USA – The Bishop Gorman Gaels will begin the year as the No. 1 high school baseball team in the nation in the inaugural MaxPreps Xcellent Baseball Rankings. The Las Vegas squad won their third straight Nevada 4A championship last year and returns many of the team’s top pitchers and hitters this season.

Farragut, which has captured four Tennessee state championships in the last six years, is ranked second followed by New Jersey’s Don Bosco Prep Academy which posted a perfect 33-0 record a year ago. Texas Class 5A champion Coppell Cowboys occupy the No. 4 ranking while another team from the Lone Star State, Bellaire, round out the five top prep teams in the country.

MaxPreps Preseason Xcellent 25

1. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.)
2. Farragut (Knoxville, Tenn.)
3. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)
4. Coppell (Coppell, Texas)
5. Bellaire (Bellaire, Texas)
6. El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.)
7. Park Vista (Lake Worth, Fla.)
8. Owasso (Owasso, Okla.)
9. Jesuit (Carmichael, Calif.)
10.Norco (Norco, Calif.)
11.Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.)
12. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
13.Parkview Baptist (Baton Rouge, La.)
14. American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)
15.Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village, Colo.)
16. Malvern Prep (Malvern, Pa.)
17. Cartersville (Cartersville, Ga.)
18. Cathedral (San Diego, Calif.)
19. Simi Valley (Simi Valley, Calif.)
20. Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.)
21. Menchville (Newport News, Va.)
22. Mamaroneck (Mamaroneck, N.Y.)
23. Barbe (Lake Charles, La.)
24. Calallen (Corpus Christi, Texas)
25. Brother Rice (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), 34-6

Source: MaxPreps.com

Photo courtesy of Martin S. Fuentes/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Tags: Prep