Beckman, top ranked in Division 3, opens PCL baseball season Saturday vs. Northwood

Patriot Park at Beckman High School will be the site of one of the PCL openers Saturday. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Beckman High School’s baseball team earned a high honor in the CIF Division 3 pre-season rankings released a couple weeks ago.

The Patriots, who open Pacific Coast League play Saturday at 11 a.m. home vs. Northwood, were ranked No. 1 in Division 3.

But Coach Kevin Lavalle isn’t putting too much importance on the ranking.

“Being ranked in February doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “I get that CIF is trying to create competitive equity, but there is no formula that works for everyone. Kids transfer, kids get hurt, teams overachieve, start players graduate. The way it works now, I think the best thing to do is just play the season and talk about it later. To be completely honest, we haven’t talked about it once.

“I think we have a good group of guys coming back this year, and we had a really positive fall and winter. It feels strange to be playing real games in mid-February, but we’re as ready as we can possibly be. We have the right guys to keep improving and hopefully hit our stride in a month or two. 

“The PCL is talented this year. I’d like to think we’re right in there as a team that can win league if we play well. We have a good mix of experience and leadership.

Beckman, 2-0 so far this year, has some talented returning players including outfielder/pitcher Carter Speights, infielder pitchers Ashton Kanegae and infielder Marcus Ziegler.

Beckman was 20-9 last year and finished second behind Woodbridge in the PCL with a 14-4 record.

Northwood enters Saturday’s game with a 1-1 record. League play is beginning earlier this season because the PCL is now an eight-team league with the addition of Sage Hill. There are a number of Saturday games on the schedule.

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—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com