By Austin Lee

Baseball’s 3-2 victory over top-ranked Bishop Gorman High School from Las Vegas Saturday and a string of four consecutive wins for girls’ soccer solidified both teams’ ranks among the top 10 teams in the nation.

The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper ranked Wolverines eighth in the nation and Bishop Gorman first in its preseason poll last month. In addition, Lucas Giolito ’12 and Max Fried ’12 were respectively ranked the first place right-handed and left-handed pitchers nationally of the senior class by ESPNHS.

The team was also invited to play at the National High School Invitational over spring break in Cary, N.C., along with 15 other highly ranked schools from around the nation.

“We’ll see a lot of highly regarded schools this year out in North Carolina,” Head Coach Matt LaCour said. “I saw something like nine of the top 30 teams in that first national poll are going to be there, so it’s going to be a highly competitive tournament.”

Meanwhile, the girls’ soccer team also shot up in rank, reaching ninth place in the Powerade Fab 50 on ESPNHS in week nine of the rankings, based on games played until Jan. 29. This is up three places from the team’s 12th place ranking the previous week and does not take into account the team’s latest wins, which include a 3-1 victory over Chaminade, currently ranked 31st in the poll.

“I think it’s well deserved,” Head Coach Richard Simms said. “But it’s sports, so whatever is written down on paper matters a lot less than what happens on the field. I hope the players understand that and just stay focused and don’t get distracted.”