A year ago, East Grand Forks Sacred Heart finished the high school baseball season with a total of 11 wins.
Twelve games into the 2016 season, the Eagles already have matched that total.
Sacred Heart hasn't lost since being edged 1-0 by Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal in its season opener. The Eagles avenged that loss Friday, topping NCE/U-H 7-1 to improve to 11-1.
While Sacred Heart has a veteran team, with only one senior on last season's team playing regularly, "I'm kind of surprised,'' Sacred Heart coach Paul Bethke said. "At the beginning of the year, I don't think we were on anybody's radar. To be up in the top 10 in the state, that's caught me off guard.''
Sacred Heart is sixth in the Minnesota Class A QRF rankings. The QRF is determined not only by a team's won-loss record, but by also taking into account things such as opponents' won-loss records and the classification level of opponents.
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Last season's 11-8 Eagles team finished 69th in final state QRF rankings. This season's Eagles team has the second-longest winning streak in the state's Class A ranks, topped only by undefeated (13-0) Randolph.
"But I remind the kids that it doesn't mean other teams lower in the rankings can't beat us,'' Bethke said. "So much depends on who is pitching for you and against you.''
Pitching has been strong for the Eagles. The staff, led by Devin Evavold, Brenden Bethke, Zac Bethke and Ryan Holte, has a sub-2.00 earned run average. In the Eagles' last eight games, they've allowed a total of seven runs, no more than three in any of those games.
"Our pitchers have had great outings just about every time out,'' Bethke said. "We're making plays behind them. And when we do make mistakes, they aren't killing us.
"We have a nice mix of pitchers. Ryan tries to blow the ball by hitters. He throws pretty hard. Devin is more about keeping hitters off balance, mixing up his pitches. Brenden pitches the same way. Zac changes speeds and throws a lot of strikes.''
But the biggest change from a year ago is on offense. "We had so much trouble scoring runs at the end of last season,'' Paul Bethke said.
Sacred Heart's offense isn't reliant on power. Through its first 10 games, Sacred Heart had only 14 extra-base hits (13 doubles and one triple).
But the team batting average is better than .300 and the Eagles are limiting their strikeouts to an average of only 4.1 per game as a team. Leading the offense are Noah Chine (.364), Evavold (.355), Holte (.343, team-high 16 RBI), Brenden Bethke (.333) and Zac Bethke (.324).
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"I think we're hitting well,'' Paul Bethke said. "The kids are getting deep into counts and swinging at good pitches. We're putting the ball into play. Even our outs for the most part have been good at-bats.
"There's not a lot of long ball going on. But we're running more aggressively, stealing more bases, taking the extra base, going from first to third on a hit, things like that.''
Good pitching, defense, balanced hitting-it's all added up to the Eagles making a big climb up the state's QRF rankings.
"Obviously, it's nice to be up there in the rankings,'' Bethke said. "It shows that we are doing well.''
PULLOUT
Sacred Heart baseball at a glance
Record: 11-1
Pitching leaders (stats through 10 games): Brenden Bethke 3-0, 0.00 earned run average; Devin Evavold 3-0, 1.40, Ryan Holte (2-1, 3.89), Zac Bethke (1-0, 2.80).
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Hitting leaders (stats through 10 games): Noah Chine .364; Evavold .355, 8 SB; Holte .343, 16 RBI; Brenden Bethke .333, 11 RBI; Zac Bethke .324; Nick Bergum .290.
