Compiled by Allan Simpson (PG Crosschecker) / Andrew Hartwell (College Summer Ball Blogspot)
Move over Chatham; make way for the Forest City Owls. We have a new No.1 team in the Perfect Game/Summer Ball weekly summer-league top 25 rankings.
The Owls of the Coastal Plain League went 5-1 over the last week to stretch their record on the summer to 25-3, while the Cape Cod League’s Chatham Anglers lost four games in a row after a hot 9-1 start. In the process, the two teams flip-flopped positions in the national rankings with Forest City taking over as No. 1 and Chatham slipping to No. 2.
The Owls have so dominated the CPL that they clinched the first-half championship in the West Division more than a week ago, and opened a 10-game lead on their nearest division foe. Lynchburg College’s Bryan Breedlove (4-0, 1.99 in 32 IP) and SIU-Edwardsville’s Spencer Patton (4-0, 0.97 in 33 IP), both righthanders, lead a formidable Owls pitching staff.
The Eau Claire Express, top team in the Northwoods League, holds steady in the No. 3 spot. The Express has received timely hitting from Wisconsin-Oshkosh infielder Nolan Fadness, who is hitting .341 in 91 at-bats this summer.
No summer league team has been as hot as the West Coast League’s Corvallis Knights, who have won a franchise-record 15 games in a row, including 10 in WCL competition. The Knights, the defending WCL champions, jumped to No. 6 in the current rankings after being unranked the first two weeks.
We’ll rank the top 25 summer college league teams every Tuesday or Wednesday from 20-plus leagues around the country, and here’s our take on the top teams in Week Three (last week’s ranking noted in parentheses).