Rankings 4/12

[gone*country]

1. St. Marks
2. Dover
3. Hodgson
4. Appo
5. Caravel
6. Archmere
7. CR
8. Middletown
9. S. Tech
10. Sallies
11. S. Central
12. Lake
13. Smyrna
14. St. Georges
15. Conrad
16. Milford
17. Mount Pleasant
18. Charter
19. William Penn
20. DMA

 

[548]

I think Dover should be #1 this week. St. Marks lost today. It is starting to look like there are no dominate teams this year, just lots of good teams from 1-15.

 

[gone*country]

I stayed with St. Mark's because they have played 3 more games with wins over 3 top 10 teams. I agree there are no dominant teams this year and anyone has a shot of winning the Championship if they can make it in the tournament.

 

[oldskool42]

Gone Country...

I totally agree with you regarding St Marks still being #1. 3 wins over top ten teams is still best in state. BUT for the same reason i would say you didn't give enough credit to Caravel. Caravel has 1 top ten win against Sals and you have to give them credit for 3 wins over good out of state teams. Maybe you could argue Hodgson at #2 because they also have 3 top ten wins as well and put Caravel #3. I could buy that, but i personally can't buy Dover and Appo over Caravel.

I don't believe Dover should be over Hodgson or Caravel. They only have 1 top ten win (CR)...thats it.

Same goes for Appo. They are playing great, but they only have 1 top ten win...(over Sals).

But thats just my opinion...

Good rankings either way...

 

[gone*country]

Oldskool41........
Thanks for the reply. I always respect your opinion.
I would like to give Caravel more credit and would like to see them play more in-state games. Its hard for me to get a read when playing out-of-state teams. I gauged their performance on a win over Sals and a loss to Charter (maybe that's not fair, not sure).
I don't think Dover can be discounted yet until they prove otherwise. S. Tech and Appo this week should give indication if they are legit.
I understand your reasoning w/ Appo. They may have moved up too quick. Middletown & Dover this week is no easy row to hoe so it will be interesting to see.

Anyway, glad to see the weather getting warmer & want to wish all the Players the best of luck this coming week. Who knows, the state could see a Public School Champion this year.

 

[oldskool42]

I see what your saying about Caravel...and trust me, there is nothing i enjoy seeing more is a public school at the top of the list. But i just see Caravel's schedule being a pretty tough one. But your absolutely right, how do we really know how good the out of states are.

I have seen Appo and i'm thinking they are pretty legit. They won a great pitchers duel over Sallies and a lost a great pitchers duel vs Hodgson. They are dominating the weaker teams like they should. They are hitting, they are pitching well (especially Garrett) and they have very few "recorded" errors. Thats all a great combination for success. Don't want to get crazy yet, but I think St Marks and Caravel will need to clean their games up to beat a hot Appo team. But the problem with publics is that they lack depth in the playoffs.

Tech i do think has something to prove still. They have 5 wins over some pretty weak teams. That includes a 1-run win over Glasgow and a 2 run win over Newark. They got beat 9-2 by CR who can't seem to beat a legit top ten team.

A nice test this week for Appo and Tech, is they both play Dover. Assuming the weather doesn't get in the way, we should learn a little about all three teams this week.

 

[CHS89]

Good pitching always beats good hitting. That's for sure this year. Whenever Walter, Peluse, Carney, Fraley or Garrett are in the mound their team should be favored. I saw Walter vs. Middletown and he was awesome. Have one kid playing for Caravel and the other for Middletown and my one son played travel ball with Garrett and Steckline. All these boys are legit. Setting up for Peluse vs. Garrett on Thursday. Can't wait. Still early to know what the true top 10 is.

 

[8yaz]

Here's the News Journal's


1. Caravel (4-1) 1
2. St. Mark's (6-1) 2
3. Dover (4-0) 3
4. Hodgson (6-1) 4
5. Appoquinimink (5-1) 5

 

[8yaz]

Starting to look like Sussex Tech needs some top 5 consideration.

 

[TouchThemAll]

St. Mark's could take a quick tumble from the 1-2 spot to out of the top 5 this week. Hard to argue against Tech nudging them out. SM plays Sallies Thursday. Rivalry games are always hard to predict, but I don't think St. Mark's has lost 3 straight in at least the past 10 years.

 

[oldtimer22]

Originally posted by TouchThemAll:
St. Mark's could take a quick tumble from the 1-2 spot to out of the top 5 this week. Hard to argue against Tech nudging them out. SM plays Sallies Thursday. Rivalry games are always hard to predict, but I don't think St. Mark's has lost 3 straight in at least the past 10 years.

Don't remember St Marks losing 3 straight even when they went 11-7 a couple years ago. If they don't make some changes and fix their defense soon they are not going anywhere this year.

Would bet Sallies pitch Hinton and St Marks goes with Reich on Thursday at Frawley.

 

[oldskool42]

Touch...i don't agree with St Marks taking a tumble.

I am looking at who teams have beaten....this is where i would put the top ten teams.

Caravel has 2 wins over a top ten team (Sals, St Marks)...plus over Riverdale and other good OOS teams
St Marks has 3 wins over what i would call top ten teams (CR, Hod, Arch)
Hodgson has 1 win over a top ten team (Appo) and 3 wins over top 20 teams (St G, Mtown, DMA)
Tech has 2 wins over top ten (Smy, Dov), no other wins over top 20 teams
Archmere has 1 win over top ten (CR), 3 wins over top 20 teams (WP,Conrad, DMA)
Appo has 1 win over a top ten (Sallies), 1 win over a top 20 team (Mtown)
Dover has 1 win over a top ten team (CR), no other wins over top 20 teams
CR has 1 win over a top ten team (Tech), 1 win over a top 20 team (lake)
Sals has no wins over a top ten team, 1 win over a top 20 team (Central)
Smyrna has no wins over top teams, 2 wins over top 20 teams

I'm not saying losses don't matter, but i think you have to beat good teams to really get credit.

So i don't see how Tech could be over St Marks at this point. In addition, St Marks beat CR, where Tech lost to CR 9-2. I think people are quick to punish St Marks and Caravel for losing a game but i think there resume of wins is still better. I don't see having any team, besides Caravel, above St Marks at this point.

I could see arguing Tech over Hodgson maybe since Tech has more top ten wins, but Hodgson has 4 total wins against top 20 teams, where Tech only has 2 wins over top 20.

But thats just my opinion. I would enjoy hearing other opinions though...


This post was edited on 4/17 2:45 PM by oldskool42

 

[TouchThemAll]

I guess there are different ways to look at Top 10. And, pitching makes that even more difficult when one team has a dominant ace, like Hodgson. Would they have beaten St. Mark's with him on the mound? Quite possibly. But as much as some coaches would like to, you can't pitch your ace every game.

From your list, only Caravel, St. Mark's and Smyrna have losses to teams not in the Top 10. For me, that kind of cancels out one of the Top 10 wins. However you rank them, this season has the greatest parity I've seen in high school ball in years and I'm enjoying it. This isn't the best year for level of play, but it's made for lots of close games. There are probably 6-8 teams who could make a run at the chip.

Side note: Sometimes it's hard to get a read on Caravel's OOS opponents, but Neumann-Goretti might be a tough one tomorrow night. NG is 6-1 and they beat Conwell-Egan 18-5 (Caravel beat them 7-5).

Side side note: It looks like Caravel didn't enter their win over St. Mark's as an official game on WebSites4Sports, so it's not showing up in the standings.


This post was edited on 4/17 4:21 PM by TouchThemAll

 

[8yaz]

Haven't seen them play. Anyone think St Georges is deserving of top 5 consideration, or at least top 10?