De La Salle moves to No. 1

Bay Area News Group’s Top 20

(Merkur News & East Bay Times)

No. 1 DE LA SALLE (16-3)

Placement so far: 2nd

What’s Happened Since Last Standings: The Spartans capped a 3-0 week with a win over Foothill on Saturday to move up to first place in the East Bay Athletic League.

Next: Wednesday in Dougherty Valley, 4 p.m

No. 2 ST. FRANCIS (20-3)

Placement so far: 1

What’s Happened Since Last Standing: The Lancers’ 15-game winning streak included a win over Palo Alto on Saturday. On Tuesday, Bellarmine prevented his West Catholic Athletic League rival from extending the run to 16, beating the Lancers 6-3.

Next: Friday vs. Archbishop Riordan, 4 p.m

#3 TAL CHRISTIAN (18-4-1)

Placement so far: 4th

What’s Happened Since the Last Leaderboard: The Central Coast Section’s top program for the last four full seasons is heating up. The Warriors won their seventh straight game Tuesday with an 11-1 win over Riordan.

Next up: Friday vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral, 4 p.m

No. 4 VORBERG (17-3)

Placement so far: 6th

What’s happened since the last ranking: Prior to Saturday’s loss to De La Salle, the week included victories over San Ramon Valley and Livermore.

Next up: Wednesday vs Granada, 4pm

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No.5 PALO ALTO (18-5)

Placement so far: 3rd

What’s happened since the last ranking: Palo Alto has cooled off, losing four of its last seven. The Vikings ended last week with 12-5 losses to Mountain View and 4-0 losses to St. Francis.

Next up: Wednesday vs. Los Gatos, 4 p.m

#6 CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER (15-4)

Placement so far: 8th

What’s happened since last ranking: Winning streak extended to five, 10 runs in the first three innings en route to a 12-1 win over St. Patrick-St. Vincent on Tuesday.

Next: Friday in Vacaville, 4 p.m

#7 BELLARMINE (16-5-1)

Placement so far: 10th

What’s happened since the last ranking: Since a 7-0 loss to Live Oak, the Bells overran Homestead 10-0 and Burlingame 8-0, then toppled St Francis.

Next up: Friday vs. Serra, 4 p.m

#8 ARCHBISHOP MITTY (15-6)

Placement so far: 5th

What’s happened since last ranking: The Boras Classic finalist in Northern California had won five straight games before being beaten 13-0 at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Tuesday.

Next: Friday at St. Ignatius, 4 p.m

#9 CALIFORNIA (16-4)

Placement so far: 7th

What’s Happened Since Last Ladder: Three outs after a Monday win over Monte Vista that would have put the Grizzlies within a game of the EBAL lead, they gave up three runs and lost 3-1.

Next: Wednesday in the San Ramon Valley, 4 p.m

#10 SAN RAMON VALLEY (13-6)

Placement so far: 9th

What’s happened since the last ranking: Wolves bounced back from a loss to Foothill with a win over Dougherty Valley and stayed within a game for first place in the EBAL.

Next up: Wednesday vs. California, 4 p.m

#11 BRANHAM (17-4)

Placement so far: 13th

What’s Happened Since Last Ranking: With a showdown series looming against Live Oak, the Bruins swept Willow Glen and beat Hillsdale.

Next: Wednesday at Live Oak, 4 p.m

#12 SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL (13-8-1)

Placement so far: 15th

What Happened Since Last Ladder: Made a statement as WCAL play returned on Tuesday, beating Mitty 13-0. At the start of the season, Mitty defeated SHC 21-1.

Next up: Friday at Valley Christian, 4 p.m

#13 FREEDOM (15-5)

Placement so far: 17th

What’s happened since last ranking: Beat Antioch 3-2 in nine innings on Tuesday to extend his winning streak to four and maintain a two-game lead in the Bay Valley Athletic League.

Next: Thursday in Antioch, 4 p.m

#14 BISHOP O’DOWD (14-6)

Placement so far: 19th

What’s Happened Since Last Standings: The Dragons braced themselves for a major West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division series against Berkeley with a win over Las Lomas on Friday.

Next up: Wednesday vs. Berkeley, 6:30 p.m

#15 BERKELEY (14-5)

Placement so far: 20th

What’s happened since last ranking: Castro Valley swept to move to first place in WACC Foothill Division standings with Bishop O’Dowd.

Next: Wednesday at Bishop O’Dowd’s, 6:30 p.m

16 SANTA TERESA (17-4)

Previous Ranking: Unranked

What’s happened since the last leaderboard: Beating Gunderson for the third year in a row. His resume also includes a series of Live Oaks in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Next up: Wednesday at Sobrato, 4 p.m

#17 LIVE OAK (13-7)

Previous Ranking: Unranked

What’s happened since the last ranking: A 7-0 win over Bellarmine was followed by two wins over Leigh, both in extra innings.

Next up: Wednesday vs. Branham, 4 p.m