The baseball playoffs are inching closer and closer as April arrives.
With all area teams back in action this past week, the latest Florida High School Athletic Association rankings were released on Monday. Any games played Monday night were not included in the rankings.
Pace, even with a loss to Gulf Breeze during the week, remains Escambia and Santa Rosa County’s top-ranked team, improving to No. 15 overall in the state with a 21.848 rating.
Speaking of the Dolphins, Gulf Breeze jumped up 11 spots after a two-win week to No. 21 overall in the state and a rating of 21.034, showing just how close it is near the top of the rankings.
District leaders include Pace (6A), Gulf Breeze (5A), Escambia (4A) and Jay (Rural).
Here are the fourth FHSAA baseball rankings for teams from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, plus a way-too-early playoff watch.
Class 6A
Class 5A
Class 4A
Class 3A
Class 2A
Class 1A
Rural
Way-too-early playoff watch
District tournaments are just two weeks away, but it’s still fun to examine what the playoff scenarios would look like if the regular season ended today as far as region tournaments.
District champions automatically advance to the region tournament after the district tourney, and there are four at-large bids per region in Classes 1A-7A. The Rural classification only brings two district champions plus two at-large bid teams. For the playoff watch, we’ll presume that the top team in each district wins the district tournament and moves onto regionals – that’s what we’re going to share below.
Rankings are bound to change after district tournaments as well, so we’ll pretend that they didn’t change at all through districts to make things a little easier. Remember: anything can happen in the playoffs.
Here’s what the region tournaments would look like.
Region 1-6A
Notes: All four district champions are within the top eight of the region. However, Tocoi Creek, despite being the higher seed, would still be on the road at East River, which is the presumed District 4 champion. Pace, the second seed in the region, would host Bartram Trail in the quarterfinals, while fifth-ranked Tate would head to Fletcher.
Region 1-5A
Notes: Gulf Breeze jumped up a couple spots in the region to take the top seed, meaning that as long as the Dolphins keep winning, they would host through the region finals. The four presumed district champions are all in the top eight teams, and Ponte Vedra would still host as the District 4 champ against second-seeded Pace. Milton gets in as an at-large bid, and would, as of now, stay local and go to Gulf Breeze for the region quarterfinals.
Region 1-4A
Notes: Just like the other two regions, so far, the four presumed district champions are in the top eight teams, so no one gets omitted. Escambia, the third-ranked team in the region, hosts St. Augustine to start the tournament. The only presumed district champion that doesn’t get to host in the quarterfinals is St. Augustine as the sixth-seeded team.
Region 1-3A
Notes: All four district champions are within the top eight teams, however, Bay wouldn’t host in the quarterfinals as it heads to the presumed District 1 champion, South Walton. West Florida gets in as an at-large bid as the No. 3 team in the region, and would host Paxon in the quarterfinals.
Region 1-2A
Notes: Region 1-2A gets a little weird with the rankings, given how dominant District 3 is in the region. Maclay (District 2) and Keystone Heights (District 4), the presumed district champions, get in with automatic bids. Since Maclay is technically eighth in the region and Keystone Heights is ninth, both improve a spot, leaving Bolles (District 3) out of the mix. Pensacola Catholic, an at-large bid seeded fourth in the region, would host Providence School in the quarterfinals.
Region 1-1A
Notes: All four presumed district champions are within the top eight teams, so no teams get omitted. However. Eagle’s View (District 3) would lose out on hosting, going to top-seeded St. Johns Country Day. Rocky Bayou Christian (District 1), despite being seeded seventh, would still host St. Joseph Academy in the quarterfinals. No area teams in Region 1-1A would make it past the district tournament, as of now, with LEAD Academy ranked 11th.
Region 1-Rural
Notes: With only four teams making it to the Region 1-Rural tournament, District 1 appears to run the region right now. Jay, Central and Northview would all get in, with the Royals getting the automatic bid as the presumed district champion, hosting Central in the semifinals. Northview, an at-large bid, would go to Holmes County, District 2’s champion, to start the region playoffs.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: FHSAA Baseball Rankings: Five Pensacola-area teams crack top 100 in entire state
Reporting by Ben Grieco, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
