BASEBALL POWER RANKINGS — Can anyone stop the Panthers

By barstoolfanatics on May 8, 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The McKinleyville Panthers

By Ray Hamill — Not surprisingly the top four teams in our rankings are the last four teams still playing in this week’s Charles Lakin tournament.

And not surprisingly, the McKinleyville Panthers hold steady at No. 1.

No H-DNL team has impressed as much as the Big 5 champions this spring, and no team is playing better all-around baseball.

And for good measure, they’re also the hottest of the H-DNL teams, having won 12 straight games and 15 of their last 16.

They are the highest ranked H-DNL in the North Coast Section, according to MaxPreps, coming in at No. 24 overall this week and No. 3 in Division 4.

That makes them fairly heavy favorites to win this week’s H-DNL tournament, although at least two other teams will fancy their chances and will relish the challenge of taking on the Big 5 champs, if they get the opportunity.

Particularly the Eureka Loggers, who kept the pressure on the Big 5 frontrunners for the past month.

The Loggers have won eight straight since dropping two of three against McKinleyville and will be hoping to get the better of Ferndale in Thursday’s Lakin semifinal in order to get another shot at the Panthers in Friday’s final.

Providing that is the Panthers can take care of business against St. Bernard’s in Thursday’s other semifinal.

The Ferndale Wildcats have also been very impressive this spring on their way to clinching a first Little 4 conference title in 19 years, and they also will fancy their chances against the Panthers, if they can get the better of Eureka on Thursday.

The Eureka Loggers

The Ferndale Wildcats

The Ferndale boys left no doubt as to which was the best team in their conference by sweeping a doubleheader against their closest challengers, St. Bernard’s, last weekend.

After living in the shadow of the Crusaders for much of the past two decades, the Cats have taken four of five games against them this year, something no doubt their players and fans will have relished.

And rounding out our power rankings are the Fortuna Huskies.

The Huskies bowed out of tournament play in a hard-fought 4-3 loss to St. Bernard’s on Tuesday, which was their second loss to the Crusaders in the past two weeks.