NEW RIVALS.COM FAB 50

NATIONAL BASEBALL RANKINGS

Compiled by Doug Huff

Contributing; Mark Tennis, Andrew Drennen, Paul Muyskens, Sheldon Shealer

It's always debatable about which states play the best high school baseball, but there's no doubt that Texas is one of the best and the highly-ranked teams in Texas have continued to win in recent weeks while highly-ranked teams elsewhere have faltered.

In this week's Rivals.com FAB 50 rankings, teams from the Lone Star State occupy the No. 1, No. 3, No. 5 and No. 11 positions. Top-ranked Plano West rolled to a pair of Class 5A state playoff wins last weekend over Rockwall, while No. 3 Calallen, No. 5 Reagan of San Antonio and No. 11 Rowlett all swept their playoff series as well. Of that group, only Calallen, which is in Class 4A, could not potentially meet one of the other highly-ranked teams later on in the postseason.

Once the Texas teams start beating each other, two teams that are sure to move up are No. 7 Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas and No. 8 Owasso of Oklahoma. Both of those teams wrapped up their seasons with state championships last week and will be no lower than No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, for the final rankings.

If No. 1 Plano West loses in the Class 5A Texas state playoffs, the new team that would most likely move up to the top is Don Bosco Prep of New Jersey. The unbeaten Ironmen replace previous No. 2 Park Vista of Boynton Beach, Florida, for that role after Park Vista lost last weekend in the Class 6A state final in Florida by 4-1 to Lake Brantley.

Florida's top-ranked team heading into this week, American Heritage of Plantation, has already won in its state semifinal played on Monday night and is going for its state championship on Tuesday night vs. John Carroll Catholic of Fort Pearce.

Read below for the new 2008 Rivals.com FAB 50 national rankings for baseball:

(Listed with records through Saturday, May 17)

(Previous FAB 50 ranking in parentheses)

*Indicates win by forfeit not included.

1. Plano West (Plano, Texas) 33-1* (1)

2. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) 24-0 (3)

3. Calallen (Corpus Christi, Texas) 36-1 (5)

4. American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) 28-2 (4)

5. Reagan (San Antonio, Texas) 34-2 (6)

6. Los Alamitos (Los Alamitos, Calif.) 25-3 (10)

7. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) 41-3 (11)

8. Owasso (Owasso, Okla.) 34-3 (13)

9. South Caldwell (Hudson, N.C.) 24-1 (9)

10. Brookwood (Snellville, Ga.) 28-3 (8)

11. Rowlett (Garland, Texas) 32-1-2 (15)

12. Farragut (Knoxville, Tenn.) 39-3 (17)

13. Richland (Richland, Wash.) 23-1 (14)

14. Lake Brantley (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) 30-4 (19)

15. Park Vista (Boynton Beach, Fla.) 31-2 (2)

16. Pensacola Catholic (Pensacola, Fla.) 28-2 (16)

17. Lakota West (West Chester, Ohio) 22-1 (18)

18. George Washington (New York, N.Y.) 38-2 (12)

19. Malvern Prep (Malvern, Pa.) 36-2 (21)

20. St. Albans (Washington, D.C.) 29-2 (22)

21. Crespi (Encino, Calif.) 23-5 (23)

22. Alvin (Alvin, Texas) 32-4 (24)

23. Poway (Poway, Calif.) 26-5 (25)

24. Bartlett (Bartlett, Tenn.) 32-4 (43)

25. Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville, Fla.) 28-4 (nr)

26. New Trier (Winnetka, Ill.) 28-2 (28)

27. Pleasure Ridge Park (Louisville, Ky.) 28-5 (20)

28. Tupelo (Tupelo, Miss.) 32-6 (32)

29. Dunedin (Dunedin, Fla.) 27-6 (nr)

30. North Medford (Medford, Ore.) 25-2 (33)

31. Barbe (Lake Charles, La.) 35-7 (34)

32. Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) 23-4 (35)

33. Horizon (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 24-9 (36)

34. Sunrise Mountain (Peoria, Ariz.) 29-4-1 (37)

35. Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) 22-5 (38)

36. Francis Howell (St. Charles, Mo.) 21-3 (39)

37. Socorro (El Paso, Texas) 35-2 (40)

38. Green Valley (Henderson, Nev.) 33-7 (30)

39. Hokes Bluff (Hokes Bluff, Ala.) 28-3 (nr)

40. Northville (Northville, Mich.) 27-2 (nr)

41. Shawnee (Medford, N.J.) 16-1 (45)

42. Carroll (Southlake, Texas) 28-7 (46)

43. Livermore (Livermore, Calif.) 22-2 (nr)

44. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 22-6 (47)

45. East Rowan (Salisbury, N.C.) 25-2 (nr)

46. Boiling Springs (Spartanburg, S.C.) 17-3 (nr)

47. Kell (Marietta, Ga.) 25-6 (nr)

48. Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) 24-8 (48)

49. La Cueva (Albuquerque, N.M.) 25-3 (50)

50. Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins, Colo.) 23-4 (nr)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 7 Opelika (Opelika, Ala.); No. 26 Creighton Prep (Omaha, Neb.); No. 27 Conway (Conway, S.C.); No. 29 Goleman (Miami, Fla.); No. 31 Lake Orion (Lake Orion, Mich.); No. 40 Coppell (Coppell, Texas); No. 42 Yuba City (Yuba City, Calif.); No. 44 Klein (Klein, Texas); No. 49 Chickasha (Chickasha, Okla.).

We provide national high school content for SPARQ and Rivals.com and previously published Student Sports Magazine for 11 years. We produce the Nike Football Training Camps, EA SPORTS Elite 11 Quarterback Camp, the EA SPORTS All-American teams, the Area Code Games for baseball and numerous television projects. Student Sports also owns and operates 11 different high school-based web sites that can all be seen on the Rivals.com network.