High School Sports

PrepsNow top 25 area rankings: baseball

Fuquay-Varnia's Jack Howell (20) MVP for Fuquay . Celebrates with Vinny Consolo (5) after he scored. The Ardrey Kell Knights visited the Fuquay-Varina Bengals iin game three of the NCHSAA Championship game on June 2, 2018 at Mudcats Stadium. Zebulon, N.C.
Fuquay-Varnia's Jack Howell (20) MVP for Fuquay . Celebrates with Vinny Consolo (5) after he scored. The Ardrey Kell Knights visited the Fuquay-Varina Bengals iin game three of the NCHSAA Championship game on June 2, 2018 at Mudcats Stadium. Zebulon, N.C. newsobserver.com

Fuquay-Varina baseball finished the season atop the final PrepsNow 20-county area rankings.

The 4A champion Bengals were also No. 1 in the final 2013 rankings.

This year’s Bengals are joined in the top five by No. 2 Apex (4A East runner-up), No. 3 Holly Springs (last year’s No. 1 that won the conference title ahead of fellow top 25 teams Fuquay-Varina, Apex, Garner and Middle Creek), No. 4 Chapel Hill (reached third round of 3A playoffs before falling to eventual state champ New Hanover) and No. 5 Garner (fell to Apex in fourth round of 4A playoffs).

That’s four South Wake Athletic Conference teams in the top five. The league went an incredible 12-1 against other conferences in the postseason, the only loss coming in Fuquay’s Game 1 defeat to Charlotte’s Ardrey Kell in the title series.

Just 13 teams from last year’s final top 25 baseball rankings made a return in this season’s.

The only school to make the final PrepsNow baseball rankings in each of the last six years is Green Hope.

PrepsNow Area Top 25

School

Rec.

LW

1. Fuquay-Varina

22-12

1

2. Apex

18-10

2

3. Holly Springs

18-5

3

4. Chapel Hill

24-4

4

5. Garner

19-8

5

6. North Lenoir

20-7

6

7. Fike

21-5

7

8. Pinecrest

22-5

8

9. Sanderson

14-12

9

10. Jordan

18-8

10

11. Green Hope

17-7

11

12. South Granville

21-6

12

13. Middle Creek

15-11

13

14. D.H. Conley

21-6

14

15. J.H. Rose

18-7

15

16. Cardinal Gibbons

19-7

16

17. Wake Forest

16-7

17

18. Union Pines

18-10

18

19. Southern Lee

20-7

19

20. C.B. Aycock

18-7

20

21. Cedar Ridge

18-6

21

22. Nash Central

18-9

22

23. Bunn

18-5

23

24. Leesville Road

13-9

24

25. Millbrook

15-10

25

Falling out: none.

Eligible counties: Chatham, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Greene, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Lenoir, Moore, Nash, Orange, Person, Pitt, Vance, Wake, Warren, Wayne and Wilson.

This story was originally published June 5, 2018 at 2:15 PM with the headline "PrepsNow top 25 area rankings: baseball."

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