Alabama teams hold Top 20 spots in national MaxPreps ranking

The last teams standing in the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 7A baseball tournament are the only teams from the state in the MaxPreps national rankings of the top 25 teams in the country this week.

State champion Bob Jones of Madison is ranked 19th and the team the Patriots beat in the best-of-three title series, Central-Phenix City, is ranked 20th.

Both coach Jared Smith’s Bob Jones squad and AJ Kehoe’s Red Devils moved up two places in the rankings from last week’s list.

Catholic-Baton Rouge of Louisiana is ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps, followed in the top 5 by Corona, Calif.; Tomball, Texas; Brother Rice of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; and Flower Mound, Texas.

Bob Jones finished the year at 44-9, a school record for victories, and claimed its first state championship. The Patriots earned the crown by beating Huntsville area foe Sparkman two straight in the first round of the playoffs. Bob Jones then topped Thompson in the quarterfinals, Madison City Schools rival James Clemens in the semifinals and Central – all in three-game series.

The Patriots won the first game of the championship series 6-2, lost Game 2 to Central 6-3 and took the title with a 12-5 win in Game 3.

Central finished 40-5 on the season and made its third consecutive trip to the state finals series. The Devils beat Hewitt-Trussville for the crown in three games in 2022 and fell to Vestavia Hills in three games last season.

To make the finals in 2024, Central beat Prattville in two straight in the opening round, topped Baker in three games in the quarterfinals and swept Auburn in the semifinals

No Alabama teams finished in the MaxPreps final baseball ranking in 2023 while Hartselle was No. 11 on the 2022 list.