The News-Gazette's baseball Top 10: Area teams have plenty to celebrate

Apr. 23—Dramatic home runs. Lengthy winning streaks. Milestones happening nearly every day. What's not to love about the area baseball scene? Preps coordinator Zach Piatt breaks down our latest Top 10 weekly rankings:

1. Monticello

➜ Record: 20-0

➜ Previous ranking: No. 1

➜ Quick hit: Yes, the Sages' undefeated start has been impressive, but potentially even more so has been the way they've done it. Just in the last week, Monticello has come back twice, first to beat St. Thomas More 13-11 and then Williamsville 16-9 before holding off Pontiac's late effort to win 3-2.

2. St. Joseph-Ogden

➜ Record: 17-1

➜ Previous ranking: No. 2

➜ Quick hit: Senior Bryson Houchens hit his 13th career home run in an 11-1 win against Pontiac to make him the program's all-time leader, and he's now up to 15. Coach Josh Haley also reached 400 wins at SJ-O with a 15-4 win against Paxton-Buckley-Loda, and he's closing in on 500 for his career.

3. Unity

➜ Record: 13-2

➜ Previous ranking: No. 3

➜ Quick hit: Since their 9-7 loss to Monticello on April 9, the Rockets have rattled off seven wins in a row. This stretch has been highlighted by a 3-0 victory against reigning Class 2A state champion Sacred Heart-Griffin, in which Tyler Henry pitched a complete-game shutout with six strikeouts.

4. Mahomet-Seymour

➜ Record: 14-3

➜ Previous ranking: No 4

➜ Quick hit: Spearheaded by a home run and four RBI from Paxson O'Malley, the Bulldogs scored all seven of their runs in the fifth and sixth innings to earn a 7-6 comeback home win against Apollo Conference rival Effingham on Tuesday, a nice change of pace after run-ruling their previous three opponents.

5. Champaign Central

➜ Record: 11-5

➜ Previous ranking: No. 5

➜ Quick hit: The Maroons also had an exciting win against Effingham recently, as Tre Cole's third hit of the game was a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning to score Bryce Clark. Along with Cole, Ben McDaniel also stood out at the plate with a home run, two doubles and five RBI.

6. BHRA

➜ Record: 10-4

➜ Previous ranking: No. 10

➜ Quick hit: The Blue Devils earned a couple big wins in the last week. First was an 8-4 victory against Vermilion Valley Conference rival Westville last Thursday. Next came a 7-5 comeback win against Centennial on Saturday, with Clark Warren's two-run double in the sixth inning giving BHRA the lead.

7. Armstrong-Potomac

➜ Record: 8-2

➜ Previous ranking: No. 6

➜ Quick hit: The Trojans bounced back from their first setback of the season, a 1-0 home loss to Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin on April 13, with a convincing 13-3 road win against Watseka on Monday. Another Vermilion Valley Conference test comes on Friday at home against Westville.

8. Argenta-Oreana

➜ Record: 12-4

➜ Previous ranking: No. 7

➜ Quick hit: The Bombers took a pair of losses against a pair of solid teams on Saturday, falling 8-1 against Williamsville and 12-2 against Monticello to end their eight-game winning streak, but they got back on track with a 7-4 win against Sullivan on Monday. Time to see if they have another streak in them.

9. ALAH

➜ Record: 11-6

➜ Previous ranking: No 9

➜ Quick hit: Will Hilligoss and Donovan Vanausdoll are leading a potent lineup that features five different players batting above .350, and Maxton Boddy is sporting a 0.70 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched. The Knights are looking like a well-balanced team more than a month into the season.

10. Rantoul

➜ Record: 11-6

➜ Previous ranking: Not ranked

➜ Quick hit: The Eagles posted a 17-13 record last year, marking their first winning season since 2019. They also made a Class 3A regional championship appearance to give themselves a chance to win their first postseason plaque since 1992. Second-year coach Kyle Lewis has the program back on track.