MIAA Top 25 Baseball Rankings: 4/18/17

St. John's (Shrewsbury) holds steady at No. 2, thanks to a loaded pitching staff.

Our rankings of the best teams in the state during the 2017 baseball season, as selected by our panel of staff writers and correspondents. (Updated 4/18)

1. St. John’s Prep (5-1; Last Ranking - 1) Eagles have a stranglehold on the Catholic Conference standings early on with wins over Catholic Memorial, Malden Catholic and BC High.

2. St. John’s (Shrewsbury) (4-0; Last Ranking: 2) The Pioneers earned a huge 3-2 win over BC High, after shutting out regional rival Holy Name last week.

3. Braintree (3-0; Last Ranking: 3) The defending Super 8 champions have held serve thus far with three Bay State Conference wins. They’ll test their mettle against the host Eagles in the Bay State/Catholic Conference challenge this Saturday.

Brian Gaughan Leads Walpole in Huge Win at Xaverian

By Nate Weitzer (@nweitzer7)

WESTWOOD, Mass. – After spinning eight shutout frames only to watch his team lose in extra innings to Xaverian last Patriots’ Day,  Brian Gaughan couldn’t wait to get another shot at the Hawks.

One year later, the Rebels ace earned a shot at redemption and he held to escape a jam in the bottom of the seventh inning and seal a 2-0 non league win for Walpole on the road.