Spruce Creek and American Heritage both lose in first week of action allowing Cathedral Catholic to take over No. 1 spot.
Cathedral Catholic has yet to play a game, but has already assumed the No. 1 spot in the Xcellent 25 rankings.
Photo by Kirt Winter
The high school baseball season is only a week old and already we have a new No. 1 team in the Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings.
Cathedral Catholic (San Diego), which has yet to play a game yet this season, moves into the top spot after the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Spruce Creek (Port Orange, Fla.) and American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) both lost during their first week of competition.
Spruce Creek, the defending 8A state champions in Florida, lost a pair of games and dropped all the way out of the top 25. American Heritage, which lost its opener to Mater Lakes Academy, has won three in a row since its opening loss and remains in the top 25 at No. 24.
A pair of top 10 Texas teams, Martin (Arlington) and Fort Bend Dulles (Sugarland) also suffered early season losses in tournament play. Martin was ranked No. 4 in the preseason rankings, but has dropped out after losing to Marcus (Flower Mound). Dulles lost its opener to Cinco Ranch at the Katy Tournament, then won its next two games, only to drop two more and fall out of the rankings.
Others to drop out include No. 13 Cypress Ranch (Houston), No. 16 Valley Christian (San Jose, Calif.), No. 20 Milton (Ga.) and No. 25 Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.).
Newcomers include Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.), Roberson (Asheville, N.C.), Campolindo (Moraga, Calif.), Loganville (Ga.), Jenks (Okla.) and Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.).
The fastest risers are Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.), which is off to a 5-0 start, and The Woodlands (Texas), which is 4-0. Jesuit moves up from No. 19 to No. 3 while The Woodlands moves up from No. 23 to No. 6.
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings1. (3 preseason) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego), 0-0Season begins March 5 vs. La Costa Canyon at Hilltop - Lolitas Tournament.
Austin Meadows, Grayson
Photo by Dennis Carter
Topped Winder-Barrow (Winder) 13-5. Takes on Collins Hill (Suwanee) this week before hosting Cullman (Ala.) on March 1.
3. (19) Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.), 5-0The Tigers are off to a strong
start with three shutouts and a pair of games where they allowed only
one run. Jesuit opened the season with a 12-0 win over Berkeley Prep
(Tampa), a 14-0 win over Tampa Catholic and a 24-0 win over
Spoto (Riverview). Against Middleton (Tampa), the Tigers won 14-1. They
then defeated Gulliver Prep (Miami) 2-1 on Saturday.
John Kilichowski
has been the ace so far for Jesuit, going seven innings and allowing no
runs with 11 strikeouts.
4. (6) Vista (Calif.), 0-0Season begins March 2 vs. La Jolla Country Day (Calif.) at Foothiller/Aztec Tournament.
5. (7) Pensacola Catholic (Fla.), 2-0No
trouble so far for the Crusaders, who bumped off Washington (Pensacola)
8-2 in the opener and Gulf Breeze 11-0 last week.
Jon Jon Burkett and
Cody Henry both homered against Gulf Breeze while
Cooper Jones struck
out six for the win.
James McGhee hit one out against Washington and
Avery Geyer went four innings for the win with five strikeouts.
6. (23) The Woodlands (Texas), 4-0The Highlanders opened the season
with four straight wins at their own tournament, defeating Langham
Creek 6-0, Kinkaid 5-1, Klein Collins 7-0 and George Ranch 5-4.
7. (9) Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village, Colo.), 0-0Season begins March 6 vs. Thomas Jefferson (Denver).
Jeremy Martinez, Mater Dei
Photo by Louis Lopez
Season begins March 1 vs. St. Mary's (Stockton).
9. (11) Lexington (S.C.), 0-0Season opens March 4 vs. Irmo (Columbia).
10. (12) Lake Braddock (Burke, Va.), 0-0Season opens March 9 at Oakton (Vienna).
11. (15) Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), 0-0Season opens March 14 at Bonanza (Las Vegas).
12. (24) Oak Grove (Hattiesburg, Miss.), 2-0Defeated Perry Central 9-1 in its season opener, then beat Greene County 5-2.
13. (17) Farragut (Knoxville, Tenn.), 0-0Season begins March 11 at Lenoir City.
14. (18) Woodford County (Versailles, Ky.), 0-0Season begins March 12 at Collins (Shelbyville).
15. (21) Elk Grove (Calif.), 0-0Season begins March 2 vs. Ponderosa (Shingle Springs).
16. (22) Gloucester Catholic (Gloucester City, N.J.), 0-0Season begins April 1 vs. Deptford.
17. (26) Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.), 1-0Defeated
Cleveland (Reseda) 7-0 in the first game of the Easton Tournament.
Jack Flaherty pitched five scoreless innings and gave up just one hit.
Trent Shelton, Campolindo
File photo by Dennis Lee
Season begins Feb. 26 at St. Francis (Mountain View).
19. (28) Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.), 0-0Season begins March 1 at Collins Hill (Suwanee).
20. (29) Roberson (Asheville, N.C.), 0-0Season begins Feb. 28 at East Rutherford (Forest City).
21. (30) Loganville (Ga.), 2-0Opened season with 13-2 win over South Gwinnett (Snellville).
Clint Frazier belted a home run to lead the Red Devils. Followed with a 6-0 win over Whitewater.
22. (31) Jenks (Okla.), 0-0
Season begins March 1 vs. Grant (Oklahoma City).
23. (14) Venice (Fla.), 3-1Dropped Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton) 10-0 and Braden River (Bradenton) 5-3, but suffered a 3-1 loss to Seminole. Defeated Sarasota 2-0 on the combined one-hit pitching of
Tyler Shambora and
Cooper Hammond.
24. (2) American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.), 3-1The Patriots lost their season opener to Mater Lakes Academy (Miami), but have won three straight against Hallandale, Dillard (Fort Lauderdale) and Florida Christian (Miami).
25. (35) Barbe (Lake Charles, La.), 0-0Play East Ascension (Gonzalez, La.) on Feb. 28.
Dropped out: 1. Spruce Creek (Port Orange, Fla.), 4. Martin (Arlington, Texas), 8. Fort Bend Dulles (Sugar Land, Texas), 13. Cypress Ranch (Houston), 16. Valley Christian (San Jose, Calif.), 20. Milton (Ga.), 25. Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.).
