MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings

Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) found the going a little rough in the Newport Elks Tournament over the weekend, but the Huntington Beach Oilers used the event to move into this week's Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings presented by the Army National Guard.

Mater Dei, which was ranked No. 4 last week, dropped a pair of games in the tournament, falling to both Huntington Beach and Beckman (Irvine). The Oilers had a decisive 8-1 win over the Monarchs and also had wins over Bishop Amat (La Puente) and Palm Desert to win the tournament.

The losses drop Mater Dei from the Top 25 while the Oilers enter at No. 21.

Others dropping out this week include Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.), Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), Archbishop McCarthy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Buchanan and Fairhope (Ala.).

Parkview lost twice, falling to AAA schools Cartersville and Columbus. Harvard-Westlake also lost for the second time this season after losing Lucas Giolito for the season with an arm injury. The Wolverines fell to Alemany 2-1 and then tied Alemany 2-2 three days later.

Archbishop McCarthy also continued to struggle in the early going, falling to Westminster Christian on Monday. Buchanan (Fresno, Calif.) also had a loss to Campolindo and Fairhope fell to St. Paul's Episcopal.

New teams this week besides Huntington Beach include Columbus (Miami), Flanagan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Pelham (Ala.), Providence (Charlotte, N.C.) and La Cueva (Albuquerque, N.M.).

MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings presented by Army National Guard

1. (1 last week) Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), 0-0
Season opens Wednesday in the Desert Classic Tournament against Lincoln County.

2. (2) Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.), 9-0
Both Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton) and Berkeley Prep (Tampa) scored runs against Jesuit, but the Tigers still managed to stay undefeated. Spencer Trayner picked up the 4-2 win over Lakewood Ranch, striking out four and walking none. Lance McCullers went three innings to get the win in a 7-2 victory over Berkeley Prep. He allowed two hits and struck out four with two walks. The Tigers have two big matchups this week against Bolles (Jacksonville) and Gulliver Prep (Miami).

3. (3) Carroll (Corpus Christi, Texas), 8-0
The Tigers played just one game last week, beating Edinburgh 6-4. Trey Rodriguez and O'Shea Dumes each had a double in the win while Josh Cruz knocked in three runs.

4. (5) Calallen (Corpus Christi, Texas), 15-0
The Wildcats won their third tournament of the season, capturing their own Wildcat Baseball Tournament with a win over King in the championship game. Calallen also topped Gregory-Portland 10-2, Robstown 10-0 and Sinton 3-1.

5. (6) Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.), 0-0
Season opens March 31 at Georgetown Prep.

6. (7) Spanish Fork (Utah), 1-0
The most dominant pitching duo in the country may reside in Spanish Fork, where Hayden Nielsen and Kayden Porter, along with the help of Brady Corless, combined to strike out 13 batters in a 3-2 win over Layton. Nielsen started the game and struck out four. Corless entered in the third and struck out the next six batters while Porter joined the fun in the fifth inning with three strikeouts. Nielsen eventually drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. He also had a triple among his two hits.

7. (8) Farragut (Knoxville, Tenn.), 0-0
Season opens today at Lenoir City.

8. (9) Washington (New York City), 0-0
Season opens today vs. Cardozo (Bayside, N.Y.).

9 (10) Gloucester Catholic (N.J.), 0-0
Season opens Saturday at Audubon (N.J.).

10. (11) JW North (Riverside, Calif.), 6-0
The Huskies won their only reported game of the week with a 4-2 victory over Thousand Oaks. North's big test comes at the end of the month when it participates in the Anaheim Lions Tournament.

11. (13) Owasso (Okla.), 7-0
After handing Bixby a pair of losses last week, 5-2 and 8-1, the Rams opened their Florida trip with back-to-back wins over Winter Haven and Lake Wales. Cory Taylor was the winning pitcher in a 4-0 win over Winter Haven with a pair of RBIs. The Rams needed 10 innings to beat Lake Wales 4-3.

12. (14) Columbus (Ga.), 7-0
The Blue Devils have a tough stretch of games early in the season, but they continue to come out on top in close fashion. Last week they edged Russell County (Ala.) 3-2. Kyle Carter gave up two home runs, both to Anfernee Grier, but struck out nine for the win. Columbus continued the hot streak with a 7-6 win over defending 5A state champion Parkview on Monday.

13. (15) Broken Arrow (Okla.), 8-0
The Tigers won five times last week, including two wins over Muskogee, 14-4 and 11-1, and two wins over Bartlesville, 7-1 and 7-4. Broken Arrow concluded the week with a 7-3 victory over Edmond Memorial on Saturday. Trey Cobb got the victory in the 7-4 win over Bartlesville, which was also played Saturday, striking out six.

14. (16) Olympia (Orlando, Fla.), 10-0
Steve McClellan hit two home runs to lead Olympia past Bishop Moore 6-1 last week. The Titans also got a complete game from Michael Hennessey to remain unbeaten.

15. (19) St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.), 8-0
The Lancers got two runs off Menlo ace Freddy Avis and then added two more in the seventh inning after Avis left the game to pick up the 4-3 victory. The Lancers concluded the week with a 10-1 win over Palma (Salinas).

16. (20) Roberson (Asheville, N.C.), 4-0
Roberson dropped Reynolds 7-1 last week along with a 4-2 win over 2A runner-up East Rutherford. Dominick Cammarata drove in two runs in the latter victory while Parker Johnson and James Nevant each had a double.

17. (21) Nova (Davie, Fla.), 9-0
The Titans blanked St. Thomas Aquinas 12-0 in their only game last week to stay unbeaten. Troy Massaro picked up his fourth win of the season while Gabriel Valverde and C.J. Chatham each helped out with a home run.

18. (NR) Columbus (Miami), 9-1
The Explorers are expected to capture the Selective Recruiting/Sir Pizza Tournament, which runs all this week. Columbus got off to a good start with a 6-4 win over Belen Jesuit last week. It will face St. Brendan and Dwyer this week with the championship game set for Saturday.

19. (NR) Flanagan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), 7-1
Since losing its season opener to Calvary Christian Academy, Flanagan has been dominant, outscoring its opponents 69-7. Jose Mesa has been particularly impressive, striking out 27 batters in his last 13 innings pitched. Mesa is 4-0 on the season with a 0.56 ERA. He also has 64 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched.

20. (NR) Providence (Charlotte, N.C.), 6-0
Roberson isn't the only North Carolina team off to a strong start. Providence is 6-0 with a convincing 15-4 win over Rocky River last week, along with a 4-2 win over East Rowan and a 5-0 blanking of Alexander Central.

21. (NR) Huntington Beach (Calif.), 5-0
The Oilers have gone through an incredible gauntlet early in the season and have come out unscathed. Besides a 3-2 win over Bishop Amat, an 8-1 win over Mater Dei and a 5-2 win over Palm Desert, Huntington Beach also claimed first place in the 68-team Newport Elks Tournament.

22. (NR) Pelham (Ala.), 14-0
Pelham is off to the best start of any 6A team in Alabama, winning its first 14 games of the season, including a doubleheader sweep of Sparkman on Saturday. Eight of Pelham's wins are by shutout.

23. (22) Carroll (Fort Wayne, Ind.), 0-0
Season opens March 30 at Jeffersonville (Ind.).

24. (23) Conestoga (Berwyn, Pa.), 0-0
Season opens March 26 at Upper Darby (Drexel Hill, Pa.).

25. (NR) La Cueva (Albuquerque, N.M.), 7-0
The defending 5A state champions have won 23 in a row since an 8-7 loss to Cleveland (Rio Rancho) on April 5, 2011. The Cavemen start the season 7-0 after Monday's 10-1 win over Highland.

Dropped Out: No. 4 Mater Dei, No. 12 Parkview, No. 17 Harvard-Westlake, No. 18 Archbishop McCarthy, No. 24 Buchanan, No. 25 Fairhope.