Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) near unanimous No. 1
GAINESVILLE — The high school baseball regular season has flown by, and now district tournaments begin next week.
And as the regular season comes to an end, Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) has widened its lead at the top of The Prep Zone Power Poll, which ranks the top 20 teams across 26 counties in Florida.
The Conquerors (18-6), who are ranked No. 4 overall in Florida in the latest FHSAA rankings, played in a national tournament in Cary (NC) that included nationally-ranked teams from California, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. They also picked up wins over the top-ranked team in Mississippi along with No. 15 Columbia (Lake City), and Lincoln (Tallahassee), and split two games with No. 3 St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park).
That was more than enough to keep Trinity Christian as the number one team again in the all-classification regional rankings, receiving seven of the eight first-place votes.
Creekside (St. Johns) moved up four spots to No. 2.
The Knights (20-4) picked up the other first-place vote after defeating St. Johns Country Day, 9th-ranked Bartram Trail (St. Johns), No. 16 Suwannee (Live Oak), RV Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) and Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville). Their losses came at Nease (Ponte Vedra), No. 7 Buchholz (Gainesville) and to Lowndes (Valdosta), Georgia’s third-ranked team.
SJCD dropped a spot to 3rd from the previous poll. The Spartans (16-7) also lost games against nationally-ranked teams, splitting the two games with Trinity Christian.
Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) dropped down a spot to No. 4.
The Cardinals (16-5) beat the number one team in Georgia and the third-ranked team in Tennessee, nationally-ranked South Walton (Santa Rosa Beach), and No. 13 Providence (Jacksonville). Their losses came to No. 6 Trinity Catholic (Ocala), Bartram Trail, and 8th-ranked Bolles (Jacksonville).
Spruce Creek (Port Orange) rounds out the top five.
The Hawks (20-3) were unbeaten since the last poll, including beating University (Orange City) and Seabreeze (Daytona Beach) twice, as well as defeating DeLand.
Trinity Catholic leads off the second five, followed by Buchholz, Bolles, Bartram Trail, and 10th-ranked Hernando (Brooksville).
Three teams new to the poll this week are Lake Minneola, which is tied for 17th with Vanguard (Ocala), 19th-ranked Montverde Academy, and No. 20 Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville).
Tocoi Creek, Lafayette (Mayo), and Umatilla dropped out from the previous rankings.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, 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 by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Be Well Fitness.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL– 2026 BASEBALL POLL #3
(School, followed by classification, first place votes, current record through 4/7, and total voting points)
1. Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (7) (18-6) – 157
2. Creekside (St. Johns) (7A) (1) (20-4) – 145
3. St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) (1A) (16-7) – 143
4. Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) (2A) (16-5) – 137
5. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (7A) (20-3) – 129
6. Trinity Catholic (Ocala) (2A) (18-5) – 106
7. Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (15-7) – 105
8. Bolles (Jacksonville) (2A) (16-6) – 98
9. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (6A) (15-9) – 87
10. Hernando (Brooksville) (3A) (17-4) – 80
11. Fernandina Beach (3A) (18-4) – 79
12. Trenton (Rural) (16-4) – 69
13. Providence (Jacksonville) (2A) (13-10) – 55
14. Beachside (St. Johns) (6A) (15-9) – 38
15. Columbia (Lake City) (5A) (13-9) – 32
16. Suwannee (Live Oak) (3A) (12-11) – 29
17T. Lake Minneola (Minneola) (6A) (17-5) – 28
17T. Vanguard (Ocala) (4A) (15-6) – 28
19. Montverde Academy (2A) (14-6) – 27
20. Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (3A) (19-2) – 19
Also receiving votes: Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) (6A) (12-12) – 17; Union County (Lake Butler) (Rural) (16-7) – 17; St. Joseph Academy (St. Augustine) (1A) (17-5) – 14; Lafayette (Mayo) (Rural) (12-8) – 9; Episcopal (Jacksonville) (2A) (15-9) – 8; Newberry (2A) (16-6) – 5; Umatilla (3A) (13-11) – 5; North Marion (Citra) (3A) (14-6) – 4; Flagler Palm Coast (7A) (15-8) – 2.
