SBLive's Minnesota high school baseball Power 25: Centennial reaches No. 2 spot

SBLive's Minnesota softball Power 25: Mankato East and West jump into the top-10

Stillwater baseball staves off comeback, defeats Mounds View 8-7

Cretin-Derham Hall adds another top-25 win, defeats Stillwater

1. Cretin-Derham Hall (11-1)

Last Week: 1

In an eventful week, the Raiders won three games in a row to then suffer their first loss of the season in dramatic fashion, falling to Park of Cottage Grove in a surprising 17-4 defeat. 

However, Cretin-Derham Hall is still a one-loss team with plenty of quality victories, so it will hang onto the top spot for yet another week.

2. Centennial (9-3)

Last Week: 4

The Cougars have continued to claw their way up the leaderboard thanks to some stellar work in the field, and they secured their biggest statement win of the season thus far with a 8-0 shutout victory over East Ridge.

3. Minnetonka (8-3)

Last Week: 2

After sustaining two rough losses to Grand Rapids and St. Michael-Albertville, the Skippers bounced back with a big victory over Totino-Grace. 

Senior outfielder Joseph Adams hit a two-run moonshot in the winning effort, and just like that, the Skippers avoided an early season slump.

4. Benilde-St. Margaret's (9-3)

Last Week: 6

The Red Knights six game win streak was snapped, and the squad split their matchups from last week, losing two games against New Prague and Waconia, but securing wins versus both the Holy Angels and St. Louis Park. 

Just like that, another win streak is brewing for Benilde-St. Margaret's, and they will hope to extend it in their next matchup versus Orono.

5. Eastview (9-2)

Last Week: 9

The Lightning have been alternating between hot and cold stretches to start out their year, but this last week was certainly the former. 

They won all four of their games, including a huge 4-3 victory over Rosemount, who many consider to be one of the best teams in the state. At this point, 

Eastview has no need to further prove their legitimacy, so they will enter the top five for the first time all year.

6. Rosemount (7-2)

Last Week: 11

The star studded Irish squad has played up to their sky high expectations so far, as they have accumulated one of the best records in the league with an all star cast to match. 

However, Eastview seems to be the one thorn in Rosemount’s side they just can’t deal with. Coincidentally, both of their bouts so far this season have ended with 4-3 Lightning victories.

7. St. Thomas Academy (10-3)

Last Week: N/R

New to this list, but already in the Cadets are already in the top 10, and they have silently ruled the Metro East due to a nine-game winning streak they started a few weeks back. 

They have muscled out victories over highly ranked teams like Benilde-St. Margarets and Mahtomedi, and they have taken care of business against the rest of their opponents. Their strength of schedule hasn’t been stellar, but they’ve beaten enough good teams to solidify themselves as a program to watch.

8. Edina (8-3)

Last Week: 13

The Hornets play plenty of good teams, and only seem to lose to opponents of a similar caliber. 

Edina has battled the likes of Wayzata and Minnetonka, securing wins over both highly ranked schools. 

One of their biggest X-factors on the diamond so far is Kaden Morgan, who has hit two home runs to top off an impressive .412 on base percentage.

9. Mahtomedi (9-3)

Last Week: 12

Yet another team that has made a slow but substantial climb up this list, the Zephyrs can attribute their leap to a pair of dominant wins over Rocori and Simley to end their week. 

The record is impressive, but there are some reasonable contentions about their strength of schedule. 

Unfortunately for Mahtomedi, they will have to wait until late May to prove the doubters wrong, as that is when they will take on the 2nd ranked Centennial Cougars.

10. Wayzata (8-4)

Last Week: 10

The frontrunner of the Lake conference thus far, the Trojans have found their early success thanks in part to some consistent pitching. 

In their last win, Riley Leatherman tossed a complete game, holding Edina to a respectable four runs as his team cruised to victory. 

Their next game should be a good one, as they play inter conference opponent Minnetonka at none other than Target Field.

11. East Ridge (9-5)

Last Week: 7

The Raptors went 3-1 during last week’s slate of games, a good enough performance to climb up to second in the Suburban East. 

Sophomore Luke Ryerse has been one of the best batters on the squad so far, raking a batting average north of .400 while playing some solid defense on the hot corner.

12. White Bear Lake (9-5)

Last Week: 15

In what was both an impressive and long week for the Bears, they played five games, won four of them, and even managed a doubleheader sweep over conference opponent Woodbury. 

Their next four games will be against conference opponents, and the Bears will need a clean sweep of these matchups if they plan to move up from their third place ranking in the Suburban East.

13. Mounds View (6-6)

Last Week: 3

In a surprising fall from grace, the Mustangs dropped their last three games on the way to a winless week. To be fair though, the margins of defeat were razor thin, as Mounds View was defeated by one run in each of the three contests. 

The Mustangs should be all right in the long run, but their current stock will tumble a little as a result of these losses.

14. Woodbury (8-6)

Last Week: 5

The Suburban East slump is real. Although their record is still in the positive, Woodbury has lost five of their last seven games, an eyebrow raising statistic considering their hot start to the year. 

However, there were still some bright spots on the squad. Closing pitcher J.J. Minor pitched three scoreless innings against Irondale, securing his first varsity victory in the process.

15. Farmington (7-4)

Last Week: 16

The Tigers have put on a hitting clinic their last two games, combining for 28 runs in wins over Burnsville and Shakopee. However, underneath all of the runs being scored, the team’s excellent pitching was on full display. 

In their 12-1 win over Shakopee, senior pitcher Sawyer Hoffman tossed a complete game, striking out seven on the way to helping secure the victory for his squad.

16. Stillwater (8-6)

Last Week: 17

After a week where many Suburban East teams struggled, Stillwater was one of the lone programs in the conference to have a successful week. The Ponies got a big rivalry win over Mounds View, and although they were defeated in between, also took down Irondale in style, winning 12-0. 

The Ponies are fourth in the conference, and will only have four inter conference games to climb the standings as much as they can.

17. Rogers (8-3)

Last Week: 21

After a season opening where Rogers scored over 30 runs in three games, the Royals have mellowed out since, opting instead to have their pitchers control the pace of play. 

While they may have lost to Wayzata to start the week, the Royals shutout Chaska, held Maple Grove to three runs in a victory, and fought out a well contested offensive from Totino-Grace to win 7-6. The slew of wins and new pace of play are both very exciting for Rogers, who is continuing to climb this list week after week.

18. Chanhassen (8-3)

Last Week: 24

Last time Chanhassen was on this list, they had a losing record, and were on the cusp of getting replaced for a team with more wins. Flash forward one week later, and they are back. 

The Storm have won seven straight, and are looking very much like the state tournament contenders they were projected to be heading into the year.

19. Sartell-St. Stephens (9-1)

Last Week: 18

Still with one lone blemish on their record, Sartell-St. Stephens has put up an unbelievable year, steamrolling teams by double digit victories on multiple occasions. 

However, it hasn't had a single ranked win yet, and this keeps them bogged down for the time being.

20. Chaska (6-5)

Last Week: 14

A slight step down from last week’s ranking, Chaska’s record took a hit thanks to low scoring losses over Rogers and Chanhassen. 

Between these two games, the Hawks only scored one run, but these concerns at the plate were soon proven invalid after they scored 17 in a winning effort over Bloomington Jefferson. 

They also handed New Prague a 12-5 beatdown that showed the Hawks can play against anyone. There may have been signs of inconsistency last week, but at the same time, Chaska also put on display what they can do when they’re firing on all cylinders.

21. New Prague (9-3)

Last Week: 8

New Prague was finally defeated by Chaska for its first loss of the year. Then it lost again. And again. While 9-3 is certainly no record to scoff at, New Prague clearly has some issues it needs to address going forward if it wants to circle back to dominance.

22. Rochester Mayo (9-3)

Last Week: 19

The leader of the Big Nine conference, Rochester Mayo has used a pair of stars to build up their impressive resume. 

Senior Liam Dahl is batting an impressive .367 to go with 14 RBI’s, and Ian Regal is batting .357 with nine extra base hits, which averages out to almost one a game. 

These two, as well as the rest of the Spartans, will look to stay atop their conference and punch their ticket to state as the season goes on.

23. Elk River (9-3)

Last Week: 20

It was always a daunting task going up against a team like Centennial, and unfortunately Elk River did not fare too well, as they lost 4-10. 

The pitching staff must have taken this personally though, because they proceeded to allow only a single run between three separate ball games, earning a cumulative 0.33 ERA in the process. 

It’s fun to see revenge performances like this, and it will be interesting to see how these pitchers continue to play so well going forward.

24. Mankato West (6-4)

Last Week: 22

Taking another dip from last week is Mankato West, who struggled against rival Mankato East en route to a 7-9 defeat this last week. 

Regardless of this, they scored 48 runs in only three games before this, so it’s hard to even consider ruling them off of this list just yet.

25. Anoka (7-3)

Last Week: N/R

A new entry to this list, the Tornadoes are surprisingly above second ranked Centennial in their conference standings, a feat that shows this team can get it done against difficult opponents. 

Their pitching has put them in many situations to win so far, and their staff has collected multiple shutouts already. 

Individually, Anoka’s ace is senior Mason Hoheisel, who has a 3-1 record to go with an impressive 2.67 ERA.