North Teams Control Top of SIA Baseball State Top 20

PASADENA - Led by defending CCCAA state champion San Joaquin Delta, North region teams occupy the top three spots in this week's 2019 California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA) State Top 20 Baseball Rankings. Feather River climbed two spots to No. 2 while Sierra also moved up two slots to No. 3.

Delta picked up nine first place votes, but first place ratings also went to Feather River (3) and solo top picks to the other three highest ranked teams in Sierra, Orange Coast at No. 4 and El Camino at No. 5. The Mustangs have won eight of their last 10 games and are just percentage points ahead in the hotly contested Big 8 Conference race. 

Feather River hasn't lost since Feb. 18 and is a perfect 18-0 in running away from everyone in Golden Valley Conference play. Sierra has won 10 of its last 12, including winning a 3-game series (2-1) over Delta.

Orange Coast is locked in a 3-way tie for first in the Orange Empire Conference with No. 7 Riverside City and No. 11 Santa Ana. Riverside had the biggest slide of any top 20 team, down five spots. The Tigers stopped a 3-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over Irvine Valley.

South Coast Conference South Division leader El Camino has won 14 of its last 16 games, including winning 2-of-3 from new No. 15 Long Beach City, making its first appearance on this year's rankings. The Vikings had won 10 straight going into that series as head coach Casey Crook collected his milestone 600th career victory.

Another Big 8 team moving on up is Santa Rosa in jumping four spots to No. 6 after winning 11 of its last 12 contests. The Bear Cubs had a 10-game win streak stopped last week by No. 16 Cosumnes River, but still took 2 of 3 games from the Hawks. With No. 13 Sacramento City, the Big 8 makes up 25 percent of the state top 20.

Rounding out the top 10 were Cypress, the fourth place team in the powerful OEC, at No. 8, Coast Pacific's Ohlone, which saw a 15-game win streak snapped by unranked Cabrillo, 3-2, on Saturday, moving up to No. 9 and Coast Golden Gate's Mission, winners of 11 of its last 13, standing at No. 10. 

Inside the second 10, Santa Ana has won 10 of its last 13, but lost 2 of 3 v. Cypress and has two big series left in facing Orange Coast and Riverside. The SCC North's Pasadena City moved up two spots to #14 after it had a 6-game win streak foiled by East Los Angeles. Western State East leader and #17 Glendale has won 10 of its last 12 games. The lone Pacific Coast Athletic Conference team in the rankings is #19 San Diego Mesa, winners of 10 of its last 12. 

WSC North's Cuesta at No. 20 was the only other new team to join the rankings while Palomar (No. 15 in last poll), Golden West and Modesto dropped from the SIA ratings.

College of the Sequoias arguably is the best team not currently ranked as the Giants lead the Central Valley, a game ahead of #12 Fresno City and won 2 of 3 from the Rams March 26-30. WSN North's Ventura is another team on the rise, winning 7 of its last 8 for a one game lead over Cuesta, a team that swept the Pirates in their first 2-game series last month.

Current State Longest Win Streak: 18 by #2 Feather River

Current State Team Batting Average Leaders: Mission .340, Feather River .325

State Current Batting Average Individual Leader: Trent MacKinney, Glendale, .444

Current State Team Earned Run Average Leaders: El Camino 1.94, Fresno City 2.43

State Current Top Pitching ERA Individual Leader: Clayton Hall, Merced, 0.25 (36 innings)

State Baseball Standings

Conference Leaders as of April 8
Bay Valley: unranked College of Marin at 12-2
Big 8: #1 San Joaquin Delta at 11-4, #3 Sierra and #6 Santa Rosa are 13-5, #13 Sacramento City 9-6, #16 Cosumnes River 8-7
Central Valley: unranked College of the Sequoias at 13-2, #12 Fresno City is 12-3
Coast Golden Gate: #10 Mission at 10-2
Coast Pacific: #9 Ohlone at 8-1
Golden Valley: #5 Feather River perfect at 18-0, #18 Butte 12-5
Orange Empire: #4 Orange Coast, #7 Riverside, #11 Santa Ana all tied at 11-4, #8 Cypress 9-6
Pacific Coast Athletic: #19 San Diego Mesa at 15-3
South Coast North: #14 Pasadena City at 11-6, unranked Mt. San Antonio 10-6
South Coast South: #5 El Camino at 13-4, #15 Long Beach 12-4
Western State East: #17 Glendale at 11-3
Western State North: unranked Ventura at 10-5, #20 Cuesta 9-6
Western State South: unranked Bakersfield at 11-4