The 2026 high school baseball season ended in somewhat surprising fashion with no local team advancing to a state championship game on either the public or Catholic school level. Still, many teams can rightly consider the season largely a success. Included below are those that make up the final Journal News/lohud final rankings of 2026.
1. Iona Prep (29-5) — The Gaels came up short in the state Catholic semifinals after showing grit to win five games in six days to win the Intersectional title over rival Stepinac. This team lost a lot of arms from its 2025 squad to graduation (and one family move), yet it remained one of the state’s best squads. Previously: 1
2. Mamaroneck (16-9 ) — The Tigers didn’t always do things the easy way but, boy, did they get things done. In taking down No. 1 seed Ketcham 2-0 for the Section 1 AAA championship they gave Mike Chiapparelli his remarkable 700th baseball win as head coach at Mamaroneck. Previously: 6
3. Ketcham (20-5) — Three of Ketcham’s losses came to Mamaroneck — one that put it in the AAA loser’s bracket, meaning if it made it to the final, it would have to win twice. Ketcham beat Mamaroneck once but fell in the deciding game, 2-0. Section title or no section title, this was and, basically, always is a very good team. Previously: 2
4. Rye (19-8) —The Garnets will probably be the first ones to say their Section 1 Class AA championship come-from-behind win over Mahopac with two out in the seventh inning involved some luck. Wonderful luck for them and horribly bad luck for Mahopac, which was already streaming onto the field to celebrate when Rye reached on an error in a bang-bang play at first. But Rye still had to get that runner home and did, which is the equally big story in a big year for the Garnets. Previously: 5
5. Mahopac (19-7) — The 5-2 final score of Mahopac’s Section 1 Class AA loss to Rye reflects a game totally different from the one played. A two-out, seventh-inning bobble was all the separated the Wolf Pac from their first Section 1 title in decades. The loss was heartbreaking but it also showed just how good this team was — just a play away from the state tournament. after blasting Rye 12-0 to force that deciding game. Previously: 4
6. Tappan Zee (21-2) — In life, many things are about timing. And Tappan Zee’s timing in dropping just its second game of the season couldn’t have been worse. The Dutchmen were 19-1 during the regular season and the No. 1 seed in Class A. After coasting to a first-round win, they came up against No. 9-seed Pearl River. No problem? Wrong. The Pirates, who turned out to be a Cinderella story until their 11th-inning semifinal loss to Pleasantville, blanked Tappan Zee, 3-0. Still, while Tappan Zee didn’t come close to a Section 1 title, since the double-elimination format didn’t start until the semifinals, this team was special and ended with the best record in Section 1. Previously: 2
7. Stepinac (19-9) —The Crusaders initially split two lopsided games with Iona Prep, the latter placing Iona Prep in the loser’s bracket of the Catholic league playoffs. But Iona Prep clawed its way to the championship, where it had to beat Stepinac twice and did just that. It’s hard to rank Catholic schools that don’t play any local public schools (something that if the two schools pursued, would greatly fuel interest in high school baseball), but it’s clear from its games with Iona Prep that Stepinac had a much better than solid team. Previously: Not ranked.
8. Byram Hills (20-6) — The 2026 Bobcats will be remembered for a few things. But start with two: They won the Section 1 Class A title 4-3 over Pleasantville — in 16 innings. Yes, 16. (Lest anyone use this game to argue for an extra-inning automatic runner at second — a horror to baseball purists — the Bobcats had runners in scoring position in extras over and over and just couldn’t score — until the 16th.) The other thing that will be remembered is Byram Hills’ heartbreaking, season-ending state regional loss to Marlboro on a bottom-of-the-seventh, walk-off suicide squeeze. But it was just a hit (and that bunt) away from the state semifinals. Previously: Not ranked
9. Putnam Valley (18-8) — The Tigers may carry their 2-0 state regional final loss to Chester with them for a long time but Chester went on to win the state Class B title, which should help put Putnam Valley’s loss (and its season) in better perspective. Putnam Valley deserves credit for putting improvement over record by playing bigger schools like Horace Greeley (win), Mahopac (loss) and Ketcham (loss) and credit for once again putting a very strong team on the field each game. Previously: Not ranked
10. Tuckahoe (14-13) — It’s impossible not to rank a team that was the only Section 1 champion to advance to the state final four, even if plenty of Section 1 teams beat it during its 9-11 regular season. Yes, the Tigers are a Class C team and, in some sports, size does matter. But at season’s end, this improving team, led by a Div. I-bound pitcher in Connor Brice, proved it was a team that was among the best locally, regardless of size and regardless of whether its final record makes that obvious. Previously: Not ranked.
On the bubble: Arlington (12-9), Briarcliff (15-8-1), Pawling (16-9), Pearl River (14-10), Pelham (17-7), Pleasantville (18-8), Scarsdale (15-9), Yorktown (16-9)
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Iona Prep, Mamaroneck head final baseball rankings as four teams join
Reporting by Nancy Haggerty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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By Nancy Haggerty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
