BASEBALL RANKINGS: Palo Alto Flexes its Muscle

Patch unveiled its Silicon Valley high school baseball rankings earlier this month. 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 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: Milpitas, Del Mar, Westmont, Leigh, Branham, Prospect, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Gunn, Cupertino, Monta Vista, Homestead, Lynbrook, Los Altos, Pinewood, Mountain View, St. Francis-Mountain View, Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, Harbor, Pacific Collegiate, Soquel, Aptos, Watsonville, St. Francis-Watsonville, Pajaro Valley, Monte Vista Christian, Gilroy and Christopher High.

Records are based on reported games played through Sunday, April 24.

BASEBALL

1. St. Francis 20-4, 11-1 WCAL (Last week: 1) – The 24th ranked team in California, according to Maxpreps.com, suffered its first three-game losing streak last week in a highly-competitive national tournament held at Cal State Fullerton. St. Francis returns home to host San Benito this Thursday.

2. Palo Alto 16-7, 9-3 De Anza (3) –  Vikings take two from first place Los Altos in convincing fashion to move into the second spot in rankings and into first place in the De Anza. Paly is 4-0 against Homestead and Los Altos in 2011.

3. Los Altos 15-7, 9-3 De Anza (2) – Los Altos drops a pair to rival Paly. Final two league games against Homestead this week could decide eventual De Anza champ.

4. Homestead 15-8-1, 9-3 De Anza (4) – Two losses to playoff-bound Archbishop Mitty and Monterey High don’t hurt positioning. The key De Anza dual of the week pits the Mustangs against Los Altos.

5. Los Gatos 14-8-2, 7-7 De Anza (5) – ‘Cats cooled by Wilcox last week to dim any hopes of De Anza title, losing streak sits at four heading into non-league tilt against Bellarmine.

6.  Leigh 14-5-1, 13-2 Santa Teresa (7) – Longhorns suffer only second loss in league play to Oak Grove to move into first place tie with Eagles. Upper division test against Pioneer High takes place on Thursday at Pioneer.

7. Soquel 12-6-1, 6-1 SCCAL (9) – Five game remain in SCCAL play, do the Knights have the chops to finish what they started and win a league title?

8. Westmont 11-9, 8-7 Mt. Hamilton (6) – Warriors win wild one over Branham 19-12; shutout by Los Altos on Saturday. Tough tilts against Sobrato and Soquel up next this week.

9.  Aptos 12-7, 5-1 SCCAL (8) – Three SCCAL games are on the docket this week for the Mariners. A strong week could put them in the driver’s seat for the league crown.

10.  Monta Vista 12-8, 8-2 El Camino (10) – Monta Vista goes 1-2 during loaded week of games against Homestead, Aptos and Mitty. A 6-4 win over Aptos is nice non-league feather in caps of Matadors.

11. Del Mar 12-6-1, 9-4-1 Santa Teresa (11) – Edges Prospect in lone league game last week. Dons still chasing first place Leigh and Oak Grove in Santa Teresa.

12. Milpitas 11-5-1, 7-3 El Camino (13) – Trojans pitching holds Gunn to one run in 14 innings during two-game sweep last week. Showdown against first place Monta Vista comes up today.

13. Gilroy 13-11, 8-7 TCAL (12) – Mustangs take part in stacked Serra tourney field last week. After 12-day hiatus for Spring Break, Gilroy hosts North Salinas on May 3.

14. Harbor 10-7, 3-2 SCCAL (UR)-  Two games with Aptos in next 10 days will go a long way to deciding  whether the Pirates are contenders or pretenders.

15. Monte Vista Christian 12-7, 11-2 MBL (14)-  Fell big to Pacific Grove in game one of Salinas Easter Tournament.  Non-league matchup against Palma is next.

Just missed the cut:

Gunn 7-8-1, 4-5 El Camino (15)

Watsonville 8-12, 3-9 MBL

Scotts Valley 8-10-1, 3-4 SCCAL

Santa Cruz 8-12, 2-4 SCCAL

Branham  7-11, 5-10 Mt. Hamilton