News4JAX Super 6 baseball: Surging Sandalwood moves into rankings

The News4JAX Super 6 baseball rankings are published on Tuesdays. (News4JAX)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The News4JAX Super 6 baseball rankings will be published each Tuesday through the end of the regular season. Results are through April 4 games.

Super 6 baseball rankings

Recommended Videos



Rank, Previous, School, Record, Classification

1. (1) St. Johns Country Day (10-1, Class 2A)

Quality wins: Bolles, Episcopal, Houston County (Ga.), LaGrange (Ga.), Madison Central (Miss.), Oakleaf, Providence, Trinity Christian.

Glance: Buckle up, St. Johns fans, it’s going to be a fun week. The Spartans are one of 16 teams in the field for this week’s National High School Invitational. They open with Servite (Anaheim, Calif.) on Wednesday at noon. A win would put them in a second-round game against Buford or Don Bosco Prep. A rematch against Buford is very enticing. The Wolves handed St. Johns its only loss this season, an 8-7 setback on March 5. Buford is 20-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country by MaxPreps. The Spartans went 1-0 since our last Super 6, a 4-1 win over Trinity Christian. St. Johns may lose some games this week, but the competition is going to toughen it up for the playoffs here.

2. (NR) Sandalwood (10-1, Class 7A)

Quality wins: Central (Ala.), Chiles, Columbia, Fernandina Beach, First Coast, Stanton.

Glance: The Saints make a big jump in to the Super 6 after stretching their winning streak to nine games. Their lone loss came Feb. 26 to Grayson (Ga.) in a 2-1 game. Holden Bradshaw (.438), Alvin Pabon (.379), Michael Miniotas (.379) and Cooper Whited (.367) lead the Saints at the plate. Whited, Tanner Reed and James Laufman are unbeaten and all sport ERAs under 2.90. Very big games this week remain, with Fletcher on Wednesday and Oakleaf on Friday, both at home.

3. (2) Columbia (10-2, Class 5A)

Quality wins: Baker County, Gainesville (twice), North Florida Christian (twice), Suwannee, Union County.

Glance: A 1-1 week for the Tigers, who split with Baker County since our last Super 6. Columbia beat the Wildcats 4-2 and then lost a 7-6 game. They’re back in action on Tuesday night with a very tough opponent in Suwannee (10-4). Then it’s Stanton (Thursday) and Ridgeview (Friday) to round out the week. Hayden Gustavson (.441), Brayden Thomas (.429) and Ty Jackson (.400) lead Columbia at the plate.

4. (5) Trinity Christian (8-5, Class 2A)

Quality wins: Bozeman, Etowah (Ala.), Florence (Ala.), Nease, Oakleaf, Providence, Tattnall Square (Ga.).

Glance: A 1-1 week for the Conquerors since our last Super 6. The Conquerors lost 4-1 to No. 1 St. Johns Country Day, then held off Providence, 8-7 in 11 innings. Jacob Miller (.419) drove in three runs, including the walk-off winner. Colton Avera (.395) and Eric Fouraker Jr. (.390) follow Miller in batting average for the Conquerors.

5. (3) Providence (9-6, Class 3A)

Quality wins: Apalachee (Ga.), Blessed Trinity (Ga.), Central (Ala.), Denmark (Ga.), Florida High, Ravenwood (Tenn., twice), Tattnall Square (Ga.), Wesleyan (Ga.).

Glance: Up-and-down week for the Stallions, who lost to Bolles (6-4) and Trinity Christian (8-7 in 11 innings) before rebounding to beat Blessed Trinity (Ga.), 9-8. Not a great stretch for the Stallions, but their body of work keeps them in over teams like Bishop Snyder, Fletcher, Oakleaf and Suwannee.

6. (T6) Bartram Trail (10-6, Class 7A)

Quality wins: Buchholz, Clay, Fleming Island, Mill Creek (Ga.), Nease, Ponte Vedra, Trinity Christian, West Broward.

Glance: A 1-1 mark for the Bears since our last Super 6. Bartram beat Creekside (10-4) and lost a 3-1 game to Bishop Kenny. This week will reveal quite a bit about the Bears. They host Georgia teams Parkview (15-5) and Thomas County Central (16-5) on Wednesday and Thursday, then previously ranked Bishop Snyder (8-2) on Friday. They’ll either solidify their spot in the Super 6 or drop out of it as a host of contenders push for a ranking spot. Bishop Kenny, Clay and University Christian are knocking on the door of the Super 6.

Dropped out

Bishop Snyder (8-2, Class 3A); Fletcher (9-2, Class 6A).

Others

Atlantic Coast (7-6, Class 6A); Baker County (7-7, Class 4A); Baldwin (8-4, Class 3A); Bishop Kenny (8-4, Class 4A); Bishop Snyder (8-2, Class 3A); Bolles (6-5, Class 3A); Clay (9-5, Class 4A); Eagle’s View (6-2, Class 2A); Episcopal (8-5, Class 3A); Fernandina Beach (6-5, Class 3A); First Coast (7-6, Class 6A); Fletcher (9-2, Class 6A); Hilliard (7-4, Class 1A); Mandarin (10-2, Class 7A); Middleburg (6-5, Class 5A); Nease (8-4, Class 7A); Oakleaf (11-3, Class 7A); Palatka (7-4, Class 4A); St. Augustine (9-4, Class 5A); Stanton (8-6, Class 5A); Suwannee (10-4, Class 4A); Union County (7-6, Class 1A); University Christian (13-2, Class 2A); Wolfson (6-5, Class 3A).


About the Author:

Justin Barney joined News4Jax in February 2019, but he’s been covering sports on the First Coast for more than 20 years.