Sherman Oaks' Notre Dame High School baseball ranked No. 1 in nation

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. (KABC) -- The baseball talent at Notre Dame High School is as bright as the sun shining in Sherman Oaks.

"I think the thing that I'm noticing the most is they expect to win," said head coach Tom Dill.

The Knights are off to a fast 11-0 start to the season. They're ranked No. 1 in the nation by Baseball America.

"It's funny, I've never even really heard one of our players talk about it, to tell you the truth. A ranking doesn't mean a whole lot right now. Every coach will tell you, if you were that at the end of the year, that would be a really big deal," Dill said.

"We still haven't played Harvard Westlake, still haven't played Chaminade, and those teams are definitely teams we have to beat," said pitcher Lucas Gordon.

Rankings will put a target on their back. That will be as challenging as hitting a curveball.

"It means something to me because I feel like our team wants to live up to that," said senior Michael Whiteside. "We don't think we are there yet, we just want to live up to it."

You don't need to look very far to see the team's historical success.

Ten Major League Baseball players once called Notre Dame home, including the New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton - the highest paid player in the game.

"He buys all of our gear, Nike gear, so our players don't have to buy any of their stuff," Dill said.

The only thing more impressive than the talent on the field is the strong academics.

"GPA is 4.0," said Whiteside. "I would say keeping up with the academic side is a little bit harder because you're in a high academic school with a really athletic program."

The goal is to win a championship, but at Notre Dame, they're already winning in life.