Conference Races Heat Up As SIA Baseball Top 20 Settles

PASADENA - San Joaquin Delta, the defending CCCAA champion, grabbed 13 of the 17 first-place votes to again top this week's 2019 California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA) State Top 20 Baseball Rankings. The North region occupies eight of the top 11 slots as the state's conference races are reaching a fever pitch.

Sierra moved into the #2 spot while Orange Coast also went up a spot as the South region's current highest-ranked team at #3. Both picked up a first place vote while No. 4 Feather River received two and yet dropped two slots to #4. The Golden Eagles saw their 18-game conference win streak end as new #15 Butte won two of three games in their Golden Valley Conference series last week.

Delta is in the midst of a 6-game win streak and has won 15 of its last 17 games with Sierra causing the only blemishes. The Wolverines are on a similar great run with a 13-2 mark in their last 15 after recovering from losing three straight to new #10 Sacramento City in early March. 

Orange Coast has won all six of its Orange Empire series, but cannot get separation from #6 Riverside City (both tied for first) because the Tigers have two 3-game sweeps to their credit while the Pirates have won 2-of-3 in each of their last five series, including against #12 Santa Ana last week. OCC holds a tiebreaker over RCC (won their series, 2-1, last month).

El Camino continues to stay strong at #5 after winning 16 of its last 19 games. But #14 Long Beach City leads the South Coast Conference South by one game. The Vikings are red hot, winning 15 of their last 17 (only two Ls v. El Camino).

At No. 7, Santa Rosa cooled off after a 10-game win streak was stopped by #19 Cosumnes River on April 3 while No. 8 Ohlone, winners of 21 of its last 24, but also has slowed down after recent losses to Cabrillo and Canada. Fresno City made a big leap of three spots to reach the top 10 at #9. The Rams are on an 8-game win streak but can't shake unranked College of the Sequoias as both are knotted at the top of the Central Valley standings. Rounding out the top 10 is Sacramento, a team on a 5-game win streak, that moved up three slots.

The second 10 is paced by #11 Mission, which stumbled in a 3-game losing streak, including getting swept by unranked West Valley in a 2-game set. The OEC duo of Santa Ana (#12) and Cypress (#13) are next. The Chargers had a 6-game win streak stopped in their tracks with two straight losses to unranked Golden West and slid five spots in the rankings.

Glendale moved up to #16 as the Vaqueros have won 12 of their past 15. Cuesta climbed to #17 after sweeping a 2-game set v. Ventura. The Cougars got swept themselves by unranked Santa Barbara City (April 6 and 9) and are in a 3-way tie for the top of the Western State North with SBCC and Ventura. 

Pasadena City took a big hit and dropped four spots to #18 after unranked Mt. San Antonio won two straight v. the Lancers. Cosumnes River lost consecutive series to Santa Rosa and unrated Modesto but gained enough votes for #19. A new team joined the top 20 this week in College of San Mateo, now on a 5-game win string, in moving into a tie with Mission for the top of the Coast Golden Gate.

Current State Longest Win Streak: 10 by unranked Southwestern

Current State Team Batting Average Leaders: Mission .329, Ohlone .325

State Current Batting Average Individual Leaders: Trent MacKinney, Glendale, .452, Chet Allison, Fresno City, .431

Current State Team Earned Run Average Leaders: El Camino 2.22, Fresno City 2.38

State Current Top Pitching ERA Individual Leaders: (with 45 innings or more) Kobby Lopez, San Diego Mesa, 0.96, Jacob Miller, Feather River, 1.13

State Baseball Standings

Conference Leaders as of April 16
Bay Valley: unranked College of Marin at 13-4, Los Medanos 13-5
Big 8: #1 San Joaquin Delta at 14-4, #2 Sierra 16-5, and #7 Santa Rosa 13-5, #10 Sacramento City 12-6, #19 Cosumnes River and Modesto 9-9
Central Valley: #9 Fresno City and unranked Sequoias at 15-3, unranked Taft 14-4
Coast Golden Gate: #11 Mission and #20 San Mateo at 11-4, unranked West Valley 10-5
Coast Pacific: #8 Ohlone at 10-2
Golden Valley: #4 Feather River at 19-2, #15 Butte 15-6
Orange Empire: #3 Orange Coast and #6 Riverside at 13-5, #12 Santa Ana 12-6, #13 Cypress 10-8
Pacific Coast Athletic: unranked San Diego Mesa at 15-3, Southwestern 16-5
South Coast North: unranked Mt. San Antonio 12-7, #18 Pasadena City 12-8, unranked Chaffey 11-8
South Coast South: #14 Long Beach 15-4, #5 El Camino 14-5
Western State East: #16 Glendale at 13-4
Western State North: #17 Cuesta, unranked Santa Barbara City and Ventura all tied at 11-7
Western State South: unranked Bakersfield at 14-4