By John Cackowski
State Director

Leading up to the start of the high school season, we will count down the Top 50 preseason teams every day as part of our comprehensive season coverage. The Top 50 teams are picked from all classifications, and are not divided up by class level. To see the entire list click here

Team: Highlands Ranch  
Preseason Rank: 41
2016 Record: 10-9
Conference: Continental
 CHSAA Class: 5A
Head Coach: Joe Gleason
Playoff Run: N/A
2016 Final Rank: 57
Returning Starters: 6
Returning Pitchers: 4

TOP PLAYERS
Morgan McIntosh, 3B/2B,2017
Bret Newman, C/RHP, 2017 (Regis College)
Peyton McFadden, RHP/OF, 2017
Jordan Medina, C,2018, (University of Northern Colorado)
Josh Thompson, RHP, 2018
Kevin Ball, 1B, 2017
Zac Dammel, 3B/OF, 2018

OTHER PLAYERS THAT COULD MAKE AN IMPACT:
Tyler Meguire, 2B, 2018

X-FACTOR: 
2018 RHP Josh Thompson is flying under the radar a little, but he has No. 1 stuff with a mid to upper 80's fastball. If he can cut his walks down (20 in 25 innings in 2016) he could be one of the surprise pitchers in the state in 2017

KEY PLAYER LOST:
Aaron Dammel: Metropolitan State College of Denver

STAT RAT: 
Last year the young Falcons pitching staff had a team E.R.A. of 6.07. In 120 innings pitched, the Falcon staff gave up 167 hits, walked 82, and hit 16 batters. Those numbers are  going to have to come down to compete in the tough Continental League.

BOTTOM LINE:
In 2015 the Falcons had a 4 and 6 record in the Continental League which was good for a 9th place league finish, but were able to make the 5A District playoffs based on their RPI ranking. Last year the Falcons went 5-5 in the Continental League which was good for a 6th place league finish but were left out of the revamped RPI point system. In 2016 the Falcons proved they could compete with some of the best with wins over tough 5A teams Dakota Ridge, Regis, and Chaparral, but the Falcons had a hard time with consistency on the mound which made it hard to gain momentum from game to game. Senior Morgan McIntosh returns as the leader of the offense. Last year McIntosh led the team with a .463 batting average and scored 22 runs. Senior Bret Newman returns and can do a lot of different things for the Falcons. Newman can catch, play short, and pitch, and last year he hit .339 and drove in 16 runs. Junior Jordan Medina led the team with 24 RBI's last spring while hitting .338. Medina also flashes a mid to upper 80's fastball on the mound. Junior Zac Dammel hit .300 last spring while also driving in 13 runs. The Falcons showed they could play at a high level and compete with the best beating teams that made the 5A Final 8, but also showed their youth at times and could play down to lesser teams levels. The experience the young Falcon pitching staff gained last spring should help them improve in 2017.