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: Pueblo South
Preseason Rank: 25
2016 Record: 16-5
Conference: 4A South Central
CHSAA Class: 4A
Head Coach: Gary Lown
Playoff Run: Lost to Delta 7-3 in Class 4A District 8 Championship Game
2016 Final Rank: 23
Returning Starters: 3
Returning Pitchers: 1

TOP PLAYERS:
Lucas Kaber, INF, 2017
Gage Archuletta, 2017
TJ Montoya, 2017
Austin Martindale, P, 2018

X-FACTOR:
Every year the Colts seem to reload with new players to take place of the ones that graduated. This will be key for them to have similar success in 2017

KEY PLAYERS LOST:
Brandon Maes: Colorado State University Pueblo

STAT RAT:
The Colts hit a solid .413 as a team in 2016 while scoring 189 runs which ended up being 9 runs a game.

BOTTOM LINE:
After posting an impressive 16-5 overall record, the Colts for the 3rd year in a row reached the 4A District Championshp game only to fall short again to Delta 7-3. The question will be do they have enough coming back in 2017 to get there again, and PBR Colorado feels they do. 2017 INF Lucas Kaber returns as one of their top hitters. Last year Kaber hit an impressive .452 while driving in 15 runs for the Colts. Seniors TJ Montoya, and Gage Archuletta each hit .362 and drove in a combined 29 runs. Last year's No. 2 pitcher junior Austin Martindale returns from a solid 2016 campaign in which he went 3-1 with a 3.63 ERA in 34 innings while also striking out 43 batters. The Colts have had depth in their program over the last 7 years. It will not be surprising to see them reload the spots left by graduated players and make another 4A playoff run.