I know StL and Rice are supposed to be up there near 1. Not sure what the PLN's etc of the world have coming back.
Top Teams for '17?
- Thread starter DeanOfSelection
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JCA will be young but should be good. Lost Fellows to Vandy and Simonich to transfer, but return pretty much everyone else. The 2018 class is very good and the 2019 class is even better. Probably 5 div 1 kids in 2019 class. In addition to the soph class, they have a Jr pitcher commited to ND and frosh infielder committed to Louisville
Correct. He has yet to play an inning of high school baseball. How the times have changed!
That is amazing. I didn't think baseball offered so early. I've heard about basketball doing it. I guess it makes sense with the many exposure events and proliferation of travel baseball. Plus, kids start playing organized baseball at 5 yrs. old.
Rice will/should be #1. Line up is loaded. Pitching won't be as strong as last year when they had 4 studs, but they will still be strong on the bump. Rice also got freshman Marquis Jackson, one of the top players from the JRW Little League team...Laurence will be really good with Burnette, Farrell and McCormick. My beloved Caravan will have a strong team with Thomas, Seymour, and Pettigrew, along with Hupe and Munoz on the hill, plus they got another Houston as a freshman, another JRW player from the LL World Series team. Rita took some loses but don't count them out....sadly only one of these teams will make it out of sectionals though.
Plainfield South top 20 nationally according to multiple polls so far. This one has them as high as 11th https://statelinesportsnetwork.net/...al-public-school-baseball-preseason-rankings/
Montini has 7 starters coming back and several good pitchers. Lost in Sectional final to Fenwick but will definitely be better this year.
New pitching rules taking their first victim. Once Kutt came out of the game, they lost it
LT is for real. They beat Montini 9-2. Although 4 of their runs were unearned they have a ton of kids who can hit the ball. Solid pitching with one kid throwing over 85 with good control.
Correct. We will see if they can turn it around. Tough early schedule did them no favors.
I just think it is a real tough conference. I know its a cliché, but it seems like any night anyone can win in that conference. All four Plainfield schools are good, Oswego East has one loss and Minooka is a decent team. Throw in a Joliet Central team that is playing really well (beat Plainfield C, Minooka and Oswego East), and there are no days off.
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They had a pretty tough non-conference schedule and as mentioned previously, the conference is brutal. (most teams in the conference probably have several D1 pitchers). That being said, they have not been playing real well as of late.
Hilltoppers sure turned it around. Finished regular season with a 7-0 victory over Lincoln Way Central. After starting the year 4-7-1, JC finishes year on 18-4 streak to end year with a 22-11-1 record. Won the ESCC with 16-2 record. As a program went 51-3 in conference and were conference champions at all three levels. Both the frosh and sophs were 28-2 with numerous players playing up. Will most likely face Lemont in Regional finals.
Just read PBR's recap of the Lemont/JCA game. I was impressed with Lemont's Ryan Sublette on the mound, but I didn't realize he was as good as the article stated. Sat at 92-94 mph with his fastball all day. A few dipped to 90 in the sixth. A few hit 95 in the early innings. His last fastball was 94 on the black to end the game. And he is far from a one-pitch pitcher. No wonder he was so dominant. Was also impressed with Lemont's infield defense. They will be a tough out in 3A. Not sure who else they have on the mound, though.
JCA was very young this year. They should be very good the next 2-3 years.
JCA was very young this year. They should be very good the next 2-3 years.
Sheesh, really surprised with Plainfield Souths year. Read they didn't win their conference and then bounced before the sectional.
