Prep baseball rankings: Whitney is 8-1; McClatchy on pause; Woodland enters rankings
Jackson Watt has been waiting for this moment.
The Whitney High School baseball coach took over the program in 2018 and has been building a foundation that has led to this — an 8-1 start to the season after only winning seven games during last season’s shortened pandemic season.
Last week at home in Rocklin, Whitney beat No. 15 Ponderosa 5-2 to extend the team’s winning streak to six. Whitney’s only loss this season was to Vacaville.
The strong start can be attributed to the WIldcats’ senior leadership. Some of those key senior leaders are Dillon Castellanos, Jake Morell and Sam Thawley. Watt also praises his youth. That would include Tyler Allen, Gavin McLendon, Jax Gimenez, Jace Gillmore and Luke Oyler.
“We have a great young core,” Watt said. “Seeing a lot of the younger kids stepping up with the senior leadership we have has been awesome. It’s really cool to see these kids mesh on the field after all the time we put in the offseason leading up to this.”
The coach added, “My first couple of years (at Whitney) we were building. In the COVID year, we had a group of seniors and we were looking to make a run. Last year, we were young and we were trying to build something. We are still kind of young, but with more experience and more polished. It’s been cool to see this happen the last couple of years. The kids have put in a lot of work buying into what we want to do.”
All six teams in the Sierra Foothill League are ranked. The upstart Wildcats start league play this week. Whitney will open up with Granite Bay.
“It’s the best baseball league in Northern California, bar none,” Watt said. “It’s awesome every week to go out there (because) iron sharpens iron. You get to play the best teams around. It’s exciting to see this happening. The weather is finally heating up. The SFL is going to be a great test for everyone this year. Baseball is in a great spot.”
He added on goals for the team, “Playoffs are everything. That’s what this team is ultimately trying to do — go win a league and a section title at the end of the day. Last year it was tough because we tried to do an SFL tournament at the end of the year and it wasn’t the same. It’s huge we get the playoffs coming back and hopefully, we can make a run this year.”
Around the horn
▪ Welcome to the rankings, Woodland. For the first time this season, the Wolves are ranked after taking the series from Pioneer. Carter Imbach leads the team in hits and runs scored. Austin Stapleton is the team leader in RBIs with eight.
▪ Third-ranked McClatchy didn’t play last week because of a staffing strike in the Sacramento City Unified School District. The Lions are off to one of their best starts in school history at 9-0. They can’t practice or play games until the strike is resolved.
▪ Vista del Lago defeated crosstown rival Folsom 15-13 under the lights at Folsom Lake College. Richie Gregory and Spencer Marr both drove in two runs for the Eagles and Dylan Dray got the win on the mound.
▪ Oakmont swept West Park to improve to 6-0 on Foothill Valley League play. Tony Lira, Danny Myles, Tristan Ogles and Brayden Murua all have double-digit hits this season.
▪ Small-school powerhouse Valley Christian beat Laguna Creek 9-7 to improve to 4-4 on the season. Jackson Nichols had two doubles and two RBIs and got the win on the mound. Nick Befort and Tim Bacon both had big performances at the plate.
▪ After starting the season 1-5, Jesuit responded by picking up series wins over Franklin and Pleasant Grove to start Delta League play. Max Wiesner pitched a complete game shutout and struck out the side to end the second game.
▪ Alpha Charter improved to 7-1 with a 12-1 win over Everett Alvarez. The Angles are led by Devan Carter, Jaxon Byrd and Elijah White.
▪ Sutter is off to a strong start at 9-1. The Huskies capped the week by beating Union Mine 7-3 behind RBIs by Rylan Giovannoni, Andrew Hanson, Angel Delgado and Wyatt Eggers.
▪ Bella Vista has won seven games in a row and is off to a 6-0 start in Capital Valley Conference play. The Broncos swept River Valley and beat Antelope in the final game of the series. Daniel Paul, Kyle Smith and Tyler Bennett all have double-digit hits.
▪ Vanden remained perfect with two wins over rival Vacaville last week to improve to 11-0. The Vikings will face the Bulldogs in the series finale on Tuesday. Tyler James leads his team in hits (18), RBIs (11) and doubles (four).
The Bee’s Top 25
Records entering play Monday
1. Elk Grove 9-2
2. Woodcreek 6-1
3. McClatchy 9-0
4. Vista del Lago 10-2
5. Granite Bay 3-4
6. Franklin 9-3
7. Vanden 11-0
8. Del Campo 7-3
9. Del Oro 8-1
10. Vacaville 7-5
11. Whitney 8-1
12. Rocklin 4-5
13. Folsom 4-4
14. Oak Ridge 4-4
15. Ponderosa 4-6
16. Jesuit 5-6
17. Placer 6-3
18. Rio Americano 7-3
19. Bella Vista 9-2
20. Oakmont 7-4
21. Roseville 6-7
22. Pleasant Grove
23. River City 10-3
24. Woodland 4-4
25. Pioneer 6-3
Bubble teams: Bradshaw Christian (5-2), Christian Brothers (5-5), Colfax (5-7), Cordova (4-4), Davis (3-7), Kennedy (7-3), Lincoln (5-5), Marysville (9-2), Nevada Union (6-5), Sutter (9-1)