GA Power 25: April 1
April 1, 2019
The sixth edition of the GA Power 25 update is live.
There was plenty of movement up and down the rankings in this week’s update and it also pushed a couple of teams off the board and subsequently had a pair of programs earn their debuts on the GA Power 25 this spring.
Let’s break it down.
TOP DOGS
+ No. 1 Blessed Trinity (17-3): The Titans geared up for the prestigious National High School Invitational by going 3-0 last week, with two wins over a quality Flowery Branch team and another over White County. As you might expect, the state’s top position prospect, C.J. Abrams, was at the very center of the action of all three wins – specifically Thursday’s over White County, when he hit for the cycle and drove in three runs himself. They open the NHSI on Wednesday against the top-ranked team in Illinois, Marist, featuring two top-100-ranked prospects on the PBR national 2019 board: Kendal Ewell and Jason Hodges.
+ No. 2 Parkview (19-2): What had previously been a top-dog trio has now been cut to two. With Pope’s latest loss, and Parkview’s 15-2 month of March, the Panthers and the Titans have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Parkview went 5-0 to start the month with overpowering victories against Berkmar and Meadowcreek twice, outscoring the teams 67-0 in the three games combined. They had two GA Power 25 teams on the dockett next, Buford and Marist, and won both those games as well.
Their last loss came on March 8 against the Wolves, so the 4-3 win on Thursday helped them exact some midseason revenge. Mauri Miller doubled in a tie game, 3-3, in the bottom of the sixth and his pinch-runner eventually scored on a balk to take the lead. Against Marist (the Georgia program, not the team BT’s prepared to play this Wednesday in Cary, N.C.), Parkview got a huge performance Allan Del Castillo, an uncommitted senior, who homered twice and drove in five runs. The Panthers are headed south to Sarasota, Fla., for spring break this week, where they’ll play Florida programs Venice, Jesuit, and Sarasota.
TOP 10 NOTES
+ No. 3 Loganville (15-4): For the first time this season, a team not named Pope, Blessed Trinity, or Parkview is ranked inside the top three. The Red Devils have earned their place this high up the board with another convincing week of play. Since losing to Buford back on March 13, Loganville has won eight straight games and hasn’t allowed a run since March 21, despite playing a few talented teams across that span. This past week, the Red Devils trounced a struggling Johnson team twice but also earned wins over Illinois’ reigning state 4A champion, Plainfield North, and a 10-0 win over Collins Hill. Jacob Boyd had an enormous performance over the Eagles on Friday, going 5-for-5 with two homers and six RBIs. Dylan Strickland was typically effective atop the order, going 3-for-4 in that same game with a double, two RBIs, and scored three runs.
Loganville has two games on the schedule this week, including a trip to see ranked Etowah on Thursday.
+ No. 4 North Gwinnett (17-4): All month, the North Gwinnett Bulldogs have been making up for lost ground after a relatively lagging start out of the gate this spring. Since, suffering back-to-back losses to ranked opponents at the start of this month, the Bulldogs ripped off 12 straight wins before dropping game two last week to a red-hot Mountain View team and they countered right away with a huge 13-2 win over the Bears on Friday, to win the series. North Gwinnett’s Michael Borah had two doubles and two homers in the series, helping his team earn a significant series win over a fellow ranked 7A opponent. The Bulldogs have three games with Collins Hill on the schedule this week.
+ No. 8 Buford (11-6): The Wolves have three losses in the last three weeks but all three have been by just one run and each came against talented programs. Their latest loss came to the No. 2-ranked Panthers, a team they beat back on March 8, by a 9-4 score. This time around, Buford opted to start freshman phenom Dylan Lesko and the righty pitched well, limiting a high-powered, experienced offense to three runs in five innings, striking out four along the way, leaving with the game tied. The Wolves don’t have a bad loss on the schedule and have collected some pretty high-profile wins along the way, too. It’s hard to knock them much for their latest loss to Parkview and they deserve to be entrenched within the GA Power 25’s top 10 as a result.
+ No. 9 Walton (14-6-1): This month, the Raiders have series victories over ranked Etowah and Woodstock and also own a win over North Gwinnett as well. Last week, Walton swept Apalachee in three games, raising their season record to 14-6-1 this spring. This stretch has resulted in a two-spot jump up into the top 10 for the first time since Week 2’s update. Defeating both Etowah and Woodstock in three-game sets has really helped the Raiders recapture the preseason optimism we had for them when they opened the spring ranked at No. 7.
No. 10 North Paulding (14-4): The Wolfpack have hovered outside the top 10 all season and are the last time within the ranks in this update. After taking two of three against a formerly ranked North Cobb team, North Paulding has demonstrated that they’re performing at an elite level when it comes to pitching and limiting opponents on the scoreboard. Conversely, the Wolfpack offense has been slightly stagnant in the last couple of weeks, so they’ll be looking to remedy that on their way to Chattahoochee this week.
ON THE RISE
+ No. 12 Hillgrove (18-4): Without suffering a loss since March 12, the Hawks are up a couple of spots on the board. Their next three weeks is absolutely loaded with some of the state’s best competition. They start off with games against ranked Etowah and Milton on Thursday and Friday of this week before starting a three-game series with No. 10-ranked North Paulding next week.
+ No. 13 Woodstock (13-4): After dropping their first game against Etowah, 14-4, the Wolverines immediately picked themselves back up to win the next two over the Eagles – two statement victories that have them climbing back up the GA Power 25. Woodstock has been fluctuating up and down the rankings all spring, and are fresh off a series loss to Walton in the week prior.
+ No. 15 Decatur (18-3): With two more wins last week, the Bulldogs are up to 10 straight. They have among the best offenses in the 5A class and are inching their way up the rankings to be mentioned among the likes of fellow 5A counterparts Buford and Loganville. They have a little more work to do before they get to that point, but it all starts this week with a couple games on Saturday against Wesleyan and Chestatee before they take on ranked Riverwood twice on April 10 and 12.
WELCOME…
+ No. 24 Thomas County Central (19-1): The Yellowjackets have won 19 of their 20 games played this spring and are finally rewarded with a spot on the GA Power 25, in the No. 24 spot. Their loss to Harris County back on March 8 is the lone blemish on an otherwise perfect season thus far. They notched four more wins last week to help themselves clinch a ranked spot on this update, defeating a quality Lowndes team and Bainbridge twice, and a win over a Florida program is sandwiched in between there. They’ll meet Harris County again in a couple weeks, and have Colquitt County, Veterans, and Tift County on the schedule in the time between then and now.
+ No. 25 Starr’s Mill (15-3): The state’s 5A scene is as competitive as ever and Starr’s Mill has re-introduced themselves into contention. The Panthers have split their two games against a talented Houston County team and have only suffered losses otherwise to Newnan and McIntosh, another two strong programs. It’s going to be a revealing first week as members of the GA Power 25, as Starr’s Mill prepares to face Denmark on Thursday (a team they’ve already beaten this season), as well as a 10-8-1 Flowery Branch team, that’s always solid.
ON THE BUBBLE
+ Harrison (16-4): The Harrison Hoyas own a handful of really convincing wins this season, and two of their three losses came to ranked Pope and Woodstock. They also swept Allatoona and beat Hillgrove and North Forsyth. The Hoyas are coming and this week is going to be a turning point in their season, with ranked Etowah and Brookwood on the calendar. With a pair of wins, you’d have to think that Harrison would be shoo-ins for a place on next week’s update. We’re excited to see if they can get there.
+ Ringgold (16-4): Another week, another update where Ringgold is just on the edge of the GA Power 25 looking in. Thankfully for the Tigers, they have three solid opponents on the schedule that can change their Power 25 fortunes: Calhoun, Haralson County, and Sonoraville. Calhoun, specifically, is 14-3 this season and offers Ringgold its biggest challenge since the two last met on March 12, a few days after the Tigers defeated ranked North Paulding. It won’t take much maneuvering to find Ringgold a spot on the rankings if they’re able to take care of business this week.