Friday, Feb. 01, 2013

Sac-Joaquin Section baseball rankings out

The Sac-Joaquin Section released its half-season power ratings on Tuesday, and if the season ended today, the Los Banos girls would be the only local team in the playoffs.

The Tigers girls held a 9-10 record when the ratings were compiled, but were ranked 13th in Division 4, which holds a 16-team bracket for the playoffs.

The Tigers added a win last Thursday in a 52-40 home win over Central Valley. The Pacheco girls, which lost 56-16 to Central Catholic on Tuesday, are ranked 31st in Division 3. Other Western Athletic Conference teams in the top 16 include Patterson (fifth in Division 3), Ceres (14th in Division 3) and Central Catholic (fourth in Division 5).

On the boys side, neither Los Banos or Pacheco were in the top 16. Pacheco is close, but after faltering in WAC play, the Panthers were ranked 23rd in Division 3 with a 10-10 record. Pacheco's 74-47 loss to Central Catholic on Saturday dropped them to .500, and a 59-37 loss to Ceres on Wednesday left Pacheco at 10-11 and 2-6 in WAC play.

Pacheco sat point guards Daniel Marquez and Edgar Iglesias in Saturday's Central Catholic loss. Coach Tyrell Jenkins said the two are beat up after a rough first half of league play, and he wanted to rest them to improve their energy and health.

In their stead, sophomore guard Juwan Epperson put 20 points on the board. Senior Le'Andre Wright added 12. Meanwhile, Central Catholic had four players in double digits, led by 6-foot-9 senior John Fenton's 20.

Los Banos, ranked 25th in Division 4, dropped to 5-19 with a 63-52 loss to Patterson on Wednesday.