1. Tampa Catholic (3-0)

Tampa Catholic SS Cal Johnson

The Crusaders are #1 after Week 1 after defeating preseason Top 10 teams Carrollwood Day and Berkeley Prep, along with Seffner Christian. Cole Bitman (3 doubles, 1 triple), Jose Carrero (3 doubles, 3 RBI) and Cal Johnson (5 BB, 4 runs, RBI, 3 SBs) led the offense, and Lucas Cinnante had two RBI and two runs scored on offense, and earned a win on the mound against CDS with six strikeouts.
This week: vs SLAM (Tues); at Brooks DeBartolo (Thurs; at Sligh & Rome Fields); and Indian Rocks Christian (Fri).

2. Jesuit (1-1)

Jesuit senior RHP Brady Hoar

Jesuit split its two Week 1 games against perennial state powerhouses, defeating Lakeland Christian 3-1, before falling by the same score to Calvary Christian. We aren’t going to ding the Tigers too hard here after a rocky opening week across the 8-1-3. In the win against the Vikings, seniors Ryan Thompson (2.2ip, six Ks) and Brady Hoar (W, 3ip, four Ks) led the way; while junior Cannon Murtagh was 3-for-7 on the week with a pair of doubles. Jesuit travels to Georgia for a three-game round-robin weekend event.
This week: A round-robin series in Savannah, Ga. vs Greater Atlanta Christian (Fri); Episcopal School of Jacksonville (Sat); vs Savannah Benedictine (Sat).

3. Gaither (2-0)

Gaither senior Anthony Linares

The Cowboys offense was prepared coming into the season and peppered Durant and Hillsborough with 27 hits for 21 runs. Senior David Pina was 6-for-7 on the week with a triple, two doubles, three RBI and three runs scored; Anthony Linares homered and drove in four runs at the plate, and earned a win in relief against Durant, striking out two; Jackson Mirza hit .500 and drove and scored four runs apiece. A good jump from the preseason rankings as Gaither goes from #7 to #3.
This week: at Steinbrenner (Tues); at Middleton (Thurs); vs Newsome (Fri).

4. Plant (2-0)

Plant senior 1B Danny Cerelli 

Speaking of offenses ablaze from the start, Plant clobbered Newsome and Sumner in its first two games. Jackson Cucchi highlighted the production this week with six RBI, split evenly between the two wins and including a home run and a triple; Urban Ellis scored five times, doubled and drove in three; and Danny Cerelli scored twice, drove in three and had four walks. On the mound, Bo Allen earned the win against Sumner, with four strikeouts over four scoreless innings, AND was 2-for-3, with a double and three RBI against Newsome.
This week: at Leto (Tues); at Bloomingdale (Thurs).

5. Wharton (2-0)

Wharton senior OF Jaylen Martin

The Wildcats pitching staff didn’t yield and earned run in its wins last week and jump from unranked to the Top 5 this week. A mid-game rally sparked by a double from Chase Andress helped them take down Lennard, 5-3; while Andress earned the save against Sickles working 2 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out four. Daniel Duno’s 4 2/3ip earned the win against the Gryphons giving up one unearned and striking out seven. Jaylen Martin’s two-run single in the third gave Duno and Andress all the support needed to sneak by Sickles.
This week: vs King (Tues), vs Sumner (Thurs); at Brandon (Sat)

6. Bloomingdale (1-1)

Bloomingdale senior RHP Hayden Porter

Bulls’ ace Hayden Porter was solid in his first start of the year, holding Alonso to a single run across 5 2/3 innings finishing with nine strikeouts. However, the Bulls offense struggled against Jefferson left JaMarques Benton in the opener picking up just two hits in a 6-0 defeat.
This week: vs East Bay (Tues); vs Plant (Thurs).

7. Plant City (2-0)

The Raiders pitches took care of business for a two-win-week, holding Freedom and Tampa Bay Tech to a hit apiece. Jake Carbaugh struck out 12 in his season debut of 6 1/3 innings; while freshman Alex Rodriguez had two multi-hit games (5-for-8, 4 RBI, 2 runs) in support.
This week: vs Sumner (Tues); at Strawberry Crest (Fri); vs King (Sat)

8. Robinson (2-0)

Robinson senior RHP Nathan Porath

Nathan Porath tossed a one-hit, complete-game as the Knights blanked Lennard, and in the season opener Sam Hyman held Hillsborough to a single (unearned) run, striking out nine in five innings, before Jack Perkins picked up the save with two scoreless and four punchouts.
This week: vs Sickles (Tues); vs Blake (Thurs); at Chamberlain (Sat)

9. Berkeley Prep (1-1)

Berkeley Prep C Carson Binder

The Buccaneers kicked the ball all over the field on defense and let Tampa Catholic take the home opener, 3-2; then won its game against Ocala Trinity Catholic 8-2 behind solid pitching from Ben O’Brien (W, 3ip, 1 run, 4 Ks), Jett Walters (3ip, no hits/runs, 3 Ks) and Lucas Farrar (1ip, 1 run, 3 K’s). Junior Carson Binder has three doubles and a home run after Week 1, with two RBI.
This week: at Lennard (Tues); at Tampa Bay Tech (Thurs); at Gaither (Fri)

10. Spoto (4-0)

The first four-game winner in the county is a bit of a surprise as Spoto jumps into the 813Preps Weekly Rankings for the first time in our nine seasons of coverage. New head coach Lastings Milledge’s Spartans took care of business putting up 40 runs last week in wins over Bradenton Southeast, Chamberlain, Leto and SRQ Booker. Sophomore William Barrios bookended the week with wins on the mound, tossing eight combined scoreless innings, allowed four hits and struck out six; Devin Dukes scored 8 runs, and had 6 RBI.
This week: at Brandon (Tues).

Bubble Teams

11. Steinbrenner (2-0)
12. Newsome (1-1)
13. Strawberry Crest (1-1)
14. Carrollwood Day (2-1)
15. Durant (1-1)