High school baseball rankings: Sierra Canyon jumps into MaxPreps Top 25 after 4-0 week against Southern California's best

The season is still about a week away from getting fully underway in the South, Southwest and California, but already the MaxPreps Top 25 high school baseball rankings have experienced some turbulence.

The Prep Baseball Report Preseason Invitational in Orange County featured some of the top teams in Southern California over the weekend. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) was the highest-ranked team to suffer a loss. The Wolverines dropped a one-run game to Yucaipa, which eventually lost to Orange Lutheran on Monday, the final day of the tournament.

Harvard-Westlake bounced back to defeat defending Southern Section champion JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano) on Monday, avenging last year's section final result.

Meanwhile, Sierra Canyon pulled off the other early season upset when it knocked off preseason No. 15 Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks). The Trailblazers went 4-0 during the week to jump into this week's rankings, along with Yucaipa and JSerra Catholic.



The only other team to join the rankings this week was Auburn (Ala.). Combine Academy (Lincolnton, N.C.), Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.), Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) and Walton (Marietta, Ga.) all dropped out after appearing in the preseason MaxPreps Top 25.

Best game: Yucaipa 6, Harvard-Westlake 5. After the Wolverines took a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh on a balk and an RBI single by Jacob Galloway, Yucaipa came from behind in the bottom of the frame on a two-out, two-run walkoff double by Isiah Walz.

Player of the Week: Gabe Miranda, Orange Lutheran. Finished a home run short of the cycle in going 4-for-4 with 4 RBI against Yucaipa. He also had a home run against Ayala and a double against Gahr earlier in the week.

Games to watch: JSerra Catholic vs. Southlake Carroll; Orange Lutheran vs. Southlake Carroll. The Dragons travel to California to take on two of the Southern Section's best teams Thursday and Friday.

Streaks: Roff (Okla.), which went 33-0 in 2021, 4-0 in the shortened 2020 season and also won the last six games of the 2019 season, begins the season with the longest win streak in the nation at 43 in a row. MaxPreps Top 25 baseball rankings

1. St. Mary's Prep (Orchard Lake, Mich.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 1
Next: Season begins March 30 vs. Shrine Catholic

2. IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 2
Next: Season begins Feb. 22 vs. Dunedin

3. Buford (Ga.)
Record: 1-0 | Preseason: 3
Last week: Def. St. Pius (Atlanta), 8-0
Stats: Riley Stanford had a home run against St. Pius. Buford pitchers combined to strike out 17.
Next: Friday vs. Shiloh DH

4. Stoneman Douglas (Parkland, Fla.)
Record: 1-0 | Preseason: 4
Last week: Def. West Broward, 2-1
Stats: Christian Rodriguez had a home run and Jake Clemente struck out four for the win.
Next: Tuesday vs. Taravella



5. Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.)
Record: 4-0 | Preseason: 6
Last week: Def. Gahr, 2-1; Ayala, 4-3; and Huntington Beach, 5-0, def. Yucaipa 12-1
Stats:  Mikey Romero and Casey Borba each had two hits against Gahr with Borba hitting a double. Gabe Miranda hit a home run against Ayala. Romero tripled against Huntington Beach and Oliver Santos and Louis Rodriguez each had eight strikeouts.
Next: Friday vs. Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas)

6. Yucaipa (Calif.)
Record: 3-1 | Preseason: 96
Last week: Def. Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach), 4-0; Harvard Westlake (Studio City), 6-5; Chaminade (West Hills), 4-3. lost to Orange Lutheran, 12-1
Stats: Chase Antillon homered against Harvard-Westlake, Jacob Reimer hit one out against Chaminade and Luke Scherrer homered against Mira Costa.
Next: Saturday vs. Foothill (Santa Ana)

7. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.)
Record: 3-1 | Preseason: 5
Last week: Def. Foothill (Santa Ana), 5-4; lost to Yucaipa, 6-5; def. Capistrano Valley, 12-5, def. JSerra Catholic, 2-1
Stats: Tommy Bridges pitched five innings for the win and also scored two runs against Foothill. Bryce Rainer went 2-for-4 in the loss to Yucaipa. Rainer, Jacob Galloway and Kai Caranto each had two hits against Capistrano Valley.
Next: Wednesday vs. Damien (La Verne)

8. Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 7
Next: Season begins March 1 vs. Corona del Sol

9. Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 8
Next: Season begins Monday vs. Bloomingdale

10. Barbe (Lake Charles, La.)
Record: 1-0 | Preseason: 9
Last week: Def. Teurlings Catholic, 29-2
Next: March 1 vs. Glenmora



11. Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 10
Next: Season begins Thursday vs. Chaparral (Scottsdale, Ariz.); Thursday vs. JSerra Catholic; Friday vs. Orange Lutheran.

12. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.)
Record: 4-0 | Preseason: 48
Last week: Def. Grace Brethren (Simi Valley), 17-1; Granada Hills Charter, 8-0; Moorpark, 4-2; Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks), 4-2
Stats: Jaden Noot went six innings and struck out 7 in the win over Notre Dame.
Next: Tuesday vs. Newbury Park

13. JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Record: 3-1 | Preseason: 30
Last week: Def. Redondo Union (Redondo Beach), 7-1; Corona, 10-3; Foothill (Santa Ana), 3-2; lost to Harvard-Westlake
Next: Thursday vs. Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas)

14. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 11
Next: Season begins March 4 vs. Palo Verde (Las Vegas)

15. Rockwall-Heath (Rockwall, Texas)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 12
Next: Season begins Feb. 24 at Georgetown Tournament

16. American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 13
Next: Season begins Feb. 24 vs. Braddock (Miami)



17. Baylor (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 17
Next: Season begins March 14 vs. Upperman

18. Hanover (Mechanicsville, Va.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 18
Next: Season begins March 18 vs. Deep Run

19. The First Academy (Orlando, Fla.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 19
Next: Season begins Tuesday vs. Windermere Prep

20. Owasso (Okla.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 20
Next: Season starts March 1 at Grant

21. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 0
Next: Season begins March 24 vs. Emerson

22. Deer Creek (Edmond, Okla.)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 0
Next: Season starts March 4 vs. Carl Albert



23. Walsh Jesuit (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 23
Next: Season starts March 26 vs. Mentor

24. American Fork (Utah)
Record: 0-0 | Preseason: 25
Next: Season begins March 11 at Jordan

25. Auburn (Ala.)
Record: 3-0 | Preseason: 29
Last week: Def. Prattville, 15-3; def. Florence, 13-3; def. Helena, 5-3
Stats: Jace Norton went 3-for-3 with two RBI against Prattville, Ryan Olson and Connor Cosby each had a home run against Florence and Cade Belyeu hit one out against Helena.
Next: Friday vs. Bob Jones (Madison)

Dropped out: Combine Academy (Lincolnton, N.C.); Walton (Marietta, Ga.); Notre Dame (SO) (Sherman Oaks, Calif.); Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.)