Dominic Smith of
Serra (Gardena, Calif.) has been described as the best pure hitter in the Class of 2013. So far this season, he's proved to be just that, as he has been a tough out all season long.
Smith, ranked No. 3 on the
MaxPreps list of top 100 recruits for the Class of 2013, has an on-base percentage of .667 while batting .577 (15 of 26) in nine games. He also has 17 RBIs with four doubles and two home runs. His best outing so far came in a 15-4 win over Bell in which he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a double.
Serra, at 8-3 on the season, plays in the Anaheim Lions Tournament starting March 30.
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Carson Sands, North Florida Christian
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North Florida Christian (Tallahassee, Fla.),
who was a member of Team USA last fall, has bounced back nicely after
opening his season with a 1-0 loss to Chiles. The junior pitcher has won
four straight without giving up an earned run in his final three
outings. He is 4-1 with a 0.52 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 26.2 innings
pitched. He's coming off a 9-0 win over Vestavia Hills (Ala.) in which
he gave up just three hits while striking out 13. Sands is ranked No. 13
by MaxPreps for the Class of 2013.
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Garrett Williams has been practically unhittable in three starts for
Calvary Baptist Academy (Shreveport, La.) as he has a 3-0 record with a 0.39 ERA in three outings this year for the Cavaliers. Williams has allowed just five hits in 18 innings pitched and he has struck out 33 batters, including 12 in a 4-0 win over Pleasant Grove (Texas) and 13 in a 5-2 win over Evangel Christian Academy (Shreveport, La.).
Williams, ranked No. 20 by MaxPreps, has also been solid at the plate, batting .295 (13 of 44) with 14 RBIs and two home runs. Calvary Baptist Academy is 15-1 on the season.
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Brett Morales of
King (Tampa, Fla.) is 4-1 on the season with the only defeat coming against Durant (Fla.), which featured Tyler Danish on the mound. Morales, the No. 22 prospect, has allowed just one earned run in five other outings, but gave up three to Durant. He has a 0.70 ERA with 37 strikeouts and nine walks in 30 innings pitched. His best outing came against Tampa Bay Tech when he threw a five-inning no-hitter with 12 strikeouts and no walks.
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If you want to find the top hitter in the Miami area, look no farther than sophomore
Dominic DiCaprio of
Douglas (Parkland, Fla.). Ranked No. 23 on
MaxPreps' list of the top 50 sophomores, DiCaprio is batting a whopping .654 (17 of 26) with 16 RBIs, three doubles and four home runs. Five times he has batted 1.000 in a game, capped by a 3-for-3 effort with five RBIs and a double in a 15-0 win over Deerfield Beach.
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Chris Rivera, El Dorado
Photo by Heston Quan
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El Dorado (Placentia, Calif.) appears to be back to the form that made him one of the nation's top prospects as a sophomore. During his junior season, Rivera's batting average slipped from .359 as a sophomore to just .194. He scored just 19 runs and had only three doubles and four home runs on the season.
While Rivera earns his No. 43 ranking for his glovework at shortstop, he has helped his cause this year with an improved performance at the plate. He is batting .346 with a .414 on-base percentage and a .615 slugging percentage. He has already equaled his doubles production from last year and has a pair of three-hit ballgames.
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Jordan Paroubeck has
Serra (San Mateo, Calif.) in the thick of things in the West Catholic Athletic League after a come-from-behind 10-9 victory over St. Francis on Friday. Trailing the Lancers, who were ranked No. 6 in the Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings, Serra rallied from a seven-run deficit to hand St. Francis its first loss of the year. Paroubeck played a big role in the comeback, going 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs.
On the season, Paroubeck is batting .471 with 11 runs, five doubles and four home runs. He is ranked No. 49 by MaxPreps.
