It is time for the final week of the Starting 9. Pairings for Vermont baseball teams will be announced Monday 5/30 so this will be our last set of rankings.
I made some changes this week from what Shane has been posting. I feel Colchester and BFA and the clear top two teams. From there though, you could argue for a few different teams being in the third spot. I moved some hot teams up and lowered Rutland and Mt. Mansfield. After some thought, I moved up Rice to the third position. CVU and Essex and basically tied to me but I gave CVU the edge based on their recent head-to-head win and a longer stretch of winning.
Some great games mark the final week of regular season action. CVU hosts BFA today while BFA is at Essex on Wednesday and CVU is at Colchester on Thursday. As always, let us know what you think and hope for no rain this final week.
The Starting 9
| Rank | Team Name | Record | LW | Notes |
| 1 | Colchester | 12-1 | 1 | The Lakers remain the top team as they have extended their win streak to eleven games in a row. |
| 2 | BFA St. Albans | 12-1 | 2 | Busy final week for the Bobwhites who have games four days in a row including CVU today and Essex tomorrow. |
| 3 | Rice | 10-3 | 7 | The Green Knights went 3-0 last week including a nice win over Mt. Mansfield. Rice has now won five in a row. |
| 4 | CVU | 9-4 | 5 | The Redhawks have won five games in a row and eight of their last nine over a relatively easy stretch. |
| 5 | Essex | 11-3 | 6 | The Hornets won both of their games last week and face a tough test in BFA this week. |
| 6 | Rutland | 10-3 | 3 | The Raiders dropped their first game to a Vermont team, falling 5-1 to Brattleboro. |
| 7 | MMU | 9-4 | 4 | The Cougars have lost two of their last three games, although losing to CHS and Rice is nothing to be ashamed of. |
| 8 | Mount Anthony | 11-4 | 8 | The Patriots won yesterday against Drury in their only action since the last rankings came out. |
| 9 | Burr and Burton | 8-4 | 9 | The Bulldogs just keep winning. Burr & Burton will grab either the #2 or #3 seed in D-II but they are battle-tested with their Marble Valley schedule. |
im sorry shane but i can’t agree with these. You can’t take a rice team that has been BLOWN out 3 times and have them go from 7 to 3. and have rutland who had a bump in the road fall all the way to six. if colchet had lost to spualding you might have had them fall to number 2. and now put CVU at 4 and admitted yourself on here that they had a relatively easy stretch.
I wrote this article… and as I said above the actual list there is definitely room for debate. While I certainly mean no disrespect to Rutland, I just think Rice, CVU and Essex are hotter teams as of now based on who they beat recently. Rutland only played one game last week and it was a loss to a team not in my top 9. Perhaps my rankings are more fluid and in-the-moment than Shane’s were.
I almost had CVU in the third spot and wish I did after the Redhawks beat BFA 3-0 today.
CVU’s win over St Albans today was very impressive. They also scrimmaged against and destroyed Colchester earlier this year. Keep an eye on those Red Hawks!
Watch out for brattleboro. Its not a fluke that they beat brattleboro, I’m from rutland, and I was at both games, I personally think brattleboro is a better team than rutland. They could have easily beat them twice. Their line-up 1-5 is solid. They might be the best defensive team in the state. So much respect for bratt that no one else in the state shows.
CVU beat Colchester in a scrimmage. Just remember it was a scrimmage, both teams have changed a lot since then. Anything can happen
Big thanks to Trey for filling in and doing the Rankings this week for me while I was doing some other things. My rankings if I had done them this week, would be very similar to Trey’s but I’d make one slight change for what it’s worth. Here’s how I’d go :
1. Colchester
2. BFA
3. Rutland
4. Rice
5. CVU
6. Essex
7. MMU
8. MAU
9. Burr and Burton
…also of note 2 big games this week in BFA vs Essex, and Colchester vs CVU. The CVU vs Colchester game could go CVU’s way and prove a lot about CVU after the big win against BFA where they held a team scoreless that had been pounding the ball for 10+ a game. I point to the win against South Burlington earlier in the season where CVU was staring at a 1-4 start with a loss, but battled to win it in 7 which turned their season around. The BFA vs Essex game is now even more important for BFA’s confidence as they don’t want to lose 2 games going into playoffs (regardless, they have 2 decent pitchers and great hitting so I think they’ll be fine but no one likes to lose going into playoffs) and Essex could use a big win against the Bobwhites to solidify the gelling of this years group who are finding their identity with big losses from last year.
Colchester is overrated. There a good team but nothing special they should have lost many games or have won by a lot more then what they have against weak easy teams. In my Book St.Albans is #1 I have played against all tough Metro teams so far. And Def BFA is the best team. Look at there scores yes they lost to CVU but CVU had a good game. CVU is overrated too. There nothing special what so ever. Essex is not a top 5 team this year what so ever. They have one good pitcher that’s it. Rutland lost to there first Vermont Team in a not so good Brattleboro team that just show you they should drop out of the top 5. Rice there not that good either. Poland can be lit up easily he throws a bunch of off speed that you just have to adjust to easily and if you do that Rice is very beatable. MMU I think is a higher seed then a seven seed. They have lost to CVU, first game of the season and they had 5 errors in that game. When they didn’t have any errors they beat CVU and they didn’t even play that well. And they lost to Rice, Colchester and BFA. They didn’t play well against Rice. And they battled with BFA for 11 innings in a 1-0 lost. And They lost to Colchester in the 8th inning. That just shows you that MMU is a great team. Def a top 5 in my book. And to the other South teams I don’t know a lot about them but I know Mt.Anthony is a team to watch out for there record might not show it but They are dangerous every year. It should be very interesting when playoffs come around and I am looking forward to be watching them.
Burr Burton is playing today and they both are competing for the 1 seed in the tourny. It should be a good game.
“Burr Burton is playing today and they both are competing for the 1 seed in the tourny. It should be a good game.”
BBA beat Fair Haven 22-3 in five innings today and beat Mill River 6-5 yesterday. Wow… way to make a statement Bulldogs. Still looks like #2 seed for BBA but still two games to go I think. Maybe someone can confirm?
Also Essex beat BFA today 3-2. All of a sudden BFA has lost two straight while Essex has won six straight.
Yes MMU put up battles against BFA and Colchester but I wouldn’t go out and say they’re a great team. Their 1-4 hitters are their team. After that, their lineup gets weaker. In the end its all about getting the win and last time I checked Colchester is the number one team as of right now. They can play under pressure unlike most teams. 4-0 and extra innings and their lineup is hard to stop. Sam Spencer who is arguably one of the best pitchers in the state could not shut them down. They are far from overrated…..
Sam Spencer Can shut them down that’s not a question. Shayne Delabruere can shut them down too. And You obvious don’t know what you are talking about because MMU 1-9 is dirty. Look at the stats. There solid all the way around maybe not in power but in a lot of other ways.
I think its hard to give MMU a high seed because they have lost 4 games but they have also beaten Essex and CVU. MMU had one of there worst hitting games this year and still lost to Colchester by 1 run in 8 innings (all 4 runs scored in the 7th inning on bunts to tie the game). They also lost to BFA in 11 innings by 1 run. The most they have lost by all season is 3 runs. Rice has been blown out multiple times and Colchester has almost lost to many teams they shouldn’t have.
In my book, Colchester and Rice are definately overrated. Neither team has any pitching depth which is the most important thing in the play offs. The real teams to watch out for are BFA, CVU, and MMU. All 3 teams have multiple good starting pitchers who are easily capable of going all 7. If any of these teams has good day hitting, they will win almost guaranteed. Play offs is all about having depth, not just one good starting pitcher.
Don’t leave out the great pitching rotation that CVU brings to the mix.
I couldn’t agree with you more “fan”. And like you Said BFA has a bunch of great pitchers same with CVU and MMU and lot’s of depth.
hey fan, two words
Ravey, Tandy
Best two starters in the state of vermont.
Ravey and tandy both have an under 2 era. i think tandy has under 1. THERE UNHITTABLE!
okay basically said colchester, cvu, essex, rutland, and rice were overrated. who’s the 1 -5 then okay? i think it’s colchester 1# bfa #2 rutland #3…. mt anthony #4 (but they havent played anyone) cvu #5….
u need to learn a win is a win… and colchester has had a lot of close games, but they have two amazing starters in ravey and tandy who can shut down anyone… so far they are 12 – 1.
EVEN IF COLCHESTER loses to cvu tomorow, its not that big of a deal. its the last game of the year, colchester may still be the #1 seed anyways since BFA has two loses now. however CVU is a good team, so is colchet, dont count rice out, rutland is good, mt. a is OVERRATED!
Bottom line is no one is scared of Colchester and no one has a right to be.
“fan what?” plays for Colchester or works within the team. Otherwise you would not have those stats.
Everyone should just shut up and let Shane do his job. Stop complaining about where you’re rated and back up your mouth. Lastly, how can you say Colchester is overrated when they have a 13-1 record? That just doesn’t make sense. They play the same schedule that everyone else plays in the metro. Bottom line, stop worrying about where you’re ranked on vtscoreboard and just play the game.
““fan what?” plays for Colchester or works within the team. Otherwise you would not have those stats.”
I cannot say either way but Colchester’s baseball site has full stats.
BBA has two more games against windsor and otter vallley
“Papibaby!”….”Bottom line is no one is scared of Colchester and no one has a right to be.”
I think he said it right. Honestly, i play in this league and i would not be one bit scared to play colchester. This year anyone could be anyone on a given day. Didn’t colchester only just beat SPAULDING 5-4? They”re worst in D1.
If i had to pick one team to be scared of it would be MMU, but only if spencer was pitching because he was by far the best pitcher we faced all year.
imbeciles
Imbeciles; classic
. Hi guys! Baseball is fun. We are all working our hardest every single game! Cant we all just be number 1? I think we can! You guys are all #1 in my heart 
Lets all try our hardest and do our best! What wonders we can accomplish!
@Papibaby!!
You are hurting people’s feelings. The human heart is fragile; lets be kind and sensitive to the fellow man. We all know MMU is good, but again, thank you for reiterating your point. It’s very nice of you to show such compassion for your team. I wish you the best of luck with the conclusion of your season! Do your best
I’m scared of a team that hasnt lost since the second game of the season. We can debate all of this all we want, but at the end of the day, Colchester has one loss and stays ontop. If they were as bad as you guys think they are, why have they only lost once? Great teams win the close games, which Colchester clearly does. Yes, they have had some bad games, but, except for one, they have come out on top. A win’s a win, and Colchester surely knows how to do that.
I got to BFA, play on the baseball team.no varsity though.
I can say they are a great team have 4 good pitchers, everyone can run, great power, watch out for bfa.
I think Shane & Trey have done a great job. It seems everybody is just being very supportive of their own school or favorite team. As long as you keep it clean and do not take personal shots then you can continue having a great discussion.
My take is that the bottom line is as of today 5/28) Colchester will have the #1 seed (especially now that BFA lost 2 in a row) and they deserve it and they should have 2 easy games to start while the other teams fight it out.They will have to step up and continue to play as they did in the regular season. BFA dropped from a potential 1 seed to a 5 seed with 2 losses that shows how close the top level teams are. The teams to watch besides Colch are Essex, MMU, BFA and CVU as all have played well coming into the playoffs.
Most everyone on this does not know how good the southern teams are since there are mostly northern people on this site. So based on record (not who they played) Rutland, Bratt & MAU will have to be dealt with. I do not care what happened last year as one thing HS sports shows you is there is always change. So even though a southern team had a high seed and lost last year (MAU to BFA) that does not mean it will happen again.
As of this coming Monday everybody is 0 – 0 and have to go on a 4 game winning streak to be crowned champion. It will be fun to watch. Good luck to all the teams.
I think Shane & Trey have done a great job. It seems everybody is just being very supportive of their own school or favorite team. As long as you keep it clean and do not take personal shots then you can continue having a great discussion.
My take is that the bottom line is as of today 5/28) Colchester will have the #1 seed (especially now that BFA lost 2 in a row) and they deserve it and they should have 2 easy games to start while the other teams fight it out.They will have to step up and continue to play as they did in the regular season. BFA dropped from a potential 1 seed to a 5 seed with 2 losses that shows how close the top level teams are. The teams to watch besides Colch are Essex, MMU, BFA and CVU as all have played well coming into the playoffs.
Most everyone on this does not know how good the southern teams are since there are mostly northern people on this site. So based on record (not who they played) Rutland, Bratt & MAU will have to be dealt with. I do not care what happened last year as one thing HS sports shows you is there is always change. So even though a southern team had a high seed and lost last year (MAU to BFA) that does not mean it will happen again.
As of this coming Monday everybody is 0 – 0 and have to go on a 4 game winning streak to be crowned champion. It will be fun to watch. Good luck to all the teams.
There will be a lot of upsets in the playoffs.
Who do you think will win DIV 2?
What time to the pairings come out? Could you make a bracket and have people predict the outcomes? That would be a lot of fun coming down to the end of the season.
VPA releases the pairings around 10-10:30am. We will have them posted shortly after.
baseball@- burr n burton will win d2 easily, if they dont, i will be shocked, they could get to the second round, maybe semis in d1. i would like to see a better pitcher in d2 than Eddie Lewicki, and a better hitter in d2 than Riley Kevil. Great team, beat mau, and bratt. and beat fair haven (the former one seed) 22-3