Harvard-Westlake moved up in this week's rankings after previous No. 1 Jesuit fell out of the top five.
Photo by Alyson Boyer Rode
The Xcellent 25 national baseball rankings have a new No. 1 after Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.) dropped its first game of the season last week to Seminole.
The top ranking stays in the state of Florida, however, as unbeaten Pensacola Catholic moves up to the top spot. The Crusaders will get a severe challenge this week, though, as they play four games including a rematch with Pace, one of the top teams in the Pensacola area.
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), which won the Boras Classic with an 8-0 win over Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove, Calif.), moves up to the No. 2 spot, just ahead of Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.).
The hard charger this week is Owasso, which has won 24 straight games and is the clear No. 1 team in Oklahoma.
The Houston-area teams tumbled this week as Tomball and Klein both had two losses added to their season results and The Woodlands dropped a district game to College Park. Tomball and Klein dropped out of the Xcellent 25 this week while The Woodlands fell four spots to No. 10.
It was a rough week for most of the teams in the Xcellent 25 as Venice (Fla.), Loganville (Ga.), Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) and Calallen (Corpus Christi, Texas) all dropped one game. Venice and Loganville both stayed in the rankings while Hamilton and Calallen dropped out.
Joining the rankings this week are Gainesville (Ga.), a winner over Loganville, Desert Mountain (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Magnolia Heights (Senatobia, Miss.) and Shorewood (Shoreline, Wash.).
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Baseball Rankings1. (2 last week) Pensacola Catholic (Fla.), 21-0
The Crusaders move up to the
top spot with two more wins last week. In a 7-1 win over Gulf Breeze,
Avery Geyer went the distance and gave up one run on three hits with
nine strikeouts. Pensacola Catholic also downed Walton (DeFuniak
Springs) 12-0 on Friday. The Crusaders conclude their season this week
with four games, including a rematch with Pace.
2. (3) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 17-1
Tyler Adkinson, Mater Dei
Photo by Alyson Boyer Rode
The
Monarchs have given up just one run in their last four games, in a 7-1
Trinity League win over Servite (Anaheim). Mater Dei blanked Pleasant
Grove (Elk Grove) 8-0 in the finals of the
Boras Classic
and also shut out Servite 2-0 on Thursday. Mater Dei continues Trinity
League play this week with Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita).
3. (4) Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.), 16-3
The
Wolverines took a doubleheader from South (Torrance) winning 3-0 and
9-3. They also blanked Verdugo Hills (Tujunga) 11-0 on Saturday.
Brian Ginsberg had three RBIs in the win over Verdugo Hills.
Jack Flaherty
threw a complete game shutout against South while
Alex Horowitz had a
home run in the 9-3 win.
4. (7) Owasso (Okla.), 24-0
The Rams are easily the No. 1 team in
Oklahoma after extending their win streak to 24 games with a
4-0 record at the Nike ProNine Tournament. Owasso defeated Bishop Kelley
5-1, Tuttle 10-4, Hilldale 10-1 and Jenks 7-2. Earlier in the week
Owasso took a second win from Broken Arrow 4-3.
Trae Bobo hit his 11th
home run of the season against Hillsdale.
5. (10) O'Connor (Phoenix), 26-1
O'Connor bounced back from its lone
loss of the season to win three straight conference games last week.
The Eagles topped Deer Valley (Glendale) 9-2, Boulder Creek (Anthem) 4-3
and Centennial (Peoria) 11-0.
Cameron Ming raised his record to 7-0
with the win over Boulder Creek.
Corey Wilson moved to 5-0 with the
shutout of Centennial.
6. (11) St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.), 19-1
The
Lancers returned to West Catholic Athletic League play with a pair of
impressive wins. They downed Bellarmine (San Jose) 11-0 with
Austin Guibor hitting a home run.
Michael Strem got the shutout in a 10-0 win
over Valley Christian, striking out six.
7. (1) Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.), 22-1
The Tigers dropped their first game of the season to a tough Seminole (Fla.) team, falling 2-1 on Saturday. The two teams went 10 innings before Seminole scored in the top of the 10th to gain the win. Jesuit also defeated Robinson (Tampa) 5-0 and Blake (Tampa) 28-0. The Tigers hit five home runs against Blake and got a one-hit shutout from
Hunter VanHorn with nine strikeouts. The schedule doesn't get any easier this week as Jesuit completes the season with Sarasota and Venice.
8. (12) Sharyland (Mission, Texas), 24-1
Sharyland continued its
strong showing in district play with an 11-1 win over Edinburg and a
12-1 win over Donna.
Joey Esquivel homered against Edinburg while
Sixto Torres got the complete-game victory over Donna.
9. (5) Venice (Fla.), 19-3
The Indians had a runner thrown out at the plate in the seventh inning for the final out of the game in a 1-0 loss to Riverview (Sarasota). The loss ended a string of four straight shutouts for Venice. The Indians bounced back to blank preseason Xcellent 25 No. 1 Spruce Creek 4-0 on Friday with
Tyson Albert and
Cooper Hammond combining for the win.
Carter Hope, The Woodlands
Photo by Alyson Boyer Rode
The Highlanders dropped their first game to a Texas opponent this year with a 3-2 loss to district rival College Park on Friday. The Woodlands shut out Bryan (College Station) 10-0 earlier in the week with
Carter Hope going the distance and striking out 10.
11. (15) Lexington (S.C.), 17-3
The Wildcats racked up three wins
last week by defeating South Aiken (Aiken) 3-2, North Augusta 8-1 and
Flora (Columbia) 10-0. Coach Brian Huck picked up his 300th career win
against South Aiken.
12. (16) Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village, Colo.), 8-1
Cherry
Creek is finally starting to get some games in and last week it went
4-0 to double its season win total. The Bruins edged Overland (Aurora)
2-1 and Eaglecrest (Centennial) 6-5 and blew out Arapahoe (Centennial)
12-2 and Mullen (Denver) 13-4.
Derik Beauprez and
Griffin Jax each
homered to provide the only runs against Overland.
13. (17) American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.), 19-2
In
their only game of the week, the Patriots shut out Gulliver Prep
(Miami) 10-0 with
Danny Zardon belting a pair of home runs.
Shaun Anderson got the win, striking out eight while giving up one hit.
14. (NR) Gainesville (Ga.), 18-2
The Red Elephants return to the rankings after a 5-3 win over Logansville. Gainesville has won nine in a row since dropping two straight in mid-March.
15. (13) Loganville (Ga.), 18-3
Loganville dropped a Class
AAAAA showdown with Gainesville, falling 5-3. The Red Devils also
defeated Marist 10-3 and Hill Grove 12-3 last week.
Clint Frazier had a
home run in each of the two wins and has 12 on the season.
16. (19) Jupiter (Fla.), 19-2
Jupiter claimed three wins last week,
dropping Summit Christian (West Palm Beach) 12-1, Wellington 12-2 and
Palm Beach Central (Wellington) 7-1. The Warriors clinched the top seed
in the district 9-8A playoffs.
Lance Fry got the win against PBC, upping
his record to 6-0 on the season.
Hunter Halsey added a home run.
17. (22) Lincoln-Way North (Frankfort, Ill.), 11-0
Lincoln-Way North
got a three-hitter from
Mike Miller in a 1-0 win over Sandburg last week
and also swept a doubleheader from Thornton to stay undefeated on the
season.
18. (23) Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati), 13-0
The
Crusaders won four times last week, defeating Elder (Cincinnati) 5-2,
Glen Este 7-6, Milford 3-2 and Anderson 6-0.
Spencer Iacovone was
2-for-4 with two RBI against Anderson.
19. (20) Tullahoma (Tenn.), 22-3
Jordan Sheffield, Tullahoma
Photo by Alyson Boyer Rode
Tullahoma won a pair of district games against Lawrence County (Lawrenceburg), 8-2 and 2-1, and also edged Ooltewah 7-6.
20. (21) Carroll (Southlake, Texas), 23-3-1
The
Dragons won twice in district play, topping Richland 8-1, behind
Joe Heineman's home run, and Grapevine 10-0. No score was available for
Carroll's game with Northwest (Justin).
21. (24) Fountain Valley (Calif.), 18-1
The Barons squeaked by Huntington Beach twice, winning 12-11 and 9-8 in league play last week.
22. (25) Puyallup (Wash.), 13-1
Puyallup
won three times, defeating Federal Way 11-3 and 5-2 and dropping
Graham-Kapowsin (Graham) 12-4.
Quinn Rawson had a double and a home run
against Federal Way.
23. (NR) Desert Mountain (Scottsdale, Ariz.), 23-3
The Wolves have won 10 straight games since their last loss and it has avenged two of its previous losses, including a 6-0 win over Notre Dame Prep (Scottsdale) on Friday.
24. (NR) Magnolia Heights (Senatobia, Miss.), 25-0
Arguably the top team in Mississippi, Magnolia Heights has won 29 straight games dating back to last season.
25. (NR) Shorewood (Shoreline, Wash.), 14-0
Cameron Sterne leads a Shorewood team ranked No. 1 in the state 3A rankings by the Seattle Times. He is batting .511 with 17 RBIs and three home runs.
Dropped out: No. 8 Tomball (Texas), No. 9. Klein (Texas), No. 14 Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.), No. 18. Calallaen (Corpus Christi, Texas).
