By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
Staying on top of the national baseball rankings has not been an easy feat for the top teams in the country. Just ask American Heritage School of Plantation, Fla.
The Patriots are the third team to occupy the top spot in the Baseball America No. 1 ranking, joining preseason No. 1 Long Beach Wilson and Calvert Hall of Towson, Maryland. American Heritage started the season at No. 4, rose to No. 3 in the March 18 rankings and took over the top spot on April 1 when Calvert Hall lost in a tournament in California.
So what happened in the Patriots’ next game after rising to the top? They lost a 4-3 decision to Palm Beach Central in the semifinals of the National Grand Slam Tournament held at Florida Atlantic University.
American Heritage bounced back to beat Wellington 8-0 and enters this week’s play with an 18-2 record, 7-0 in the district. The Patriots have cranked out a reported 49 home runs this season, led by Joe Belviso’s 12. Eric Hosmer is second on the team with nine home runs while Eric Acevedo has six. Belviso also leads the team with a .528 batting average and is currently slugging an astronomical 1.358.
American Heritage is one of about a half dozen teams from Florida that occupy a spot in the most recent Baseball America rankings. The others include Sarasota at No. 3, Plant of Tampa at No. 12, Jupiter of Tampa at No. 13, Nova of Davie at No. 19, and Florida Christian of Miami at No. 24.
Perfect Game Crosschecker, meanwhile, has five more Florida teams in its top 50, including Lake Brantley of Altamonte Springs, Winter Springs, Clearwater Central Catholic, Alonso of Tampa and Jesuit of Tampa. PG Crosschecker also has American Heritage at No. 1 with Plant at No. 3, Jupiter at No. 4 and Lake Brantley at No. 8.
Plant battled Alonso on Friday and pulled out a 6-3 win to up its record to 18-1. Graham Ramos had a two-run double and Connor Mitchell had an RBI single to help the Panthers rally from a 3-2 deficit in the top of the sixth. The loss drops the Ravens to 15-2.
Tampa is a hotbed of baseball activity this spring and Plant is just one of the top teams in the area. According to the most recent MaxPreps Tampa area rankings, however, Plant is not the top team in Tampa. That honor belongs to Clearwater Central Catholic. The Marauders are 18-1 on the season and ranked No. 1 in the state 3A rankings. CCC has also won 17 games in a row and most recently defeated Dunedin 6-4 in the finals of the Dunedin Spring Classic. Sam Mende was the tournament hitting MVP after going 9-for-12 with five triples and two home runs. Joe McLemore was the overall MVP, pitching the Marauders to a win in the semifinals while also collecting eight hits in the tournament.
Georgia
Brookwood High School of Snellville has risen to take over the No. 1 spot in Georgia after running through some of the top teams in the state, including defending 5A state champion Walton.
Brookwood knocked off Walton 9-2 on March 17 and also have wins over highly-regarded teams from Florida, including Flanagan (15-4) and Nova (3-0) at the LaGrange Invitational. David Friedlander’s story in the Gwinnett Daily Post charts Brookwood’s rise to power.
Brookwood, which has risen to No. 6 in the Baseball America rankings, recently defeated Shiloh 13-2 in its Region 8-AAAAA opener to put its season record at 13-1.
Walton has fallen on tough times, dropping three of its last four games to drop to 8-5 on the season. The most recent defeat was a 5-2 loss to Pope on Wednesday, April 2. Walton also lost to Kell, 4-0, on March 28. Kell is ranked No. 20 in the Perfect Game Crosschecker March 30 rankings.
One team that is not in the national rankings, but is sitting atop the Georgia AAAAA coaches poll is Harrison of Kennesaw. The Hoyas won their first 15 games of the season before losing to Kennesaw Mountain 6-2 on April 3.
Pierce County has the top record in Georgia at 15-0. The Bears are ranked No. 1 in the 2A rankings and posted a 25-6 record last year, falling to Wesleyan in the state quarterfinals.
Alabama
Opelika is off to one of the best starts in the country with a 26-0 record to begin the season. Opelika is ranked No. 1 in the latest Alabama Sports Writers Association poll and was scheduled to take on Auburn, which is ranked No. 4 with a 16-5 mark, Friday in a doubleheader. Rain postponed the games until Monday. Opelika is coming off a 10-0 win over Central last week in which Jonathon Campbell pitched a perfect game with 11 strikeouts and a game-ending double that brought in the 10th run of the game in the sixth inning. Drake Sasser and Jake Crain each had three-run homers in the win, according to the Opelika-Auburn News.
Tyler Stovall of Hokes Bluff is starting up where he left off last year. In leading the Eagles to a No. 1 ranking in the Class 3A poll, Stovall has set several state records along the way. With a 16-0 win over Susan Moore last week, Stovall picked up his 48th career win, breaking a tie with Brandon Mims of Prattville (1997-00). Stovall also holds the state record for wins in a season with 18, which he set last year when Hokes Bluff won its fifth consecutive state championship. Stovall also holds the state record for strikeouts in a season with 227 and recently passed Del Howell of American Christian on the all-time strikeout list with over 530.
Hokes Bluff will take a step up in competition today when it takes on Russell County (20-7), the No. 2 ranked team behind Opelika in the Class 6A rankings.
Mississippi
Rain has wreaked havoc on the Tupelo baseball schedule of late. Games with South Panola, DeSoto Central and Starkville set for last week were all postponed until later in the month due to wet weather.
Tupelo is ranked No. 2 in the country by Baseball America and has a 19-0 record. The Golden Wave went 34-4 last year, losing to Madison Central in the Mississippi 5A playoffs. Tupelo takes on Columbus on Tuesday and has had its games with South Panola and DeSoto Central rescheduled to April 17 and 18, just a week before the Mississippi state playoffs begin on April 24.
Tennessee
Bartlett, the defending 3A champion in Tennessee, is ranked No. 9 in the latest Baseball America poll, but it is only ranked No. 2 in the state by the Memphis Commercial Appeal behind Christian Brothers. The Purple Wave recently dumped Dyersburg 6-2 in the 16th annual USA Classic baseball tournament in Millington. Although no championship game was played due to poor weather conditions, Christian Brothers was able to up its record to 14-3 with a quartet of wins, including a 5-3 victory over Hendersonville. Christian Brothers also picked up a 5-1 win over Miami Senior at the USA Classic and beat Hartselle 3-0.
Bartlett, meanwhile, has not been on the field since March 28 due to rain. After starting the season 6-3, Bartlett has won four straight games including two at the Riverdale Warrior Classic in Murfreesboro. The remaining games of that tournament were rained out, including a possible matchup with Smyrna.
Bartlett will play Arlington this week and Collierville on Friday.
South Carolina
The latest state rankings by The State find defending 4A champion Hartsville at the top of the rankings, ahead of Sumter and Conway who are second and third. The Red Foxes are 12-2 on the season and recently defeated South Florence 7-5. Hartsville finished second at the Southeastern Baseball Classic, falling to Paul VI, 1-0, in the championship game. The Red Foxes also lost to Paul VI in last year’s classic by the same score and have a 1-0 loss to Sumter from early in the season for their only two losses on the year.
North Carolina
Despite losing the state’s best player from last year in Major League Baseball first-round draft pick Madison Bumgarner, South Caldwell has picked up right where it left off last year when it won the North Carolina 4A championship.
The Spartans are 13-1 on the season and ranked No. 1 in North Carolina by the Charlotte Observer. South Caldwell has won seven games in a row and has allowed two runs or fewer in all 14 games this year with seven shutouts. South Caldwell’s only loss was a 1-0 defeat to Watauga of Boone, a team that the Spartans play on Tuesday in a Northwestern League matchup. The Spartans recently defeated Central 3-1 behind a 14-strikeout performance by Cody Penny.
Kentucky
Pleasure Ridge Park is off to a 5-0 start on the season after shutout wins over Grayson County (8-0) and South Oldham (2-0) and a 5-4 win over Noblesville, Indiana. The Panthers are ranked among the top 50 teams in the country by Perfect Game Crosschecker and they should be a factor in the state playoffs this year after falling to Shelby County, the eventual runnerup to Paul Dunbar.
Pleasure Ridge Park has a matchup with Paul Dunbar on April 24 at the Louisville Invitational Tournament. The Panthers also meet highly-regarded Lexington Catholic on April 16.
Paul Dunbar started the season with a 5-2 record including a 5-3 loss to Niceville, Florida, at the Florida Beach Bash. Paul Dunbar also has a 5-1 loss to Dublin Coffman of Ohio.
Pleasure Ridge Park was No. 1 to start the season in the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association poll while Paul Dunbar was No. 2 and Lexington Catholic was No. 3.
Virginia
James River High School was ranked No.14 in the latest Baseball America poll, but the Rapids have lost three of their last five games including two games at the Anderson Bat National Classic to Esperanza of California and Jupiter of Florida. They also fell to Cosby, 4-1, on Thursday in a league contest. James River was also ranked No. 1 in the Richmond area by InRich.com.
The top team in Virginia just might be the Paul VI Panthers, who are members of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. The Panthers last won a state championship in 2004, but they are off to an 11-0 start with wins over defending South Carolina state champion Hartsville at the Southeastern Baseball Classic. Paul VI is currently ranked No. 11 in the country by Perfect Game Crosschecker.
