Santa Fe moves to No. 2 in power poll

Bad weather in the last few weeks caused some high school baseball teams to juggle their schedules around 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 seasonby one run to Georgia’s state-ranked Bufordby beating Episcopal (Jacksonville) 15-0 and No. 6 Bolles (Jacksonville) 10-4 in the past two weeks. 

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That’s enough to keep the Spartans (7-1) as the unanimous top-ranked team in the Prep Zone Baseball Power Poll, as they receive all five first-place votes. 

Red-hot Santa Fe (Alachua) moves up two spots to No. 2. The Raiders (7-1) extended their winning streak to seven straight with victories over Vanguard (Ocala), Crystal River, and then-#20T Creekside (St. Johns). The Raiders’ only setback came to No. 18T North Marion (Citra) in their opening game of the season. 

Clay (Green Cove Springs) drops a spot to No. 3. The 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 on the road at Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville). 

Another hot team is Fletcher (Neptune Beach), who moves up eight spots to No. 4. The Senators only played two games over the last two weeksboth 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 Mustangs (7-1) were 3-0 over the past few weeks and advanced three spots up to No. 5

The second 10 consists of Bolles (Jacksonville), who drops a spot to No. 6. Right behind is No. 7 Sandalwood (Jacksonville), who has only played five games but moves up nine spaces and into the top 10. 

Bartram Trail (St. Johns) is No. 8, falling five spots after going 3-3 playing against a tough schedule the past two weeks. 

Rounding out the top 10 is No. 9 Columbia (Lake City), another red-hot team who moves up nine slots this week after an 8-1 start, and 10th-ranked Buchholz (Gainesville). 

Moving into the rankings this week is No. 17 Providence (Jacksonville) and No. 20 Lafayette (Mayo). The Hornets have started the season 7-0 and are ranked No. 2 in 1A, according to MaxPreps. 

Falling out from the previous poll are Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville), Newberry, and two teams who were tied at No. 20Creekside 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) – 0; Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (4A) (5-4) – 9; Suwannee (Live Oak) (4A) (7-2) – 9; Lake Minneola (Minneola) (15A) (6-2) – 7; The Villages (3A) (7-2) – 7; Dunnellon (4A) (7-2) – 3; Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (6-3) – 3.

 

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