Bolles (Jacksonville) nearly a unanimous #1 team in regional all-classification baseball rankings
GAINESVILLE — There was plenty of movement in the top 10 of the Prep Zone Power Poll this week, but the team at the top remains the same for a second straight week.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, Bolles (Jacksonville) remains the #1 team, garnering seven of the eight first place votes.
The Bulldogs (19-3) were a perfect 4-0 last week, with a 2-1 win over then #6 Creekside (St. Johns), and a 5-2 victory over Carrolton (GA). Bolles picked up two first place votes from a week ago, when they were the top team for the first time in the 2016 high school baseball season.
Moving up two spots to #2 this week is University (Orange City). The Titans (19-2-1) won both their games last week at Flagler Palm Coast and at home against Father Lopez (Daytona Beach) to jump right behind Bolles.
Also moving up two spots this week to #3 is Fleming Island (Orange Park). The Golden Eagles (17-3), now the top-ranked team in Class 8A, won two big road games last week, 12-3, at then #3 Providence (Jacksonville) and 7-4 in 8 innings at previous No. 8 Bartram Trail (St. Johns). They slipped past Providence and Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) into the third spot.
Trinity Christian (19-4) dropped a 2-1 decision at North Florida Christian (Tallahassee) and fell two spots from second to fourth this week. Despite the drop, the Conquerors received the other first place vote. This is the lowest ranking of the season for Trinity Christian, which was the top team for the first five polls of the season, then dropped to a tie for third two weeks ago before moving back up to 2nd last week.
Despite the close loss at Bolles last week, fifth-ranked Creekside (St. Johns) moved up one position from a week ago to round out the top five. The Knights (17-5) also won 6-4 at Providence and blasted Menendez 10-0 in five innings.
Spruce Creek (Port Orange) leads off the second five at No. 6. The Hawks (19-4) moved up one spot from seventh after a 2-0 week that included a 4-0 win over previous #20 Deltona and they have now won 11 of their last 12 games.
Bartram Trail (St. Johns) also moved up one spot this week to 7th after going 3-0 last week. The Bears (16-6) defeated Middleburg and Gainesville by one run and also knocked off North Marion (Citra) 4-2, dropping the Colts from 11th to 19th in this week’s regional rankings.
The biggest drop in the top 10 this week belongs to Providence.
The Stallions (18-4), who were atop the poll two weeks ago and were #3 last week with one first place vote, dropped the two games to Fleming Island and Creekside at home before slipping past Carrollton (GA) in a 14-13 slugfest. Three of the four losses for Providence are to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th ranked teams in this week’s poll with the other loss coming to Phenix City (AL) in the Tournament of Champions last month.
Rounding out the top 10 this week are two teams tied for ninth.
Terry Parker (18-3) dropped an 11-3 decision to Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville) last week, but won two games against Stanton (Jacksonville) and First Coast (Jacksonville) and stayed put at #9.
Now tied with the Braves is South Sumter (Bushnell). The Raiders (18-4) went 2-1 last week, beating Leesburg 8-3 and splitting two games with #15 Eustis, winning 4-1 at home and losing 8-5 on the road.
The roller coaster season continues for Forest (Ocala) this week. The Wildcats dropped five spots to 16th last week, but are back up five positions to #11 this week to lead off the second ten. Forest (16-7) had a perfect 3-0 week with a run-rule 10-0 win over North Marion in five innings and two victories against Marion County rival Dunnellon.
Speaking of North Marion, they dropped eight spots into a tie for 19th with Atlantic Coast. Besides the losses to Forest and Bartram Trail, the Colts (14-7) also dropped a 5-2 decision to #13 Trinity Catholic (Ocala). The Celtics (17-5) moved up four spots to 13th.
The biggest drop this week though belonged to Clay (Green Cove Springs). The Blue Devils (13-7) were 12th last week, but lost two games to Ponte Vedra and are out of the poll for the first time this season.
Atlantic Coast (15-7) used the win over Terry Parker to move into the poll for the first time this season. Also moving into the poll this week are #16 Nature Coast (Brooksville) (17-3) and #18 Chiefland (16-4).
Joining Clay in dropping out this week are Springstead (Spring Hill), Yulee, and Deltona.
This is the last week of the regular season as district tournament play begins next Monday, April 18.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, basketball, baseball & softball 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.
PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2016 BASEBALL POLL #8
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, current record through 4/9 and total voting points)
1. Bolles (Jacksonville) (5A) (7) (19-3) – 159
2. University (Orange City) (9A) (19-2-1) – 146
3. Fleming Island (Orange Park) (8A) (17-3) – 145
4. Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (4A) (1) (19-4) – 139
5. Creekside (St. Johns) (7A) (17-5) – 125
6. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (9A) (19-4) – 120
7. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (7A) (16-6) – 111
8. Providence (Jacksonville) (4A) (18-4) – 110
9T South Sumter (Bushnell) (5A) (18-4) – 84
9T Terry Parker (Jacksonville) (6A) (18-3) – 84
11. Forest (Ocala) (8A) (16-7) – 79
12. Nease (Ponte Vedra) (7A) (19-4) – 78
13. Trinity Catholic (Ocala) (4A) (17-5) – 62
14. Belleview (6A) (19-4) – 52
15. Eustis (5A) (15-7) – 38
16. Nature Coast (Brooksville) (5A) (17-3) – 26
17. Madison County (1A) (15-4) – 24
18. Chiefland (1A) (16-4) – 17
19T Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville) (8A) (15-7) – 16
19T North Marion (Citra) (6A) (14-7) – 16
Also receiving votes: Clay (Green Cove Springs) (6A) (13-7) – 13, Yulee (5A) (15-6) – 12, Ridgeview (Orange Park) (6A) (16-5) – 7, Williston (1A) (14-9) – 6, Deltona (7A) (16-7) – 5, Lafayette (Mayo) (1A) (12-5) – 3, Hernando (Brooksville) (5A) (14-9) – 1.
