**Week 6 SETXsports.com Top 10**

[KFDM COOP]

Released By MIF04

SETXSPORTS.COM BASEBALL TOP TEN

WEEK SIX

Another great week for baseball including the end of one of the longest streaks in SE Texas…Bridge City’s consecutive district win streak, courtesy of Silsbee’s 9-7 come-from-behind victory on Friday night.  That means, of course, we have a new #1 as the Cardinals tumble downward…congrats to the BH Eagles as they return to the top slot.

1.   BARBERS HILL (2)

Ho-hum…another dominating week for the Eagles as the destroy the presumably competitive Huffman Falcons 11-1 then drop a hammer on CE King 14-3.  Weak district or not, these guys are just dismantling the opposition.  For our active readers, there is a wonderful article on this team at www.insideprepbaseball.com .  Well worth the read.

2.   PORT NECHES GROVES (3)

Another good week down at the Reservation as the Indians run their district record to 6-0 with wins over Vidor and Central.  The 2-0 win over the Jags was not inspiring except for the dominating performance by RHP Shawn Flores…a no-hitter.  Outstanding no matter who the opponent may be.  Jay Stone and crew close out the 1st half by hosting Dayton then travel to Ozen for a Friday night matchup.

3.   WEST BROOK (4)

No one had an offensive week like the Bruins:  32 runs, including 22 against the Humble Wildcats.  As they close in on the school record for HRs, its bombs away out on the West End.  They sit at 4-2 in district with two home games this week:  Channelview then a revenge game against upstart Atascocita.

4.   SILSBEE (5)

You knock off the ‘king’, you get ranked higher than the king.  The Tigers hung in there, survived and then knocked off BC 9-7 on Friday to gain an upper hand is District 21-3A.  With Silsbee, Jasper and BC all sitting at 6-1, only Silsbee has wins over both of their toughest district rivals.  They host the Horns from HF on Tuesday before traveling to WOS for a Friday night game.

5.   BRIDGE CITY (1)

At least in District 21-3A, the mighty have fallen as the Cardinals finally lost a district game.  The Cards did gain a split this week, courtesy of their 7-1 win on Tuesday against HJ but Coach Bryant needs to right this ship in a hurry…they travel to Jasper for a huge game on Tuesday night.

6.   LITTLE CYPRESS-MAURICEVILLE (6)

A clutch single by Kris Hearn propelled the Bears to a 4-2 win over rival Nederland on Tuesday then it was ‘business as usual’ as LCM cruised to a 15-1 win over the Raiders of Lumberton.  The Bears sit at 5-1 and are just itching for their rematch with PNG.  That’ll have to wait as there are more urgent tasks at hand…two homes games this week vs. Vidor and Central.

7.   JASPER (

The week brought a surprising offensive explosion from the Bulldogs with two big wins:  18-2 over Kirbyville and 11-1 against OF.  It is an opportune time to wake up the bats as they host Bridge City in what promises to be a Tuesday night gem with Stringer scheduled to go for the Cards.  From there, they travel to HF on Friday in what could be a dangerous game…especially following BC.

8.   VIDOR (7)

The Pirates lose to PNG 7-4 then need a late rally to squeeze by Ozen 8-6.  They continue to hang on with a 4-2 district mark but the road gets really rough this week…away games at LCM and Nederland.  This could be a make or break week for Coach Green’ts team as the struggle to hang in the thick of the district race.

9.   BUNA (10)

The Cougars had an easy week … one game, that a 6-0 whitewash of Anahuac.  The Saturday afternoon game that was circled on their schedule against Bridge City?  A victim of mother nature as the rains came.  No problem, though, as Buna sits undefeated in district and have all the looks of a team ready to go into the playoffs.

10.   DAYTON (NR)

Moving into our Top Ten are the Dayton Broncos who sit at 4-2 in district play although they did drop a 5-0 Friday night decision to the Nederland Bulldogs.  That followed a 14-3 win over Central and allows the Broncs to stay in thick of the playoff hunt.  A huge test awaits on Tuesday…a road trip to PNG.  Talk about having a chance to throw a monkey wrench in an already tight playoff battle…

IN, OUT, AND OTHER RUMBLINGS…

For the first time this season, the Huffman Falcons find themselves on the outside looking in…at least in our poll.  They were drilled by BH 11-1 and find themselves slumped in 3rd in an admittedly weak district.  Plus, they get low marks for waving the white flag vs. BH…refusing to challenge the Eagles with either Listi or Arnold.  That gets you bumped down. 

Nederland’s 5-0 win over Dayton was huge for the Bulldogs as it lets Big Ned hang onto their slim playoff hopes.  Vidor faces a huge week with 2 road games (LCM and Nederland) while the BC @ Jasper game promises to be intense.  If you’re in Beaumont on Friday…the WB-Atascocita game has huge playoff implications in that 5A district.

The second half of district play approaches.  The contenders and pretenders will start to separate.  What a season…

See ya next week.   

[Critter]

WOW, lose one game and drop five spots behind a team that you've already beat once ??? ??? ???

[besbolbenbedygud]

..........I'll take "this one counted" for $400 please.........lol

[CATS80]

WOW, lose one game and drop five spots behind a team that you've already beat once ??? ??? ???

I wouldnt take the rankings to serious. BC, Silsbee and Jasper are all three good teams Im sure before the second half is up there will be more changes

[Silsbee92]

WOW, lose one game and drop five spots behind a team that you've already beat once ??? ??? ???

True you beat them once, but you can't get one back and you must win both against Jasper to get the lead back in the district as it stands. 

Looks like playing Silsbee teice before Jasper might just put a damper on the district title.

[bh89-2]

WOW.....not so sure BC deserved that.  A few weeks ago PNG was just an average team in many folk's eyes......not mine. 

[bh89-2]

WOW.....not so sure BC deserved that.  A few weeks ago PNG was just an average team in many folk's eyes......not mine. 

By the way, thanks for the link to the BH article, but geez $10.00 to read and article......nahhhhh.  Just tell us about it for 0.50 cents..... ;D

[BHFAN]

Coop, Can you cut and past the article about BH somewhere?

[KFDM COOP]

What article?

[Shorty]

Here is the article from insideprepbaseball:

03/28/2007 10:54 PM -

Losing a defensive wizard at shortstop and an ace on the mound is a bad way to start the season. Stumbling that way in the same year a program is moving up a classification is downright scary.

Yet somehow Barbers Hill, which proved itself, year after year, as one of the top Class 3A programs in the state, would need to find a way to cope. Before the first official pitch was ever thrown on the Eagles’ first season in 4A, shortstop Chase Barrera was lost for the year with an ACL tear suffered during a collision with an outfielder on a fly ball in scrimmage play. Prior to offseason workouts, returning No. 1 starter, junior Ross Hales, had surgery on his non-throwing shoulder. He had to sit out the offseason to rehab, and the Eagles have had to bring him along slowly.

But in spite of all the obstacles, somehow Barbers Hill has willed its way to a 15-3 record through the first 18 ball games. 

“When you lose somebody of that caliber and you’re moving up, your expectations are not just soaring,†Eagles head coach Gil Stalbaum said. “For things to turn out the way they have so far is pretty gratifying.â€

Despite Hales’ uncertain status coming in, the Eagles were expected to be pretty salty on the mound. All but one pitcher returned from last year’s club that went 26-7 and reached the regional quarterfinals, and a lot of young talent was ready to step forward and help as well. So the staff ERA of 1.99 has been about on par with expectations there.

Defensively, the Eagles were likely to be pretty stout as well. Seven starters were also back from the 2006 club, and those veterans have fielded at a .955 percentage so far.

Hitting was the big x-factor for this team coming in, and in spite of a few peaks and valleys here and there, the hitters have answered the bell so far. As a team, the Eagles are hitting .369. Hales leads the team in average at .511. He is followed closely by the power source, senior Colby Townley, who is hitting .446 with six homeruns and 21 RBI. Six other regulars are swinging it above the .320 mark, including Alex Rocha (.382), Derek Hulsey (.375), Cameron Campbell (.365), Kyle McDonald (.345), Jake Ponder (.327), and Seth Helmly (.533). Sophomore Tony Carmona, who moved from the outfield to man the shortstop spot left open by Barrera’s injury, is hitting a solid .279 with a homerun and 10 RBI, and senior outfielder Amando Fuentes is hitting .231.

“We’ve played at times a little bit better than I expected,†Stalbaum explained. “The big question was: What were we going to be able to do offensively? We had all but one pitcher coming back, and we had some really good sub-varsity pitchers. We knew we would be good, defensively. We’ve been a little hot and cold, offensively, but we’ve had ballgames where we’ve just scorched it. We had Flower Mound down 7-1 and wound up losing in the bottom of the last inning on an unearned run. We¹re not real consistent, offensively, yet.â€

The junior class has driven the dominating pitching staff. Hales, despite pitching only 27 innings, has posted a 6-1 record with 51 strikeouts and just six walks. His ERA stands at a sparkling 0.26.

The No. 2 starter, junior lefty Kendall Thamm, is 4-0 with a 1.01 ERA in 34.2 innings. He has 60 punchouts and only nine walks. The three and four guys, Hunter Silva (3-2, 1.50 ERA) and Jonathan Kelley (2-0, 3.23 ERA) have been more than solid as well. Both are also juniors.

The Eagles also have chemistry in spades, and that, perhaps more than anything they can do on the baseball field, has played a big role in what they have overcome to get to where they are. These kids genuinely like one another, and that’s the way they play. They feed off each other and pick one another up over the course of a game. They seldom try to over-play the game because they know their buddies at the other positions will handle their business.

“Chemistry is tremendous,†Stalbaum beamed. “The kids all hang out together. They have a thing they call ‘PGP’ after every ballgame -¬ post-game pool. They all get together after every ballgame and go play pool at somebody¹s house. They are all truly friends. That helps greatly.â€

So now, with district play getting ready to kick toward round two, the Eagles look – once again – like a team to beat out of Region III. And many folks around the state who might see that Barbers Hill jumped up from 3A to 4A could find themselves surprised that the transition has been so smooth. But in all honesty, the competition the Eagles faced in 3A ball, particularly in the postseason, did nothing but help them prepare for the competition they have faced in 2007.

Four years in a row, the Eagles were eliminated from the playoffs by a Lorena team that won a state championship one year and competed for a handful more. One season they bested Homer Bailey and La Grange before bowing out to the future Major Leaguer the following year, when the Leopards claimed the state crown. In yet another season, the Eagles were bested by Lufkin Hudson, with pitchers Wesley Musick (University of Houston) and Brandon Belt (San Jacinto College) throwing BB’s at them.

And then last year, Barbers Hill faced three consecutive Division I college signees on the mound when it played a three-game set with Bridge City. The Eagles won that first game with Hales on the bump, but they dropped the next two to the eventual state semifinalist Cardinals.

Barbers Hill, in spite of its rich tradition for great baseball, has never played at the state tournament, and failing to get through that brutal Class 3A Region III slate was a large part of the reason. It might seem a little strange, but the Eagles may have a clearer path to Round Rock through Class 4A than they ever did in year’s past in 3A.

“We’ve faced some quality competition the last several years,†the coach under-stated. “There’s some extremely good 3A pitching in this region.â€

[MIF04]

First, that is a really good article about BH.  Not only have they met expectations, they have exceeded them.  Doing so after losing Barrera only makes their story better.

Second, BC drops from 1 to 5 simply because Silsbee is now a very slight favorite to win that district.  They have beaten both BC and Jasper and have only 1 game left with that group.  BC and Jasper still have 2 games to beat each other up.  Granted, Jasper can shake all of this or BC can 'sweep' the 'Dogs and stand side by side with Silsbee.  It is still a great race in that district.

Third, I agree with the earlier post -- the rankings are for everyone to talk about, agree or disagree with.  They don't necessarily rank the ten best teams...they rank the teams that (on any given week) are doing the best within their district, classification, etc.

By the way, anyone who wants a vote...just send me a PM by Saturday noon and we'll include it.  We consider 'em all !!!!

[EAGLE07]

Great job, MIF04.

Keep it up.

[uniden]

I agree, great job MIF04. 

[donkey]

PNG ...  isnt tht the team west brook beat .... hmmmm  this makes me laugh

[Guest Indian Chief]

Rankings don't work like that. That was in the very beginning of the season.

[wg88pitcher]

What do rankings work like then, if you beat someone, and get ranked higher lower than them?

[Guest Indian Chief]

That was before District even started. PNG hasn't lost a District game. When team loses they drop in rankings the last i remember!

[SETXBaseball1]

PNG ...  isnt tht the team west brook beat .... hmmmm  this makes me laugh

I'm sorry "donkey", but rankings don't happen like that. You can't always base a ranking on who beat who.  PN-G beat BH 2-1, does that mean that they should be #1?   The answer to that question is no.  Anyone of these top 10 teams can beat each other on a given day.  I'm not saying that PN-G is better than West Brook by any means, I just don't believe that one game (that happened to go into extra innings) can really validate your argument.

[wg88pitcher]

You guys still haven't answered my question. How do the rankings work? I'm confused,If you beat a team, and get ranked lower than them, what do you have to do, take out their starting pitcher with your bullpen fence. oh yeah, that already happened.

[SETXBaseball1]

Well here's my opinion if you are dieing to know.  PN-G is undefeated in district play. West Brook has lost two.  Right now PN-G is the hotter team. Things can change awfully fast though. But to further prove my point, PN-G beat Bayton Sterling and West Brook losses to them. PN-G then losses to West Brook in extra innings. Who is the better team?  No one can say, that's what is best about this game.  To conclude this, I believe both West Brook and PN-G are both very legit teams, and I think the only reason PN-G has the edge in this ranking is because of the undefeated streak that they are on.

[SETXBaseball1]

And to the starting pitcher who collided with the fence that you are referring to.. I believe he was the kid who pitched a no hitter this week. Looks as if he.. bounced back (no pun intended).

[MIF04]

1.  Again, the reasoning of 'who beat who' is an imperfect logic that leads to the proverbial 'dog chasing his tail' analogy.  It also calls into play the circumstances of each game, etc.  For example, PNG did defeat BH (although PNG threw their ace in a non-district game and BH did not).  WB defeated PNG.  BH defeated WB (again, BH threw their ace and WB did not).  PNG did defeat Sterling (in a non-district game where Sterling threw their #3) and Sterling did defeat WB (in a district game, at home, in the bottom of the 7th).  Of course, Ozen defeated WB and, as the dog chases its tail, maybe the Panthers should be #1????

2.  The rankings try to take into account a number of things:  who's hot?  how are they doing in district?  what classification are they?  It is subjective and tries to take into account a lot of different things.  For example:

(a)  BH is also #1 in Greater Houston 4A.  On the other hand, LCM is ranked ahead of PNG in the same poll; however, PNG is undefeated in district...LCM is not.  Currently, BH's district is weaker but you cannot ignore that the Eagles are kicking the tar out of everyone they run across.  They also played a very competitive non-district schedule and their losses have all been legitimate ones.

(  PNG played .500 ball pre-district.  That turned out to be a 'master stroke' by Jay Stone as they have run the table so far in district (although it wasn't such a 'master stroke' last year).  Nederland tried the same strategy and have stumbled badly.  The Indians' district run overshadows their pre-district mediocrity.

©  Silsbee got moved ahead of BC, not just because of the 1 win over the Cards but because the Tigers are now a slight favorite to win that district due to the schedule.  Jasper and BC still have 2 games left so there is a lot of fighting to do there.

(d)  WB has lost 2 district games but it is in one of the more competitive 5A districts in the State.  They are also the most talented team hands down in the area from an offensive and defensive standpoint.  Their weakness, however, is pitching.  They do not have that commanding 'ace' that other teams have.  They need to score the 10 runs per game they are averaging right now.

3.  The rankings do not necessarily reflect the best team in the area in terms of who may go further in the playoffs.  Any team could get hot and, sometimes, pitching depth is more prominent in a 3 game series than during district play.

Please excuse my ramblings...its just not as simple as 'who beat who' at any given time.  Name a team and I (or someone else on the board) could make a convincing argument to move them up (or down, or out of) the Top Ten.

'Nuff said... 

[Critter]

Great read MIF....

[espn2]

MIF,

It sounds like you are letting some people on here bother you a little.  Don't.  You guys on this site do a great job.  You make informed judgements and that is all a person can ask.

[MIF04]

MIF,

It sounds like you are letting some people on here bother you a little.  Don't.  You guys on this site do a great job.  You make informed judgements and that is all a person can ask.

Nah....just answering the guy's questions (or, at least, trying to)...