MaxPreps Baseball Xcellent 25: Bellaire Dethroned, Moody Now No. 1

Brazoswood knocks the Cardinals from their perch at No. 1; Moody meets No. 2 Calallen in Texas 4A state playoffs.

About the Rankings: MaxPreps already provides the most comprehensive high school sports ratings with the MaxPreps National Rankings presented by the National Guard, a computer model developed by Ned Freeman. Now, it’s time to get the human element involved.

MaxPreps Xcellent 25

1. (2) Moody (Corpus Christi, Texas), 34-2
The Trojans suffered just their second loss of the season, 1-0 on Friday, but bounced back to clobber Alamo Heights 11-0 and 12-0 in the next two games to advance to a much anticipated regional final against Calallen. Rudy Flores had a two-run homer and four RBI in the second game and added a double and two RBI in the third. Christian Garza-Gallegos also had a home run in the second game. Andrew Cantu picked up his 14th win (14-0) while Justin Meza also won his 14th game (14-1).

2. (3) Calallen (Corpus Christi, Texas), 34-3
The Wildcats got a strong pitching effort form Adam Hoelscher in the decisive third game to defeat Lake Travis 10-4 and advance to a regional final against Moody. Hoelscher allowed just one earned run and struck out four in four and a third innings. Lake Travis forced a third game after winning game two, 7-3, on Saturday. Jordan John (13-0) pitched the Wildcats to victory in game one, 5-3, with 13 strikeouts.

Mike Renner, Chatsworth

Photo by Jann Hendry

3. (4) Sumrall (Miss.), 36-0
Mississippi 3A state champions. Season Complete.

4. (5) Naples (Fla.) 33-1
Florida 4A state champions. Season Complete.

5. (8) Northshore (Slidell, La.), 34-2
Louisiana 5A state champions. Season complete.

6. (9) Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), 40-4
Nevada 4A state champions. Season complete.

7. (10) Alonso (Tampa, Fla.) 31-3
Florida 6A state champions. Season complete.

8. (11) Pendleton (Brandeton, Fla.) 31-1
The Panthers’ season is over. As an independent school, Pendleton is not eligible for the Florida state playoffs.

9. (12) Owasso (Okla.) 35-4
Oklahoma 6A state champions. Season complete.

10. (16) Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins, Colo.) 22-4
Colorado 5A state champions. Season complete.

11. (17) Desert Ridge (Mesa, Ariz.) 29-5
Arizona 5A Division 2 state champions. Season complete.

12. (19) Farragut (Knoxville, Tenn.) 39-5
Tennessee 3A state champions. Season complete.

13. (21) Reagan (San Antonio, Texas), 28-4
Logan Nottebrok’s game-tying grand slam in the seventh led to an 11-10 win for the Rattlers in game 3 of their regional semifinal with Mission Sharyland. Reagan lost the first game of the series 6-3, but won 10-0 in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

14. (NR) Brazoswood (Clute, Texas), 29-3
Derek Hamilton hit a three-run homer and Tyler Green also had a home run as Brazoswood scored seven runs in the fourth inning of the decisive third game against No. 1-ranked Bellaire. The Buccaneers knocked off the nation’s top team by winning the final two games of the three-game series 6-4 and 13-5.

15. (NR) College Park (The Woodlands, Texas), 28-5
College Park continues to roll in the Texas 5A state playoffs, knocking off Rowlett in two straight to advance to the regional finals against Lufkin. Brett Hardinbrook (8-0) got the win in a 6-4 victory over Rowlett while John Simms (9-2) got the win in a 5-2 triumph.

16. (NR) Cartersville (Ga.), 30-5
The Hurricanes defeated Columbus 10-7 in the third game of the three-game series and won their fifth state title since 2001. Cole Payne had a grand slame in the first inning and the Hurricaneh had a five-run rally in the fifth to come from behind for the win.

17. (1) Bellaire (Bellaire, Texas), 32-4
The Cardinals saw their season come to an end after dropping two straight games to Brazoswood in the Texas Class 5A Region III semifinals on Saturday. Brazoswood won the rubber game 13-5. Brazoswood also won 6-4 in game 2 after falling to Bellaire in the opener 7-5.

18. (6) Menchville (Newport News, Va.), 23-2
The Monarchs were limited to just four hits in a 4-2 loss to Cox in the Eastern Regional finals. Menchville is still alive, however, and will play Stafford in the quarterfinals of the Group AAA playoffs on Tuesday. The Monarchs defeated First Colonial 4-2 earlier in the week and then edged Indian River 5-3 in the Eastern Regional semifinals.

19. (NR) Chatsworth (Calif.), 30-4
Chatsworth won the Los Angeles City Section with a 9-0 thrashing of top-seeded Cleveland of Reseda on Saturday. Carlos Escobar had a three-run homer and Mike Renner surrendered just two hits in throwing the shutout.

20. (7) Columbus (Ga.), 33-4
Columbus fell to Cartersville in the Georgia 3A state finals, dropping the third game of the best of three series, 10-7. Cartersville won the first game 18-11 but Columbus bounced back to win game two 9-4. Columbus took a 7-5 lead in the fifth inning of the deciding game, but errors led to a five-run rally for Cartersville in the bottom of the fifth.

21. (25) Walsh Jesuit (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio), 27-3
Tyler Skulina led Walsh Jesuit to an 8-4 win over Bay in the Tiffin Regional Semifinal, striking out seven. Greg Greve then no-hit Shawnee in a five-inning 10-0 win to give his team the Division 2 regional title. Ryan Berry led the offensive attack with two home runs.

22. (NR) South Fork (Stuart, Fla.), 30-4
South Fork topped Plant 5-2 in the Florida 5A semifinals and then walloped Chiles 13-3 in the championship game to win the state title. Kyle Hunter gave up one earned run in getting the win over Chiles.

23. (23) Lake Brantley (Altamonte Springs, Fla.), 29-4
Season complete.

24. (24) Bolles (Jacksonville, Fla.), 31-4
Florida 3A state champions. Season complete.

25. (NR) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 24-5
The Monarchs knocked off Tesoro and Norco by identical 7-4 scores to advance to the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals. Cory Hahn proved to be the hero, hitting two home runs off of previously undefeated Norco pitcher Matt Hobgood (11-1), including a grand slam in the fourth. Aaron Northcraft got the win against Norco.

Dropped Out: Brother Rice 32-3, Sharyland 29-4, JH Rose, 24-3, Yucaipa 27-3, Norco 25-5, Memorial 28-5.