Junior College Notebook 3/29
For
the first time this season, Perfect Game’s ranking of the nation’s
Top 50 Junior College teams has a new entry at No. 1.
California’s
Orange Coast College (22-2-1), which began the season at No. 4 and
had most recently moved to No. 2, supplanted Texas’ Howard College
(20-5) at the top of the heap. With three losses since the last
ranking, Howard slipped to No. 5.
Like
Howard, Orange Coast boasts a number of premium Division I transfers
and they have helped the Pirates dominate southern California’s
rugged Orange Empire Conference, arguably one of the nation’s
strongest junior-college conferences, with a 9-1 record.
The
most noteworthy of OCC’s transfers are sophomore catcher/third
baseman Stefan Sabol (.290-1-7) and freshman righthander Brandon
Brennan (6-1, 1.43), both of whom played at Oregon in 2011. Sabol
recently returned to the Pirates lineup after missing several weeks
with a broken hamate bone, while Brennan has been steadily dominant
with a fastball in the mid-90s. Both are candidates for the first 10
rounds of the draft in June.
Neither
player, though, has been as dominant as a pair of UC Irvine
transfers, sophomore righthander Keegan Yuhl (7-0, 1.27) and
sophomore outfielder Chris Carlson (.439-3-32). Yuhl has a share of
the state lead in wins, while Carlson ranks No. 3 in hitting and No.
2 in RBIs.
Orange
Coast has also gotten significant contributions from two more
outfielders, both freshman, in Boog Powell (.459-0-13), who leads the
84-team California JC ranks in hitting, and Bijan Rademacher
(.297-4-31), who ranks among the state leaders in homers and RBIs.
Perennial
Tennessee JC power Walters State has moved to No. 2, largely on the
strength of a breakthrough season by sophomore outfielder Marcus
Davis, a Louisiana State transfer. Davis is hitting .532 through 31
games with 17 doubles, eight homers and 39 RBIs.
North
Carolina’s Louisburg College (33-3) and Iowa Western (21-1) were
both in position to challenge Orange Coast for the top spot as they
were the last undefeated teams in the country, but both teams finally
lost. Louisburg had won 27 games in a row before losing its first two
games of the season on the same day to South Carolina’s
Florence-Darlington.
3-12 - Rankings as of March 12
Rank |
3-12 |
Team |
State |
Record |
1 |
2 |
Orange Coast |
CA |
22-2-1 |
2 |
4 |
Walters State |
TN |
28-3 |
3 |
5 |
Iowa Western |
IA |
21-1 |
4 |
3 |
Louisburg |
NC |
33-3 |
5 |
1 |
Howard |
TX |
20-5 |
6 |
7 |
Polk State |
FL |
28-8 |
7 |
13 |
Central Arizona |
AZ |
28-7 |
8 |
11 |
Palm Beach State |
FL |
29-8 |
9 |
10 |
Western Nevada |
NV |
25-7 |
10 |
15 |
Santa Fe |
FL |
28-8 |
11 |
14 |
Middle Georgia |
GA |
23-8 |
12 |
18 |
Feather River |
CA |
17-3 |
13 |
17 |
Salt Lake |
UT |
21-4 |
14 |
21 |
Chipola |
FL |
25-13 |
15 |
22 |
LSU-Eunice |
LA |
28-2 |
16 |
25 |
Central Alabama |
AL |
26-5 |
17 |
26 |
Jefferson |
MO |
20-5 |
18 |
6 |
McLennan |
TX |
22-7 |
19 |
20 |
Bellevue |
WA |
9-2 |
20 |
9 |
Wabash Valley |
IL |
25-5 |
21 |
27 |
Central Florida |
FL |
26-12 |
22 |
29 |
Cisco |
TX |
23-5 |
23 |
30 |
Cuesta |
CA |
18-4 |
24 |
34 |
Seminole State |
OK |
20-5 |
25 |
40 |
Rio Hondo |
CA |
19-3 |
26 |
35 |
USC Lancaster |
SC |
27-6 |
27 |
23 |
Eastern Oklahoma State |
OK |
18-7 |
28 |
28 |
Santa Ana |
CA |
17-6 |
29 |
33 |
Georgia Perimeter |
GA |
25-7 |
30 |
|
Columbia State |
TN |
22-5 |
31 |
39 |
Navarro |
TX |
20-8 |
32 |
42 |
New Mexico |
NM |
21-9 |
33 |
31 |
Tallahassee |
FL |
26-10 |
34 |
32 |
Neosho County |
KS |
23-8 |
35 |
24 |
Gulf Coast State |
FL |
24-9 |
36 |
49 |
Yavapai |
AZ |
22-11 |
37 |
50 |
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M |
OK |
16-4 |
38 |
38 |
Chattanooga State |
TN |
26-8 |
39 |
19 |
Miami-Dade |
FL |
22-11-1 |
40 |
41 |
Lamar |
CO |
23-6 |
41 |
43 |
Connors State |
OK |
20-4 |
42 |
45 |
Merced |
CA |
15-6 |
43 |
|
Diablo Valley |
CA |
13-6 |
44 |
16 |
USC Sumter |
SC |
21-9 |
45 |
|
State College of Florida-Manatee |
FL |
23-11-1 |
46 |
48 |
Crowder |
MO |
22-8 |
47 |
|
John A. Logan |
IL |
18-9 |
48 |
12 |
Cypress |
CA |
15-7 |
49 |
46 |
Edmonds |
WA |
11-4 |
50 |
|
Northeast Texas |
TX |
20-9 |
Dropped out: Grayson County, Northwest Florida State, San Joaquin Delta, Bakersfield, Pensacola State