Top 10 Central Section high school baseball rankings (3/20/2024)

Liberty of Bakersfield one of many off to red-hot starts to lead the Central Section's best baseball teams

The Liberty Patriots won a CIF State Division 1-A football championship in 2022. 

Now their baseball team is making some serious noise on the state front while off to a 9-1 start in 2024. 

The Patriots are the top-ranked team in the Central Section, but check out the nine other squads off to red-hot starts. 

1. Liberty-Bakersfield (9-1)

The Patriots' only loss was 1-0 to Clovis East on Feb. 29. They've won five straight since, scoring at least seven runs in four of the five. Senior outfielder Grant Voss already has four home runs. 

2. Bakersfield Christian (9-1)

The Eagles, the defending section D2 champion, opened the season with seven straight wins before a 7-4 loss to Bullard. They've rebounded since with wins over Bakersfield (7-1) and Ridgeview (1-0). They had a three-game streak of wins over Bakersfield (17-0), Mission Oak (14-2) and Stockdale (12-3). Senior outfielder Luke Mann is hitting .517 with seven stolen bases. 

3. Kingsburg (9-2)

The Vikings, the defending CS D3 champ, started the season 1-2, including a 5-0 loss to defending NorCal D1 champion De La Salle, but have responded with eight straight wins, including a 21-5 victory over Immanuel. Twelve different Vikings had hits in that game and nobody had more than two. Kingsburg is averaging nearly eight runs per game. 

4. Clovis (6-3)

Following a three-game skid to De la Salle, Liberty and Coronado, the Cougars have rattled off five straight wins including a remarkable 24-20 football score over the Rancho Rams. Clovis gave up eight runs in the top of the first, yet come back to win, keyed by a 9-run uprising in the sixth. Sophomore Deagan Rose, also the school's highly-touted quarterback, drove in seven runs with three hits. Marcel Leal, Drake Davis and Deep Chohan also had three hits for Clovis in the win. 

5. Frontier (10-1)

The Titans have scored at least 10 runs in four of their 10 wins, including a 15-2 victory over Highland last week. Casen Bradford had two hits and three RBI in that one. He leads the team with 13 hits and 10 RBI. 

6. Liberty-Madera (12-0)

Coming off a 26-7 season and a CS D4 title, the Hawks have dominated opponents with a 127-24 run differential. Five different Hawks already have at least 10 RBI including 20  on 20 hits with nine doubles by senior McGuire Smith. 

7. Clovis North (7-2)

After starting the season 1-2, the Broncos have won six straight, including the last three victories all while scoring in double figures: Bakersfield (12-2), Edison (13-4) and Dos Palos (10-1). 

8. Cabrillo-Lompoc (8-1)

The Conquistadors are actually unbeaten on the field, having sustained and forfeit loss on Feb. 17 to Golden West. Since then they've won seven straight by a cumulative score of 44-10. Thomas Kiesling has 14 hits, 15 RBI and four doubles. 

9. Kerman (8-2)

The Lions opened the season with a 12-2 win over Arroyo Grande, setting the tone for a strong opening month of the season. Back-to-back losses to Bakersfield Christian (8-5) and Clovis North (3-1) didn't sway the Lions, who rebounded with four straight wins. The team's pitching staff has recorded four shutouts and a 1.70 team ERA. 

10. Pioneer Valley-Santa Maria (9-2)

The Panthers opened the season with eight straight wins before back-to-back defeats set them back before a 7-1 win over Santa Ynez. Pioneer Valley is surging under sixth-year coach Cody Smith. After consecutive seasons of 8-20, 3-25 and 3-25 starting in 2016, the Panthers have gone a combined 49-15 over the last three seasons. 

Five other teams to watch

Edison-Fresno (5-2)

Exeter (8-1)

Stockdale (7-3)

Yosemite (9-0)

Redwood (7-3)