1. Berkeley Prep (20-0)

A 10-RBI week for junior James Hankerson (4-for-5, double, homer, two runs) paced the Buccaneers in wins against Tampa Catholic and district opponent St. Petersburg Lakewood last week as Berkeley Prep won its 19th & 20th games of the season. The Bucs host Sarasota Out-of-Door Academy on Tuesday, before a huge home-and-away showdown (Friday and Saturday) with Calvary Christian (19-1) as the two battle it out for the 3A-6 district top seed.

2. Freedom (14-4)

The Patriots have earned every bit of the rise we’ve seen the past few weeks up this list. Freedom has four losses on the season – all competitive games, before ripping off seven-straight to climb into the No. 2 spot. Simple rule here, want to climb and stay in the rankings – Win. Your. Games. Pushed to the limit by Brandon, the Pats squeaked out a 7-6 victory as Gio Mendoza drove in Raul Olivera in the top of the seventh. That win was sandwiched between victories over Chamberlain and Largo, but business picks up considerably with a district showdown at Hillsborough tonight, before a game at Gaither Wednesday and hosting Spoto on Thursday.

3. Jesuit (15-6)

So, the list gets a little jumbled here as we try and sift through the teams that lost last week and where they fit in. Jesuit’s six losses have to be listed with an asterisk* because two of them include teams ranked in MaxPreps’ national Top 10 (Berkeley Prep and IMG), and the Tigers also have a win against a Top 10 opponent (Calvary Christian) – something no one else on this list can state. It’s two losses to 813 teams came by one run each, one to the top team on this list and one in tourney play with a starting pitcher who had about one Neil Diamond song played over the Hyer Family Park’s loudspeakers notice before he took the mound because of a warmup injury to the planned starting pitcher. Jesuit did its job in a 4-0 district win over Hillsborough last week before dropping one at IMG, and that’s what keeps them at No. 3.

4. Durant (12-6)

Cougars players: Good job with a pair of five-run wins last week against Riverview and Newsome (read more on that game here). Cougs coaches: Duuuuuuude, Duuuuuu-rant! C’mon. Literally half the reason we all learned about the pitch-count rules was because you guys were on the other side of a violation in a Saladino Final a few years back. Durant got popped for using starting pitcher Torin Byrnes for 100-plus pitches on 3/31, then again using him four days later in a game well in hand, for what equated to a bullpen inning? So, though they won in a landslide against Riverview on 4/4, and again decisively the following week, the Cougars are tagged with forfeit in the first. A district forfeit.

5. Plant (15-5)

The Panthers, dropped a 3-2 loss to Strawberry Crest after winning big against Steinbrenner and winning a close one against Sickles. Honestly, the math here is starting to confuse us and it’s our list. The second straight win, AND taking the season series against the Gryphons 2-1 is what keeps the Panthers ahead of Sickles this week, but the show-your-work, who-goes-where rankings-math is starting to get kinda crazy here. Plant is 3-0 in 7A-7 district play and have rubber matches against Alonso and Steinbrenner this week.

6. Sickles (18-3)

A dropped game here and there is no real concern, as Sickles quickly flushed its loss to Plant with a good win on the road at Plant City (click here for more). The Caden McDonald show has been amazing to watch, still ranking in the Top 10 nationally with a .704 batting average, and coming in a No. 27 in the country with 26 RBI, while going 6-1 on the mound. The Gryphons play a very tough end of season schedule, so hopefully Sickles will be battle-tested headed into post-season play.

7. Bloomingdale (13-8)

We felt confident putting the Bulls back into the rankings at No. 8 last week, and B’dale did exactly what it should have in wins against Sumner and TB Tech last week. A BIG week for the Bulls hosting nearby rival Newsome on Tuesday, and travel to Sickles on Thursday (more on that below in the 3-Bagger).

T8. Strawberry Crest (14-6)

The Chargers are back on the LIST with wins over Tech, Robinson and Plant last week, the last of which came behind a Zach Redner, complete-game effort with nine strikeouts, with Arjun Nimmala singling in Alex Philpott to walk off the game against the Panthers. Crest hosts Wharton on Tuesday and travels to Gaither Thursday.

T8. Wharton (14-6)

We tie the Wildcats with Crest at No. 8, figuring Tuesday’s game will sort things out for us. By Wharton’s standards, the Wildcats offense was a bit subdued in modest wins against King and Jefferson last week, but wins are wins. Billy Eich pitched seven-scoreless against the Lions, striking out seven, while Elijah Dukes’ fifth homer of the season helped spark a 4-2 win against the Dragons.

One-On-the-Bubble

Leto (12-6)

The Falcons have won three-straight defeating Steinbrenner and Hillsborough last week. Junior BJ Rivera leads the state with 83 strikeouts and is 7-1 on the mound this season, with a 1.12 ERA – this includes a 13 K shutout against Hillsborough last week (read about it here). Rivera is also hitting .375 with 15 RBI, while senior Coltin Pizzio leads the offense with a .453 average, 17 runs and 12 stolen bases.

3-(Grab-)Bagger

1. Two-and-a-half weeks ago, Cambridge Christian was scuffling at 2-8, but has turned in five-straight dubs and with three big games this week and eyeing an above-.500 mark before the district tourney begins. The Lancers 2-0 win over Carrollwood Day two Fridays ago marked its first win over the Patriots since 2017, and the current five-game mark is the longest for Cambridge since 2018. Four of the five wins were decided by two runs or less, and has included four of the team’s five home runs on the season. Thursday’s win against St. Stephens was punctuated by a walk-off, straight-steal of home by Julian Montes. Wins in the stretch over CDS and Academy at the Lakes, both avenged previous losses this season. The Lancers have two bigguns this week hosting district opponent Foundation Christian at Skyway on Tuesday, and an afternoon tilt at Bell Creek on Thursday.

“(The) guys have been playing hard and trusting the process, I’m proud of the resiliency of this team,” Cambridge Christian coach Stephen Piercefield said. “We have to keep that moving forward these next two weeks with six games to close out the year to put us in a position to hopefully make a deep run into the postseason. Playing good baseball at the right time of the year might take some by surprise, but our group has been training for this and is ready to make some noise.”

2. Can we take a minute to talk about the absolute PROBLEM Bloomingdale’s Jack Owens is for opponents right now? I mean, we had no doubts the reigning 2021 All-813Preps pitcher of the year was gonna bring it on the mound this year, and he has, currently with a 5-1 record, a 1.80 ERA and 53 K’s in 35 innings.

But at the plate, Owens is absolutely killing it, too, hitting .453 with five homers, 10 doubles (tied for 9th in the state), 18 runs and 17 RBI. Thursday at Sickles – Caden McDonald v. Jack Owens – that is as “must-see” as you are ever gonna get.

3. Just wanted to remind everyone about Saturday’s planned event at King High, as the Lions are set to recognize head coach Jim Macaluso by naming the field he has ruled for 47 years in his honor. You can click here to read more about the event and all the other details.

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Editor’s Note: Each week of the regular season we will bring you our traditional rankings with THE Top 8, followed by 1-On-the-Bubble team, and finally our 3-(Grab)-Bagger – a collection of three stories from the previous week we felt deserved some attention.