JUCO Rankings Update: March 23

Brian Sakowski

Colton Olinger

Photo: Central Arizona Baseball (Central Arizona Twitter)

It always happens this time of the year, where it still feels like baseball is more or less just getting started but then you look down and a whole mess of JUCO teams have played over 30 games. That happened this week as we started to make adjustments to the list, and once teams start playing that many games into conference play, it's far easier to start seeing different clubs separate themselves from the pack.

Which brings us to the new No. 1, Central Arizona. The Vaqueros had been utterly dominant, and this includes dominance in the pressure cooker that is Arizona JUCO baseball. They have been plenty offensive, with a team OPS of .872, but it's the team ERA of 2.33 with 404 strikeouts in 293 innings pitched that really stands out. CAC has always been known for dominance on the mound, dating back many years now, and this spring is clearly not an exception to that rule.

Walters State rises up a spot to No. 2 on the strength of a 26-3 record, they've been a lot better on the mound than I think even head coach Dave Shelton thought they might be, and they've gotten a lot of power production from Caleb McNeely and Colby Backus, something they knew they'd need given the amount of power production that graduated from the 2021 team. Wabash Valley has been on fire of late and stands at No. 3 overall, up from No. 7. We might have been light on WVC heading into the spring, as I think we may have undersold the offensive upside that the team possesses, and they're definitely swinging it confidently thus far. It's still going to be a tough region to win given the amount of strength in the league, but WVC is definitely looking Junction-strong. Crowder moved up a spot to No. 4, while former No. 1 Chipola fell down to No. 5 to round out our top-5.

Eastern Oklahoma State, somewhat quietly, is still undefeated as of March 22 with an overall record of 22-0. This is not a weak schedule that they're dominating either, as 6 of those wins have come against Connors State & Seminole State. What a start for head coach Matt Parker's club, who came into the spring knowing they had a chance to be very deep on the mound and very athletic offensively--both look like they've come to fruition thus far. Florence-Darlington is not undefeated but is riding a hot streak currently as well, they've risen up 4 spots this week to No. 11 overall with the arrow still pointed up. Other big risers this week include Ohlone (up from No. 16 to No. 12), Georgia Highlands (No. 20 to No. 15), and Johnson County, who rose up from No. 24 to No. 18 and looks to have righted the ship after an inconsistent start.

We have three newcomers to the list as well, with Cowley joining the party at No. 20, Harford at No. 21, and Gaston at No. 24. Cowley was ranked in the top 15 to start the spring but stumbled out of the gate a little bit, they've self-corrected and are 8-1 in their last 9 games. Harford has come out very hot, as they got going a couple weeks behind the southern schools but sit at 17-3 as of now, with quality wins over solid opponents dotting their schedule throughout the first 20 games. Gaston, for the first time in their history, is ranked this week as they check in at No. 24. They've been extremely loud to start the season at 23-1, and deserve credit for doing it against solid competition here as well.

Records through 3/21

Rk.	Pre. Rk	Team	City	ST	Overall Rec.
1	2	Central Arizona	Coolidge	AZ	29-4
2	3	Walters State	Morristown	TN	26-3
3	7	Wabash Valley	Mount Carmel	IL	23-3
4	5	Crowder	Neosho	MO	22-7
5	1	Chipola	Marianna	FL	25-8- 1
6	6	Iowa Western	Council Bluffs	IA	13-5
7	11	Eastern Oklahoma State	Wilburton	OK	22-0
8	4	LSU-Eunice	Eunice	LA	22-5
9	9	McLennan	Waco	TX	20-6- 1
10	8	Northwest Florida State	Niceville	FL	22-8
11	15	Florence-Darlington	Florence	SC	26-7
12	16	Ohlone	Fremont	CA	21-2
13	13	Pearl River	Poplarville	MS	15-5
14	14	San Jacinto	Houston	TX	21-10
15	20	Georgia Highlands	Rome	GA	24-2
16	19	Florida SouthWestern	Fort Myers	FL	22-11
17	10	Dyersburg State	Dyersburg	TN	21-6
18	24	Johnson County	Overland Park	KS	18-6
19	22	San Joaquin Delta	Stockton	CA	17-5
20	NR	Cowley	Arkansas City	KS	16-5
21	NR	Harford	Bel Air	MD	17-3
22	21	Arizona Western	Yuma	AZ	27-5
23	17	Cloud County	Concordia	KS	19-7
24	NR	Gaston	Dallas	NC	23-1
25	23	Kirkwood	Cedar Rapids	IA	16-4