SBLive’s LA City Section Baseball Top 10: Poly debuts at No. 9
With league play in full swing, here are SBLive’s seventh Top 10 LA City Section high school baseball rankings of the season. The rankings are compiled by SBLive California reporter Connor Morrissette and are released weekly.
SBLIVE’S LA CITY SECTION TOP 10 BASEBALL RANKINGS
April 4, 2022
1. Granada Hills (13-2-1)
Last week: 1
Granada Hills has won six games in a row. Highlanders head coach Matt Matuszak said his team played "one of our best games of the year" in their 8-1 win over Cleveland last week.
2. Birmingham (11-5)
Last week: 2
Birmingham split its series with No. 3 Chatsworth last week with each team winning one game. But there's more to the story. Birmingham filed a protest with the City Section after its 3-0 game one defeat against Chatsworth and the game may be replayed from the bottom of the third inning if it's successful.
The protest occurred when the umpire in the game only threw out an illegal Chatsworth bat (pine tar) instead of ruling the Chatsworth batter, who had hit a ground ball to score the Chancellors' second run in the game using the bat, out and taking the run off the board. Per City Section rules, the batter should have been called out and the run should not have counted so there's a good chance the protest is upheld and the remainder of the game is replayed. A decision will come on Tuesday.
Birmingham won the second game of the Chatsworth series 8-2 to stay at No. 2 in this week's rankings.
3. Chatsworth (9-7)
Last week: 8
Chatsworth moves up to No. 3 this week because as of right now, the Chancellors handed No. 2 Birmingham its first City Section loss of the year last week.
Chatsworth starting pitcher Josh Pollack threw six shutout innings in the 3-0 win over Birmingham. He struck out six batters and used a beautiful breaking ball to get out of a couple of jams in the game. Jose Ruedas recorded the save.
4. El Camino Real (10-6)
Last week: 3
ECR stays at No. 4 this week after going 1-1 against unranked Taft in the West Valley League last week. The Royals picked up a big win over No. 8 Sylmar 6-5 on Saturday and ECR has also beaten No. 5 Roosevelt and No. 9 Poly this year, which makes for a strong resume.
5. Roosevelt (12-5)
Last week: 6
Here is where the rankings get difficult. Roosevelt has lost to No. 7 Palisades and No. 10 Cleveland this season, but beaten No. 3 Chatsworth and No. 6 San Pedro. The Roughriders are No. 5 this week in large part because of pitcher Lino Zepeda. The senior can keep his team in any game as he showed in Roosevelt's 1-0 eight inning loss to No. 1 Granada Hills two weeks ago. Zepeda threw 7 and 2/3 innings and struck out 13 in the defeat.
6. San Pedro (8-6)
Last week: 9
The Pirates have strong pitching depth and they showed it off in their 1-0 win over No. 7 Palisades last week. Senior Jesse Ferreira, the team's third starter, threw a complete game shutout striking out six in the victory.
7. Palisades (9-3-1)
Last week: 5
Palisades' best win of the year came against No. 5 Roosevelt 2-0 on March 18, but falling 1-0 to No. 6 San Pedro last Saturday means the Dolphins come in at No. 7 this week.
8. Sylmar (9-6-1)
Last week: 7
Sylmar is another tough team to rank because the Spartans have beaten No. 3 Chatsworth this season but also lost to unranked Kennedy. When Frank Garcia pitches, Sylmar can compete with anyone.
9. Poly (11-6)
Last week: NR
Poly debuts this week after beating No. 10 Cleveland 3-2 on Saturday. Jessie Pineda threw a complete game and struck out seven in the win. Diego Ortega had the game-winning RBI.
10. Cleveland (8-8)
Last week: 4
Cleveland drops from No. 4 to No. 10 after going 0-3 last week. The Cavaliers lost twice to No. 1 Granada Hills and then to No. 9 Poly 3-2 on Saturday. Cleveland's best win this season came against No. 5 Roosevelt 10-0 on Feb. 28.
Honorable mention: Marshall, Taft and Carson
