what I saw at that game, the bats and the defense looked pretty good. The Freshman also won against Pasadena today.
    Infact the Luck-of-the-Irish hit all the teams today!

  • thebiggame

    We will see how good South Hills and Bishop Amat are when they play at Mt. Sac under the lights in late april. I’m sure both teams are circling that game on their schedules.

  • thebiggame

    We will see how good both South Hills and Bishop Amat are when they play at Mt. Sac under the lights in late april. I’m sure both teams are circling that game on their schedule.

  • Shib you suck!

    Hey Shibley,

    Good job with the loss to Walnut! You want to make a name for yourself, and step out of “Gonzo’s” shadow. Congratulations, you did just that. Worst baseball Coach In The Valley.

  • Walnut Supporter

    How about giving credit where credit is due and give the scrappy little Walnut Mustang baseball team some well deserved credit. They clearly outplayed the higher division, higher rated D-Bar team. Hey SGV Tribune… how about some coverage for Walnut. They may not have the big name D-1 prospects as some of the other area schools, but they are a solid 3-1-1 so far this season. This scrappy-never say die team may surpise you this year…

  • larvi

    If I hear one more of these bozo NCAA announcers say…”and he’s only a freshman!!!!” I’m going to turn it off.
    They are mostly freshman and sophmores dummies. If you’re a senior in CBB you suck.

  • FredJ

    Two weeks into the season and we got our first coverage complaint.

  • sherlock

    Fred,

    Thanks for the explanation. I see that it would not have worked. May I suggest that someone be at the Glendora at Diamond Bar game Friday. Check to see if Plutko is going against Mathews, if so then that may be one of the best games of the year. Mathews is going to ca st Fullerton and Plutko I think UCLA.

    My 2 cents, you make a lot of sense, Ill give ya that. Did you see Cage throw? I think hes right there with the top guys in the valley and socal. Watch and we will see. Definitely has the giddy up.

    This year just seems different for the Glendora folks why well all those kids have been together since 9 yr olds and they have been schooled by coach winterburn from la verne. A big advantage as they play hardnosed baseball and I get the feeling care about each other.

  • Fan

    Walnut supporter – How is C. Romo doing? I really like that kid. He has a great attitude and approach to the game. Great family too. I wish him and Walnut baseball all the best.

  • sherlock

    Fred,

    yep I have no life, on the coverage just a reminder that there are very passionate baseball fans from across the valley and when they finally have their school (son or daughter)doing well and most likely for the first time in awhile and they just hope and pray it stays like that well they just clamor for some love , thats all.

    From a parent view they mostly have it in for the coaches and are just waiting for the wheels to fall off. So basically they want in while the gettns good. Am I right Walnut???

    Not very many schools are blessed with a great coaching staffs like sh, co, bonita, nv, amat or probably the most important factor a principal that supports athletics and the coaches rather than having to deal with it as part of hs life.

    We get what we get with all the egos, favs, and brilliant ideas trying to reinvent a simple game thats been played for over hundred years. Pitch ball hit ball field ball.

  • kh

    fred were mowing down her top 10 teams 1 game at a time.
    whos next los altos tuesday
    7 to 1 c.o done.
    san dimas 7 to 3
    checking out amat numbers vs bonita
    amat b,a, 311
    bonita 313
    run scored aamat 20
    bonite 47
    home runs amat 5
    bonita 11with only giving up 1 run today are era is pretty close,
    plus pitching at glendora cracker jack field is a little tough on the era.
    your not even close too being #1 fred learn the game.
    we would spank you guys .
    3 runs agaisnt la salle please fred,south hills will own you guys.
    good luck up top.
    we dont give a rats ass about your ranking in l.v.town .go amat
    s.d.will be you guys

  • DBFan

    For all you guys who’s bad mouthing the DBar team, please watch the game, Our starting SS and Top hitter D1 prospect Chester Pak was not in the Game. KMat is doing great, he is not a one trick pony, he is 3 fo3 hitting 1.000 in that game. Don’t be a cry baby over there. DB will be fine.

  • Walnut Supporter

    Fan- I agree Romo is a good kid with good parents. I believe he is the only sophmore on varsity. Good attitude and approach. He was killing the ball early on. Cooled off just a bit.

  • THEN WHY CRY

    kh,
    If you don’t care about the rankings then why cry all over the blog about bonite’s or bonita’s ranking . At least you got one thing right . Comaring your teams stats to Amat .That shows at least you know who’s at the top and how to gauge your teams success by comparing them to Amat. How about that win agaist Chatsworth . Pretty impressive don’t you think. Let’s see Bonita take on a team of that caliber then maybe your words would have some backing. Let them jump out of the fishbowl once or twice and test other waters outside the SGV.

  • kh

    comparing stats for stats ,
    we own them.
    chatsworth has 3 loses my friend dont get to excited.
    there wins where against some team in oxard.they loss to all the good teams they have played.again where talking city to city teams your talking city to sgv allstar team .they dont impress me at all.i know all there players position for position.whats the big deal.would love to see them centerfielder in a heads up race in the 60 yd dash with bonita cf..bonita will smoke him.and are rt fielder heads up with there rt fielder throwing, hitting base running.at the end of the year i will post all the amat stats with bearcats stats.whos ever on top .is a better player hands down,stats dont lie…

  • just sayin’

    kh – you know better than that. It’s like somparing stats in Triple A to MLB stats. It matters who you play to get those stats. And don;t forget that during that dash you have to track the ball and then catch it at the end.

  • stats

    Can someone please fix the stats for Amat. They are incorrect. Hitting, pitching, etc. Come on K.H. is about to make comparison to Bonita and Amat are incorrect. Please make the corrections.

  • CHANGE YOUR NAME

    kh,
    If you keep this up you might as well change your name to SGVs 2nd Best. Man you got a case bad case of Amat in is your head blues. On the field this Amat team would tear your Bonita team a new one. Now what would a 60 yard dash prove. Man you’re either hitting the bottle again or have swithched to a crack pipe because you have completely lost your mind . Bring back soberman at least he views things a bit more level headed.By the way at the end of the year it’s who has the championship that counts not the best stats. Even a moron like you should know that.Remember it is the team that matters not the individual. You should know that having been a pro. Unless your one of those it’s all about me not the team type of guy.

  • kh

    c your name
    in baseball at the try-outs they run the 60 yd dash.
    sorry you didnt know baseball.
    how about h.s div.3 to h.s. div.4
    mlb to aaa
    now you guys are mlb
    i better get over there and get some autografts
    while there still lower case .
    where all tired of the amat thing boys.
    good luck and still for today sober and clean thanks for the thaughts love the positive emergy,do you call your boy a loser too or wife.
    your a real class act.

  • kh

    c your name
    one more thing.
    i was only a minor leaguer.
    sorry but in the pros its all about your own stats.
    its not about the team at all ,
    at any time they will move two of your best players off the team to the higher level,
    there not in the business to win minor league championships.
    its about moving top players to the bigs and the bigs olny.
    they dont ever move the whole team to the next level meat head.
    so take your hit,were waiting for your next.non baseball story.

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