- East Bay Prep Corner
East Bay Baseball Poll – 5/16
By Ben Enos
Monday, May 16th, 2011 at 3:20 pm in Baseball.
Here’s this week’s poll. Enjoy.
| Team | Record | Points | Last week |
| 1. Alameda (6) | 22-1 | 90 | 1 |
| 2. Clayton Valley | 18-3-2 | 82 | 2 |
| 3. James Logan | 19-3 | 80 | 3 |
| 4. De La Salle | 17-5 | 72 | 4 |
| 5. San Ramon Valley | 17-5 | 66 | 5 |
| 6. Granada | 15-7 | 59 | 6 |
| 7. Heritage | 16-6 | 53 | 9 |
| 8. Monte Vista | 16-6 | 49 | 8 |
| 9. Campolindo | 13-8-1 | 43 | 7 |
| 10. California | 13-9 | 33 | 10 |
| 11. Albany | 18-5 | 27 | 12 |
| 12. Las Lomas | 13-8-1 | 23 | 11 |
| 13. El Cerrito | 16-7 | 19 | t13 |
| t14. Miramonte | 16-6 | 9 | t15 |
| t14. Castro Valley | 16-8 | 9 | NR |
Also receiving votes: Deer Valley (14-8, 5 points), Arroyo (13-9, 1). The East Bay Prep Baseball Poll is voted on by the prep sports staff of Bay Area News Group-East Bay.
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May 16th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Castro valley in the top 15? That’s a joke!
May 17th, 2011 at 5:54 am
As of now CV is in the drivers seat to win the HAAL. At the end of the day that may have changed.
May 17th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Go, WOLVES! We are SR! Pitching, pitching, pitching will carry us through NCS. . .
May 17th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Castro Valley is a solid team. Well-coached, and when Matt Narahara is pitching, can compete with anyone in the Bay. It looks like they will have to forfeit a game, though, because they played too many non-league games. even with the forfeit, they will tie for the HAAL championship, and will get the automatic League Champion NCS bid with the tie-breakers. Congratulations to Coach Mario and CV.
May 17th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Which game are they forfeiting? I agree that with Narajara on the mound they are a threat to anyone, but they could be in deep trouble in round 2 should they win their first round game.
May 17th, 2011 at 11:26 am
Tony Gonsalez and Phil Jensen did a ton of research on this yesterday, so here’s the lowdown on how this is going down. CV will indeed forfeit a game, and it’ll be today’s scheduled contest with San Leandro. The Trojans went to a midseason tournament and ended up playing one extra game than they expected, so they’re already at 24 games.
The forfeit won’t impact the HAAL’s automatic bid to the playoffs. Based on tiebreakers, CV still has it. But, it could create a four-way co-championship, should Moreau, BOD and Arroyo all win today.
May 17th, 2011 at 11:52 am
That is tough for CV. I agree they are a good team. I didn’t see a score for their game against Hayward last Thursday? Moreau’s game against Acalanes is postponed until tomorrow due to rain; they play Tennyson on Thursday – Moreau will probably finish League play at 9-3. Arroyo plays Mt. Eden who just beat O’Dowd. O’Dowd finishes with Hayward.
May 17th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Who would you guys say are the top hitters in the eastbay?
May 17th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Congratulations to Coach Mario and Castro Valley on a very good year that didn’t start out too well. I hear Coach is a real disciplinarian which he probably got from Marques at Stanford. Sounds like it took a while for the kids to adjust but they’ll be better for it. Also, Mario’s brother Mike who spent a little time in the Dodger organization is helping, a lot of good knowledge being passed along over there at CV, good things should come in the future. With Narahara on the mound they’ll be a tough assignment for anybody. I’m not sure the pitching depth is there to carry them much further than the 1st round though. Prove me wrong CV! As a side note, I believe Mario was the winning pitcher in the 1992 NCS Championship game which was Hayward’s last. Good Luck to everyone, should be a great playoff season with some real dog fights.
May 17th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Congrats to CastroV baseball. First year Coach Mario had a rough start but has gotten his team moving the right direction. Narahara can go up against anyone…the #2? will need to step up.
May 17th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
Mario also is the holder of the Stanford winning pct. record at 10-1…. mostly in relief! He knows the drill; was an impact player all the way to Omaha.
He was an AC/1b coach on the Farm in ’10. Quality coaches he, his brother and their colleagues, with numerous signees in their history. Positive, mentoring attitude toward players. It’s no surprise, even with D-1 Narahara as their ace, plenty of others are stepping up and supporting their run. If you’re old school and want to see hustle, watch Castro Valley. Head Coach becomes a dad after taking the job, then loses his baseball mentor father mid-season. Quite the inaugural run for his high school resume. And yes, they did schedule an EBAL team and got the W.
May 18th, 2011 at 12:02 am
There going ta need some luck to get past there 1st rnd opponent. I jus think HAAL is a very weak league and if u dnt believe me jus look at what strength of schedule is. Anyteam makin NCS out of this league will be lucky to even get a win. And that’s some real talk
May 18th, 2011 at 6:21 am
CV has Narahara, O’Dowd has Ross – who are top pitchers. Thus, you have a good chance for a win in the first game, but tough since both teams are DI. Arroyo is DII and always a tough opponent. Should pick up a win or two in DII.
May 18th, 2011 at 8:20 am
Chs101214; I hadn’t heard that Mario Sr. had passed, my sympathies to the boys. I coached against Sr. in Little League and Babe Ruth, nice man and he surely loved his sons. I never saw a game the brothers played in that Sr. wasn’t in attendance.
May 18th, 2011 at 9:08 am
Ethnicsands – HAAL is weak? Compared to the BSAL or ACC? Sure EBAL and DFAL are loaded and very strong but HAAL may send four teams to NCS.
May 18th, 2011 at 10:06 am
I’m not hating but c’mon now, u can throw ur Ace but whn ur the 15 or 16 and playin the 1 or 2 seed tht kinda nulifys it. Yeah potentially 4 teams but we will see. I live in San Lorenzo so iv seen alot of these teams play. No matter what it’s going ta be fun so….
May 18th, 2011 at 10:11 am
Luvhsbaseball u might be right besides Alameda and CLayton Valley div2 is wide open
May 18th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Ethnicsands – Fair enough. I will concede this is not the strongest year for the HAAL. NCS should be fun.
May 18th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Freeman Ratings NCS League Rankings
1. EBAL
2. DFAL
3. MVAL
4. DVAL
5. BVAL
6. SCAL
7. MCAL
8. HAAL
11. ACCAL
12. BSAL
Pretty accurate I would say.
May 18th, 2011 at 10:45 am
You’re missing 9 and 10, looks like the BFL, NBAL. BFL has to be last.
May 18th, 2011 at 10:47 am
I skipped 9 and 10 because they aren’t local leagues.
May 18th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Alameda’s #2 starter just threw a 3 hitter vs. SRV on Saturday. This shows an ace like Narahara or Ross would stand at least a fighting chance against a top team if they were on top of their game and their team could muster just a couple of runs. The teams with 2 quality starters have a big advantage in round 2, IF they can get past round 1.
May 18th, 2011 at 11:28 am
FalconDad – Wait, the SCAL and MCAL are local? Marin and Sonoma are “local” but the BFL is not? The SCAL only goes as far south as Petaluma. The BFL has teams in Richmond, Walnut Creek, Fremont, Oakland and Dublin. Hard to see that as not being local.
May 18th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
BFL? This is just baseball rankings based on 2011. Are your referring to the Bay Football League? I think you mean the BCL with Head Royce and Athenian and Bentley? If you are here is the updated league rankings by Freeman Ratings:
1. EBAL
2. DFAL
3. MVAL
4. DVAL
5. BVAL
6. SCAL
7. MCAL
8. HAAL
9. Humboldt Big 4
10. NBAL
11. ACCAL
12. BSAL
13. BCL
May 18th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
http://calpreps.com/2010-2011-boysbaseball/ratings/North_Coast_leagues.htm
May 19th, 2011 at 12:11 am
Ahhh, may bad. Consider all previous statements retracted. Thinking in football terms. Although, aren’t SCAL/MCAL/NBAL all the same level of North and non-local?
May 19th, 2011 at 9:42 am
With the top 4 D1 teams (JL, DLS, SRV & Granada) teams all losing yeserday, the D1 seedings next week should be interesting. I don’t believe there is a clear cut favorite going in. Anyone is subject to being knocked off early.
May 19th, 2011 at 10:08 am
Nice to see Arroyo in the mix. But if you look at the ACCAL bottom teams and the BSAL bottom teams i would have to say the BSAL has the edge.
May 20th, 2011 at 7:20 am
Does anyone know the actual requirements for at large teams to qualify for NCS playoff. My understanding was a team needed to have either a winning overall record, or a winning league record. Winning meaning more wins then losses.
May 20th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
teams need a .500 or better record either overall, in league or in Division games.
May 20th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
has to be better than .500 not .500 or better. Foothill and Amador are INELIGIBLE for NCS
May 20th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
NCS Website:
To be accepted as a participant in the NCS/Les Schwab Tires Baseball Championships, a team shall have compiled a winning record, or a
winning record against teams in its own Division or a winning record in league. Exception: league champions gain automatic entry.
a. A winning record is defined as a team having won more games than it has lost.
May 20th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Only 15 teams are eligible in D1. So the #1 seed will get a bye.
May 20th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Good job encinal! Not bad for a team with 11 players 2 freshman starting congrats on winning league! You outplayed & outclassed your opponent. Damn st.joes 3-0 curve! Know thats respect! St.joe’s rememeber you cant walk of an island you gotta hit ask my dominicano brothers!
May 20th, 2011 at 10:44 pm
California High School is really, really knocking on the door now. We just beat San Ramon Valley and De La Salle, finishing second in the EBAL behind the big bad wolves. But just wait until NCS. Nick Tyrrel is on fire and Steven Moen hasn’t let go of the gas pedal either. We have two outstanding pitchers who will be key anchors in our potential run en route to a title, Evan Brisentine and Logan Truex, with ERA’s under one and a half, both lower than that of any Monte Vista or Granada pitcher and all but one of those of San Ramon Valley. Also, very deep into extra innings against DLS we had Sarmenta come up big with a walkoff homer when it seemed we needed it most. (By the way, I have a shocking story of what happened afterward – his car was robbed late that night, I believe at a dance show. You think there was a connection?) Bracket placement, strategy, and all will be very key in our chances of winning it all. I think it would help if we get DLS early while they are still trying to overcome their struggles and SRV late when they may have used up Carter. I believe beginning-of-the-year favorite Amador Valley is down for the count due to their failure to stay under the radar this year, although they are still in the playoffs if they had beaten Foothill (this result hasn’t been updated, does anybody know it? I heard FalconDad say Amador is ineligible, that would have to mean Amador lost today. If they won they would qualify with a division record of 10-9.) So anyway, I think it will come down to CAL, DLS, SRV, and maybe even Logan. I’m excited because last time, what I said was how it went down, with the pitchers and Sarmenta and everything else. I can’t wait for the playoffs.
May 20th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
EBAL updates:
Cal 8 – DLS 5, Cal overcame a 5 run deficit in the 6th inning on the road to take 2nd place in the EBAL at 9-5 by virtue of their 2 head to head wins over DLS (9-5).
SRV 2 – MV 1. SRV wins the EBAL title by 2 games, but had 2 losses in the past week to Cal and Alameda. MV finishes tied for 5th place with Foothill at 7-7.
Foothill 8 – AV 0. AV (5-9) just didn’t have enough hitting this year to get it done. Both NCS title game teams from 2010 failed to make it back to the playoffs this year. Foothill finished league play at 7-7, but as has been pointed out they needed to be over .500 to get in.
Granada 11 – Livermore 8. The Pokes put up 8 runs but finish 0-14 in the rough and tumble EBAL. Granada is the surprise team this year and finsihed in 4th place at 8-6.
May 20th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
First round projections (using freemenratings and then weighing in league performance and head-to-head, while disaccounting for score differentials):
1. San Ramon Valley (EBAL champions, plus records and sos better than dls, mv, or gra. No double head-to-head losses)
2. De La Salle (two head-to-head victories against mv, better league record than both mv and gra)
3. Granada (two head-to-head victories against mv, though slightly worse in sos and record, better league record)
4. Monte Vista (much more impressive resume than mval champ logan, better sos)
5. James Logan (mval champs ahead of cal, record trumps, bigger factor than having a weaker sos and victory resume)
6. California
7. Heritage (undefeated bval champs, but weak sos and way less significant victorys enough to turn them down for spot six)
8. Newark Memorial
9. Irvington
10. Deer Valley (because they beat college park and ratings are very close)
11. College Park
12. Castro Valley (haal champs, better sos than msj, more accurate determination than the ratings)
13. Mission San Jose
14. Bishop O’ Dowd
15. Berkeley
Looks good for Cal.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:06 am
NCS Division 1 Outlook:
1-2: I see James Logan or SRV getting the top seed with the other at #2. Logan has a better overall record but has not played as tough a schedule. They are 2-1 vs. EBAL teams but neither team they beat made the playoffs (AV & Foothill), while they lost to Granada. SRV is rated higher by CalPreps-Freeman and may get the nod as they won a tougher league by 2 games.
3-7: The 3rd seed is a tough decision. Heritage went 10-0 in the BVAL and finished 18-6, but the key stat here is that they were a glaring 0-5 vs. EBAL teams and 18-1 vs. everyone else. Since the other 4 candidates are all from the EBAL, I would look to how they did in league play and head to head. DLS and Cal finished tied for 2nd place at 9-5, but Cal beat them twice in EBAL play and finished strong with wins over both DLS and SRV in the final week of the season. Granada finished a game back at 8-6, but beat Cal and MV twice and split with DLS. MV finished tied for 5th at 7-7 in the EBAL, and lost to both DLS and Granada twice while splitting with Cal.
8-14: Newark at 14-9 has wins over JL, DLS and Granada. Irvington at 12-9-1 beat Newark and also MSJ twice. College Park at 19-6 has only 1 win over a D1 playoff team in MSJ. Deer Valley at 15-9 finished 2nd in the BVAL, but like their BVAL counterpart Heritage was winless against EBAL teams (0-3) and they lost to Berkeley. MSJ is 15-8 and has wins over JL and Newark. Castro Valley at 15-8 has a win over Cal, split with BOD, and lost to DLS & DV. BOD at 13-9-2 split with CV, but has 2 losses to Heritage.
The final team and likely #15 seed is Berkeley, who finished at 10-14 overall but 7-5 in the ACCAL. Their lone win over a D1 playoff team was Deer Valley. Since only 15 teams qualified, the top seed will get a bye in round 1 and will have their ace ready for round 2. I think overall record is important, but wins over playoff teams & how they did in league play are also key. I know Freeman has MV ahead of other EBAL teams, but they finished 7-7 in league and behind all other EBAL playoff teams playing common opponents. If I were seeding, it would go something like this:
1)SRV 18-6 (EBAL 1st)
2)JL 19-4 (MVAL 1st)
3)Cal 15-9 (EBAL 2nd)
4)DLS 17-7 (EBAL 3rd)
5)Granada 16-8 (EBAL 4th)
6)MV 17-7 (EBAL 5th)
7)Heritage 18-6 (BVAL 1st)
8)Irvington 12-9-1 (MVAL 2nd)
9)Newark 14-9 (MVAL 4th)
10)DV 15-9 (BVAL 2nd)
11)CP 19-6 (DVAL 2nd)
12)MSJ 15-8 (MVAL 5th)
13)CV 15-8 (HAAL 1st)
14)BOD 13-9-2 (HAAL 2nd)
May 21st, 2011 at 12:09 am
15)Berkeley 10-14 (ACCAL 3rd)
May 21st, 2011 at 9:07 am
Nice job Jets!
May 21st, 2011 at 9:14 am
Any thoughts out there about DII seedings? And will there be coverage of the seedings meeting tomorow?
May 21st, 2011 at 9:18 am
Congrats to Kenny Arnerich Jr….Complete game shutout in game #1 of the DII Westen Regionals! Damnit!
May 21st, 2011 at 10:45 am
Encinal Jets = best hitting baseball team in the east bay
May 21st, 2011 at 10:55 am
Erndog, as you know, we’re not allowed in the meetings anymore. So, there won’t be much coverage during the day. We’ll be waiting for the brackets to be posted just like you.
I’m on assignment tomorrow, but I’ll try to get some thoughts up on the brackets tomorrow night. Stephanie will be handling the softball side, and we’ll have division breakdowns in Tuesday’s paper. So, more to come in the next few days.
May 21st, 2011 at 11:13 am
watch out for berkeley, they took Alameda 10 innings and they pitched trent yee all 10, they’re on a a good streak
May 21st, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Ken Arnerich Jr.? Son of AHS Coach? I thought he was at a DI school in SoCal. Now he is in DII? Playing for who?
May 21st, 2011 at 4:55 pm
If you use Calpreps rankings, these would be the match-ups:
Division I
San Ramon Valley (1) vs. bye
Monte Vista (2) vs. Berkeley (15)
Logan (3) vs. Bishop O’Dowd (14)
De La Salle (4) vs. Castro Valley (13)
Granada (5) vs. Mission San Jose (12)
California (6) vs. College Park (11)
Heritage (7) vs. Deer Valley (10)
Newark (8) vs. Irvington (9)
Division II
Alameda (1) vs. Ukiah (16)
Clayton Valley (2) vs. Montgomery (15)
Campolindo (3) vs. Northgate (14)
Las Lomas (4) vs. Redwood (13)
Petaluma (5) vs. Concord (12)
Washington (6) vs. Rancho Cotate (11)
Casa Grande (7) vs. Arroyo (10)
Cardinal Newman (8) vs. Dougherty Valley (9)
Eligible teams left out include American, Maria Carrillo, Pinole Valley and Mt. Eden
Division III
Miramonte (1) vs. bye
San Marin (2) vs. Hercules (15)
Acalanes (3) vs. Kennedy-Fremont (14)
Alhambra (4) vs. Tamalpais (13)
Sir Francis Drake (5) vs. Novato (12)
Sonoma Valley (6) vs. Eureka (11)
Albany (7) vs. Encinal (10)
El Cerrito (8) vs. Moreau (9)
NCS won’t use just the Calpreps rankings and will hopefully avoid some of those league rematches in the first round…
May 21st, 2011 at 6:49 pm
CalPreps is a nice tool, but I hope you are right that they don’t lean too heavily on it. They should place some wieght on who is playing well recently, which CalPreps-Freeman does not factor in at all. Monte Vista is lasted at #2 in D1 by CalPreps-Freeman and they just finished playing a 14 game league season on equal terms with oter EBAL teams and finished tied fo 5th place with a team that didn’t even qualify for NCS. It does factor in strength of schedule but as has been said on here previously, it doesn’t factor who pitched that game or what teams had played 5 games in 5 days in a tournament and used a lot of pitchers.
It is a nice tool to compare teams from different leagues or areas, but I think you have to weigh the league season pretty heavily when comparing teams from the same league. IMHO, MV should be the 5th lowest seed of the EBAL teams despite their nice overall record and CalPreps-Freeman ranking. I’m sure those who choose the brackets have their own formulas and it should be very interesting how they seed D1 this year.
May 21st, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Bhigh you cant be serious you will be done after 1 game. My ncs picks are d1 logan d2 clayton valley d3 alhambra
May 21st, 2011 at 8:24 pm
antioch finished .500 exactly, winning their last 3 games in a row.
they meet the minimum qualification and should get the 16 seed right?
May 21st, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Sonoma State
May 21st, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Antioch is NOT eligible.
NCS Website:
To be accepted as a participant in the NCS/Les Schwab Tires Baseball Championships, a team shall have compiled a winning record, or a
winning record against teams in its own Division or a winning record in league. Exception: league champions gain automatic entry.
a. A winning record is defined as a team having won more games than it has lost.
May 22nd, 2011 at 1:10 am
Alhambra???? No way!!!
May 22nd, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Very funny ta think Encinal is the best hitting team in the Bay Area
May 22nd, 2011 at 2:44 pm
What’s the over/under on hits for encinal vs. alhambra?
one?
May 23rd, 2011 at 8:39 am
How is Encinal not the best hitting team in the East Bay???? This year they have the best batting average in NCS (.353) and that is with just one senior and two starting freshman (one batting .311 and the other .383). Not to mention Christian Leung a sophomore who’s batting .407 and batted over .300 as a freshman. Please provide a better east bay hitting team. I would like to see you try.
May 23rd, 2011 at 8:39 am
Best batting average as a team*
May 23rd, 2011 at 9:21 am
Eagle eye will see tomorrow you’ve got the best pitcher in the bay going in stephensen.
May 23rd, 2011 at 10:02 am
Stephenson no-hit Encinal the last time they met, with 12 strikeouts. I really don’t think this game will be much different. Alhambra wins this game 3-0 in a two-hitter for Stephenson.
May 24th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Encinal BA. 500 against weak pitching, .150 against mediocre pitching, .030 against good pitching. The inflated stats are a result of seeing lots of weak pitching