West County, Oran, Valle among region's top-ranked baseball teams

The latest Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association poll includes only two teams that moved up: Saxony Lutheran and Valle.

Saxony moved into the Class 1 rankings released Friday. The Crusaders sit at No. 9 behind Oran and Valle, which are tied at No. 4. Oran was No. 3 in the previous poll two weeks earlier, while Valle was No. 5.

Both Cooter and Winona dropped out of the top 10.

In Class 2, West County is highest among area teams at No. 4 (down from No. 3), Clearwater is No. 6 (down from No. 5), Scott City is No. 8 (down from No. 7) and Twin Rivers is No. 9 (down from No. 6).

In Class 3, Festus is No. 10, just as it was two weeks ago.

DeWitt likely staying on the Dodgers roster for a while

Sikeston High School grad Blake DeWitt is expected to stay on the roster for a while despite the return of Nomar Garciaparra, the all-star DeWitt replaced.

DeWitt was called up to the major league team for the first time in his career at the start of this season when Garciaparra and another third-baseman, Andy LaRoche, were injured. DeWitt has started every game since then.

But Garciaparra's nagging injury to his right wrist means that he will see limited playing time, leaving DeWitt a spot on the team. Garciaparra is expected to be activated for a five-game trip that starts Friday.

Manager Joe Torre said a short-term solution to create the roster space for Garciaparra would be to go from 12 to 11 pitchers, according to a Los Angeles Times story.

Asked if Garciaparra could share time with DeWitt, Torre told the Times: "I think we have to see what (Garciaparra) can do physically."

Good luck keeping up with the Hansbroughs

Who would have guessed that brothers Ben and Tyler Hansbrough both would have us watching and waiting their next move in the very same week?

But with Ben weighing his options after an unhappy exit from Mississippi State, and with Tyler weighing his options after an unsatisfying exit from the NCAA Tournament last week, there's plenty of discussion about where the two basketball-playing Poplar Bluff High grads will land and why.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times comes news that Hansbrough met with North Carolina coach Roy Williams about a potential leap into the NBA. Click here for that story, and then click here to read an observation from the Raleigh News & Observer listing the reasons Hansbrough should come back for his final season as a Tar Heel.

And on the Ben front, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal writer Greg Ellis wonders about the growing list of defections from the Mississippi State program, including that of Hansbrough (who curiously cited as one of his reasons the lack of practice time at Humphrey Coliseum, which is often booked with other non-sports events).