Baseball: Power rankings for Chillicothe-area teams following second week of schedule

CHILLICOTHE — Death, taxes and rainouts in April baseball.

Another week has passed in the high school baseball season and another round of games have come and gone. Though rain and inclement weather has pushed several games back, area teams have still been able to squeeze in games where they can.

There have plenty of developments around the area. Zane Trace and Westfall are both on three-game winning streaks. Huntington took down Unioto on the first night of Scioto Valley Conference play. Southeastern remains undefeated through Wednesday.

With another week of baseball in the books, it's time to see where each team stacks up. Here are power rankings for all 10 area teams following the second week of the season:

Weekend Takeaways: Breaking down what we learned from last week in area high school baseball and softball

10. Piketon Redstreaks (2-4, 0-2 Scioto Valley Conference)

The Redstreaks took the brunt of Zane Trace and Southeastern's offenses through the first week of SVC play, but they did get one over Eastern on Thursday in a 14-3 nonconference win. Most of the runs Southeastern scored against the Redstreaks, however, came as a result of six errors. If the Redstreaks can clean up those errors, they can cut down on the unearned runs that hurt them against Southeastern.

9. Chillicothe Cavaliers (2-3, 1-0 Frontier Athletic Conference)

While Chillicothe was handed two nonconference losses over the weekend, it managed to open its conference schedule with a solid 8-4 win over Hillsboro on Monday. Chillicothe has been hampered by the weather the past few days like most other area teams, but it's been able to at least get one win in between the rain.

8. Adena Warriors (3-3, 0-1 SVC)

Adena got to spend the weekend down in Tennessee for a two-game series with Nashville-area school Hume-Fogg, and it managed to split the series with a 10-6 win Saturday. It dropped its SVC debut against Westfall, but Adena managed to keep the margin close and Ethan Puckett managed nine strikeouts through 6⅔ innings on the mound.

7. Westfall Mustangs (3-1, 1-0 SVC)

After starting the year 0-1, the Mustangs have crawled back to a respectable 3-1 record, and they pulled out a 2-0 win over Adena on Monday thanks to some clutch work by Brenden Tuttle. Plus, a pair of wins over McClain and Fairfield Union added a little bounce to their step over the past week.

6. Paint Valley Bearcats (5-1)

It's a tossup between Paint Valley and Southeastern as the week comes to a close. Both got out to a hot start, and have to this point maintained a strong foothold in the standings. Paint Valley's only loss, however, came during a doubleheader against Lynchburg-Clay on Saturday. It was tied with Southeastern through nine innings on Monday, but darkness called the game before anyone could jump ahead.

5. Southeastern Panthers (4-0, 1-0 SVC)

While the Panthers didn't get to settle their matchup against the Bearcats on Monday, they did get their first SVC game in against the Redstreaks while the rest of the conference was rained out. The result was their fourth straight win, and one decided by a 13-1 margin to boot. The Panthers took advantage of errors to get 10 unearned runs on the board and got their first SVC win on the board.

4. Waverly Tigers (5-2, 1-1 Southern Ohio Conference III)

The Tigers have split their SOC III matchups thus far, but that doesn't paint a full picture. They only lost Portsmouth West by one run, and they beat Portsmouth 8-3. Plus they were tied with Valley before their game Wednesday was called due to darkness. Quinton Hurd only giving up one hit and striking out nine in the loss to Portsmouth West is also worth remembering as the Tigers delve deeper into SOC III play.

3. Zane Trace Pioneers (5-1, 1-0 SVC)

No other area team is playing like the Pioneers are right now. They haven't allowed a single run in their last three games against Piketon, Northwest and Chillicothe, all the while pounding out 22 runs and their rotation averages seven strikeouts per game in that span. The Pioneers are on a roll and it's just a matter of how long they can keep it going.

2. Unioto Shermans (2-1, 0-1 SVC)

The Shermans were on a roll against the Bearcats Wednesday until the rain forced them to hold off on closing the game out. Being up eight runs through three innings is a solid bounce back after a 7-1 loss to Huntington, and it shows how potent the Shermans' offense is on an ordinary night. Monday was a tough loss, but the Shermans seemed to be blowing off steam afterward.

1. Huntington Huntsmen (3-1, 1-0 SVC)

Aside from its Wednesday matchup against Westfall getting suspended due to the weather, Huntington couldn't have started conference play better. It took down Unioto in convincing fashion, and a win over Federal Hocking last Friday only adds to Huntington's repertoire. Over its three latest games, the Huntsmen have given up just one run per game and put up 26 combined runs in that span.

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Baseball: Power rankings for area teams after second week of schedule