Marion comes in at No. 3; Cedar Rapids Prairie moves into No. 1 spot in 4A; Sigourney climbs to No. 2 in 1A
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Marion baseball is a work in progress.
The Wolves are 7-2 and are tops in the Wamac Conference East Division at 3-1. They also just suffered their first loss since the season opener. Marion has had success and still has room for improvement.
“I’ve got some experienced guys, and they're pretty good, but we're in progress with some of the other guys,” Fish said. “They're just younger, and they don't have the confidence yet, but they're making progress. We see glimpses of some good things. I still think we'll be dangerous at the end of the year, but I don't feel like we're there yet.”
The Wolves have held their ground in the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association rankings, moving back to third in the latest Class 3A poll released Monday. Cedar Rapids Prairie moved to 15-0 and took over the No. 1 spot in 4A, while Sigourney jumped to No. 2 in 1A.
Marion opened the season at third and spent last week at No. 2. Fish said there are multiple factors to the ratings. The respect is nice but the bigger goal is trying to get the team to that level at the end of the season.
“I think there's a lot of parity in 3A,” Fish said. “I think it just sometimes folks are just fortunate on schedule. Part of all this is probably from just our reputation, where we've been the past and some of it's probably deserving. We’ve got a ways to go.
“There are a lot of good teams in 3A and there are some teams that aren't ranked that I know are very good.”
The next two weeks will be a good gauge to Marion’s strength. They have conference foes Solon and Mount Vernon this week, sandwiching a non-conference contest with 4A No. 5 Iowa City High. Benton Community, who received votes in 3A, are among the contests slated for next week.
“The next two weeks, we'll say a lot about us,” Fish said. “I wouldn't be surprised we could really play good baseball and our record could get banged a little bit. We might drop in the rankings. That's okay. As long as we're getting better.”
In addition to Prairie and City High, Cedar Rapids Kennedy returned to the rankings and are ninth. Iowa City Liberty cracked the poll at No. 10. The Lightning hosted Kennedy Monday night.
Mid-Prairie and Iowa City Regina moved into the rankings. The Golden Hawks debut this season at No. 9, while the Regals are 10 th.
Sigourney has reached its highest ranking, coming in behind 1A No. 1 Remsen St. Mary’s. North Linn remains in the poll, sitting in seventh. Upper Iowa Conference leader Lansing Kee comes in at No. 9.
Dubuque Wahlert remains the No. 1 team in 3A and unbeaten Underwood (2A) rounds out the top-ranked teams.
IOWA HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
COACHES ASSOCIATION RANKINGS
(Record in parentheses)
Week 4 (June 9)
CLASS 4A
1. C.R. Prairie, 2. Pleasant Valley, 3. Sioux City East, 4. Waukee Northwest, 5. Iowa City High, 6. Waukee, 7. West Des Moines Valley, 8. Johnston, 9. C.R. Kennedy, 10. Iowa City Liberty
Others receiving votes (alphabetical order): Ankeny Centennial, Bettendorf, Indianola, Sioux City North, Southeast Polk
CLASS 3A
1. Dubuque Wahlert, 2. Pella, 3. Marion, 4. Algona, 5. Sioux City Heelan, 6. Ballard, 7. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 8. Boone, 9. MOC-Floyd Valley, 10. Saydel
Others receiving votes (alphabetical order): Benton Community, C.R. Xavier, Clear Creek Amana, Davenport Assumption, Western Dubuque
CLASS 2A
1. Underwood, 2. Pleasantville, 3. Unity Christian, 4. Van Meter, 5. West Lyon, 6. Chariton, 7. Mediapolis, 8. Grundy Center, 9. Mid-Prairie, 10. Iowa City Regina
Others receiving votes (alphabetical order): Bellevue Marquette, Dyersville Beckman (4-3), New Hampton, Northeast, Wilton
CLASS 1A
1. Remsen St. Mary’s, 2. Sigourney, 3. Saint Ansgar, 4. Coon Rapids-Bayard, 5. Martensdale-St. Marys, 6. Lynnville-Sully, 7. North Linn, 8. Don Bosco, 9. Lansing Kee, 10. Bedford
Others receiving votes (alphabetical order): East Buchanan, Lake Mills, Mason City Newman, Wapsie Valley, Woodbine
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