New No. 1 heading into postseason play
GAINESVILLE – The regular season is over for high school baseball.
And as the road to Fort Myers begins with district tournament play this week, there is a new No. 1 team in The Prep Zone Power Poll, which ranks the top 20 teams across 26 counties in Florida.
Fletcher (Neptune Beach), which went 8-0 since the last all-classification regional rankings, moved up one spot to No. 1, overtaking St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park), which dropped to No. 2.
The Senators, who are currently 22-2 and ranked 7th in the state in Class 6A by MaxPreps, are the No. 1 seed in the FHSAA 6A-District 3 tournament, which will be hosted by new No. 20 Nease (Ponte Vedra).
Fletcher received five of the eight first-place votes, while Class 2A No. 1 SJCD received the other three.
The Spartans (19-4), who went 6-2, had wins against No. 18 University Christian, No. 5 Bartram Trail (St. Johns), and previous No. 16 Bolles (Jacksonville), which dropped out of the rankings.
They also had back-to-back losses at 7A Creekside (St. Johns) and 4A Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville), which moved into a tie for 18th with U.C.S. The 18th-ranked Crusaders (16-6) have won seven in a row heading into the postseason.
Sandalwood (Jacksonville), Spruce Creek (Port Orange) and Bartram Trail round out the top five.
Forest (Ocala), which defeated current No. 7 Santa Fe (Alachua) in the regular season finale, leads off the second five at No. 6.
The 7th-ranked Raiders (18-6) secured the No. 1 seed in 4A-District 4 and will host either No. 4 seed Palatka or No. 5 seed Eastside (Gainesville) in Tuesday’s district semifinals.
University (Orange City), Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) and Columbia (Lake City) round out the top 10.
The 10th-ranked Tigers are the No. 1 seed in 5A-District 3 and will host either No. 4 seed Gainesville or No. 5 Ridgeview (Orange Park) in Tuesday’s district semifinals.
Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville) (2A) (18-7) moved into the rankings at No. 16 following wins against No. 9 Bishop Snyder, previous No. 19 Baker County, which is receiving votes, No. 11 Clay, and No. 3 Sandalwood.
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 #5
(School, followed by classification, first place votes, record through 4/28, and total voting points)
1. Fletcher (Neptune Beach) (6A) (5) (21-2) – 157
2. St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) (2A) (3) (19-4) – 155
3. Sandalwood (Jacksonville) (7A) (17-5) – 135
4. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (6A) (18-7) – 126
5. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (7A) (17-8) – 118
6. Forest (Ocala) (6A) (18-4) – 116
7. Santa Fe (Alachua) (4A) (18-6) – 114
8. University (Orange City) (6A) (20-5) – 99
9. Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) (3A) (14-4) – 82
10. Columbia (Lake City) (5A) (16-8) – 79
11. Clay (Green Cove Springs) (4A) (15-9) – 72
12. Mandarin (Jacksonville) (7A) (17-5) – 67
13. Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (16-8) – 63
14. The Villages (3A) (16-6) – 50
15. Suwannee (Live Oak) (4A) (19-4) – 48
16. Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville) (2A) (18-7) – 38
17. Lafayette (Mayo) (1A) (15-2) – 37
18T. University Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (18-6) – 33
18T. Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) (4A) (16-6) – 33
20. Nease (Ponte Vedra) (16-8) – 18
Also receiving votes: Lake Minneola (Minneola) (5A) (16-7) – 15; Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (4A) (13-11) – 9; Hernando (Brooksville) (4A) (16-8) – 6; Trinity Catholic (Ocala) (3A) (15-8) – 4; DeLand (7A) (14-9) – 3; Providence (Jacksonville) (3A) (14-11) – 3.
