St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) remains unanimous No. 1
GAINESVILLE — Bad weather in the last few weeks has caused some high school baseball teams to juggle their schedules around spring break and other games as the regular season reaches the halfway point.
But the team at the top remains the same, and it’s unanimous.
The St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) Spartans rebounded from their first loss of the season, by one run to Georgia state-ranked Buford, by beating Episcopal (Jacksonville), 15-0, and No. 6 Bolles (Jacksonville), 10-4, in the past couple of weeks.
That’s enough to keep the Class 2A Spartans (7-1) as the unanimous No. 1 ranked team in the all-classification regional rankings as they received all five first-place votes this week.
Red-hot Santa Fe (Alachua) moves up two spots to 2nd.
The Class 4A Raiders (7-1) extended their winning streak to seven straight with victories over Vanguard (Ocala), Crystal River, and then-#20T Creekside (St. Johns). Santa Fe’s only setback came to No. 18T North Marion (Citra) in the opening game of the season.
Clay (Green Cove Springs) drops a spot to No. 3.
The 4A Blue Devils (8-3) lost to two 3A Tampa teams, Tampa Catholic and Berkeley Prep, but picked up wins over Oakleaf (Orange Park), Baker County (Glen St. Mary), and at Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville).
Another hot team, Fletcher (Neptune Beach), moves up eight spots to No. 4.
The Class 6A Senators only played two games over the last two weeks, both wins over Lake Highland Prep (Orlando). But the 6-0 start is enough to move Fletcher into the top five.
Rounding out the top five is Mandarin (Jacksonville). The 7A Mustangs (7-1) were 3-0 over the past few weeks and advanced three spots up to No. 5
The second five consists of Bolles (Jacksonville), which drops a slot to 6th, No. 7 Sandalwood (Jacksonville), which has only played five games but moves up nine spaces and into the top 10.
Bartram Trail (St. Johns) is 8th, falling five spots after going 3-3 against a touch schedule the past two weeks.
Rounding out the top 10 is No. 9 Columbia (Lake City), another red-hot team which moves up nine slots this week after an 8-1 start, and 10th-ranked Buchholz (Gainesville).
Moving into the rankings this week are #17 Providence (Jacksonville) and No. 20 Lafayete (Mayo). The Class 1A Hornets have started the season 7-0 and are ranked 2nd in 1A according to Max Preps.
Falling out from the previous poll are Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville), defending 1A state champion Newberry, and two teams who were tied for 20th before, Creekside and Oakleaf (Orange Park).
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, girls volleyball, girls basketball, boys basketball, softball & baseball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2022 BASEBALL POLL #3
(School, followed by classification, first place votes, record through 3/21, and total voting points)
1. St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) (2A) (5) (7-1) – 100
2. Santa Fe (Alachua) (4A) (7-1) – 89
3. Clay (Green Cove Springs) (4A) (8-3) – 87
4. Fletcher (Neptune Beach) (6A) (6-0) – 83
5. Mandarin (Jacksonville) (7A) (7-1) – 77
6. Bolles (Jacksonville) (3A) (4-3) – 75
7. Sandalwood (Jacksonville) (7A) (4-1) – 62
8. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (7A) (6-5) – 59
9. Columbia (Lake City) (5A) (8-1) – 57
10. Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (6-1) – 50
11. Hernando (Brooksville) (4A) (9-1) – 48
12. Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) (3A) (6-1) – 40
13. DeLand (7A) (7-4) – 36
14. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (6A) (6-5) – 35
15. Trinity Catholic (Ocala) (3A) (7-2) – 32
16. University Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (9-1) – 19
17. Providence (Jacksonville) (3A) (6-3) – 16
18T. Fleming Island (Orange Park) (6A) (4-4) – 13
18T. North Marion (Citra) (4A) (3-4) – 13
20. Lafayette (Mayo) (1A) (7-0) – 11
Also receiving votes: Forest (Ocala) (6A) (6-2) – 10; Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (4A) (5-4) – 9; Suwannee (Live Oak) (4A) (7-2) – 9; Lake Minneola (Minneola) (5A) (6-2) – 7; The Villages (3A) (7-2) – 7; Dunnellon (4A) (7-2) – 3; Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (6-3) – 3.
