Pioneer Baseball ranked 4th by Perfect Game Baseball

Article credit to Chris King- Perfect Game Baseball - www.perfectgame.org

The 2016 season is finally here with most teams dusting off their equipment and heading to the fields for game action this weekend. The talent in the junior college ranks this season is strong from top to bottom, and it easily spreads from coast to coast with plenty of premium players and programs in between.

Getting the nod as our opening day No. 1 team will be the defending National Champions Northwest Florida State. Coach Doug Martin and the Raiders went 5-1 during the 2015 World Series including a 10-0 win over Iowa Western, who will start the season as our No. 2 ranked team. Northwest Florida State's only loss in the tournament came at the hands of McLennan (Texas), but the Raiders got redemption just two days later by crushing the Highlanders 15-1 in the national title game.

With solid cores returning to both teams, and with the help of some significant D-I transfers, both Northwest Florida State and Iowa Western will be in the hunt all year long.

Right in the mix with the top two teams will be perennial national power San Jacinto (Texas) who comes in at No. 3 and on paper may have the most talented roster top to bottom in the country. The Gators made it to the World Series once again in 2015, but could not get past the national runner-up McLennan squad, who defeated San Jac 3-1 in the opening round and again 14-6 to eliminate the Gators' national title hopes.

Fourth on our list is Spartanburg Methodist (S.C.). The Pioneers will run out a lineup that will keep them in the conversation as one of the premier teams in America. Kep Brown, Tyler Lancaster, Dominique Jackson, Nolan Cheneau and Bakari Gayle all rank in the top 75 of our top 100 junior college prospect rankings and are sure to cause plenty of fits for opposing pitchers.

Cowley County (Kan.) rounds out the Top 5 thanks in part to a solid core of returning players along with the help of two transfers from Oklahoma State in Carson LaRue and Caleb Eldridge.

Every team looks good on paper right now, but once the cleats hit the dirt we will start to find out what each of these clubs are truly made of. Will talent by itself win out? Can pitching and defense alone carry teams to the promised land? Or is a balanced, accountable team the way to go?

These questions will be answered in the next few months as Perfect Game will be there following the action every step of the way.

The rankings will be updated on a bi-weekly basis throughout the 2016 season, so please continue to follow along. When it's all said and done we will see who has what it takes to make it to Grand Junction, Colo. in May and prove once and for all who is the best in the world of junior college baseball.


2016 Perfect Game Top 50 Junior College Teams