High School Baseball Network March Madness Gold Bracket

This year’s HSBN March Madness Shootout has expanded to 48 teams, but regardless of how many teams enter the field, Archbishop McCarthy remains the team to beat. For the second straight season, the Mavericks are the top seed in the Gold Bracket of the madness. Below is the complete seedings for the Gold Bracket.

Daily Schedule

1. Archbishop McCarthy (11-0) – The Mavericks come into the March Madness Shootout as the top team in many polls, including the HSBN Broward and HSBN Florida Power Rankings. Archbishop will be trying to avoid their 2015 fate, when they were upset in the opening round by West Broward. This season, the Mavericks return seven of their nine starting lineup from last year, and thus far, the offensive depth has paid off. With five state titles, and a national title, the only undefeated team in the field looks to capture the one title that has so far eluded them.

2. Douglas (10-1) – The Eagles have been one of the most consistent teams in South Florida in the 2016 season. Led by Colton Welker‘s .533 batting average, and John McKenna‘s team-leading 16 RBIs, the Eagles offense has scored 71 runs in 11 games. The .326 team average will be put to the test with some of the top arms in the state standing between Douglas and a March Madness title run. Their road to the championship starts against Port St. Lucie, but the Eagles are no stranger to tough games, having already faced eight teams with winning records.

3. SLAM (9-3) – Last season, SLAM won the Silver Bracket of the March Madness Shootout, and this year the formerly young Titans will no longer fly under the radar. Jeter Downs and Jose Garcia have been a two-man wrecking crew for the offense. Downs is hitting .529, only bested on the team by Garcia, who’s .559 average has him at seventh in the county. For SLAM to repeat as champions, they will have to start strong when they face Belen Jesuit on Saturday afternoon. The team currently sits atop 4A-7 with a 5-1 district record.

4. Boca Raton (8-3) – One of four Palm Beach teams in the Shootout, the Bobcats have turned their season around after struggling early. The team has played one of the toughest schedules in South Florida, and has escaped with an 8-3 record. Boca is led by their pitching staff, which has an ERA on the season of 1.91. Jagger McCoy has been the anchor of the rotation, striking out 32 batters in 24.2 innings, while only walking four. Offensively, Zach Zientarski leads the squad with 12 RBIs. Ricardo Gonzalez is tops in runs with nine. Boca opens up against Chaminade-Madonna.

5. St. Thomas (8-2) – The Raiders came into 2016 with a young team, and Manager Troy Cameron was unsure what to expect. After the first month of the season, St. Thomas has been a pleasant surprise. Earl Semper and Cameron Krzeminski have combined to get on base over sixty percent of the time. Semper also leads the team with 13 RBIs. The Raiders’ only two losses came in the opening week of the season in the Falcon Challenge. St. Thomas will square off with the TERRA Institute, out of Miami.

6. Monsignor Pace (8-4) – The Spartans have a strength of schedule rivaled only by top-seeded McCarthy and second-seeded Douglas. Pace has been up and down against the top competition, but comes into the tournament having won four straight and seven of their last nine. The Spartans lead 5A-15, a district that boasts the most teams in the Gold Bracket, with Pace, LaSalle, and Mater Lakes Academy all making the cut. Westland Hialeah will be first up for the Spartans at 7PM on Saturday night.

7. Goleman (11-1) – The Gators come into the March Madness Shootout with perhaps the biggest chip on their shoulders. The team feels they have not received the recognition they deserve as a top team in the county, and this tourney will be their chance to show they belong near the top. Goleman has one of the best records in the tourney, at 11-1, but to-date Goleman has only beaten two teams with winning records. Brandon Paez is second in the county with 20 RBIs, and also is tied for the lead in doubles with two. The pitching staff has six pitchers that have thrown over eight innings on the year.

8. Killian (7-3) – Freddy Zamora‘s .452 average is tops on a Cougars team that is hitting .323 on the year. Despite having faced some of the top arms in the county, Killian has come through a tough early season schedule with a 7-3 record. One thing that should help the Cougars in a field this strong, is their own district. Even as one of the top teams in the county, Killian sits in only third in 9A-16, behind South Dade and Palmetto. Andrew Schreiber leads the pitching staff with an ERA of 0.84. Schreiber has 42 strikeouts in just 25 innings of work. Killian draws a tough first round matchup with Mater Lakes Academy.

9. Mater Lakes Academy (7-4) – Rene Arauz has been one of the best pitchers in Miami in 2016, compiling a 0.49 ERA in almost 30 innings of work. Cristian Santana has also contributed 18 innings of work, allowing only three earned runs. The offense has been a tough spot for the Bears, who as a team are hitting .255. Robert Montesinos leads the team with 12 hits. Mater Academy’s draw of Killian in the first round assures that the game featuring two top Miami programs will be one of the most watched of the first round.

10. LaSalle (9-3) – Manager Hernan Adames has a long history of taking teams flying under the radar and turning them into state contenders. This season’s Lions team is the latest work of Adames, who started the season 2-2, but have since went 7-1. The mound work has been left to Joshua Leon, Jacob Perea, and Gabriel Partridge. The trio has combined to throw 69.1 of the teams 78 innings. Offensively, Santos Grande leads the way with a .500 average. Grande’s 17 runs is good enough for fourth in the county.

11. Westland Hialeah (8-3) – The Wildcats are another team that come into the Shootout with something to prove. After a big first half of the season that saw Westland win eight of their 11 games, the schedule now stiffening. If the Wildcats can put together a championship run, it would be a testament that they have arrived as a state contender. Helping the Wildcats to a perfect district record are David Vazquez and Bryan Lavastida, with 15 hits each. As a team Westland is hitting .361, and getting on base over forty-five percent of the time. The pitching staff has only given up 17 runs.

12. TERRA Institute (7-5) – The Wolves were in a trasition this off-season when Manager Ernie Padron took the pitching coach job over at ASA College. Jesse Fernandez has stepped in, and after starting the season 3-5, the team has started to respond, winning four in a row to take themselves off the bubble and safely into the Gold Bracket. Another team that plays a tough schedule, TERRA will have to navigate perfectly a bracket that includes the top teams in South Florida. Pitching has been the strength of the Wolves. Andres Perez and Joe Sanchez both have ERA’s under 1.25, and have combined for 46 strikeouts.

13. Chaminade-Madonna (7-4) – As we head towards the bottom of the Gold Bracket, we get to the teams that were on the bubble. The Lions were a bubble team that may have found themselves in the Silver bracket had they not gone and defeated the third-seeded SLAM on Saturday. It has been an inconsistent season for the Lions, with big wins over Westminster Academy twice, Highlands Christian, and SLAM. On the flip side, the low point of the year was a 12-2 loss to University. Rolando Petit paces the offense with a .467 average, while Michael Callari and Michael Blanco have four of the teams seven wins.

14. Belen Jesuit (6-5) – The Wolverines come into the Shootout in need of a spark in what has been an uneven season so far. Belen started the season with back to back shutouts, and have also been on the receiving end of a few blowout losses. It is tough to tell which direction they are going from day to day. To win the bracket, they will have to get strong pitching from Albert Maury and Gabe Gonzalez. Christian del Castillo leads the offense with a .485 average and 11 runs.

15. Port St. Lucie (7-2) – The Jaguars have been one of the most-balanced teams in the area in 2016. They have an ERA under 1.55, and an offense that hits to the tune of .335. Zach Taglieri leads the offense with 11 hits, 13 RBIs, and a .423 average. Whether or not the Jaguars can upset the Eagles in the first round is unknown. At times, Port St. Lucie have looked like a world-beater, and at other times there have been inexplicable losses. The Jags are sitting pretty in 6A-14, having beatn both Suncoast and Fort Pierce Westwood.

16. Mater Academy (5-4) – The Lions find themselves in an unfamiliar position coming into the Shootout. They have been to two straight state appearances, winning it all in 2014, and they finished a runner-up in the March Madness Shootout last year to Coral Gables. This season, however, the play has been uneven, as is expected from a young team. The team is hitting .367, led by Alex Rodriguez at .500. Pitching has been the area where Mater has struggled, and that may not bode well in a first round match-up with heavy-hitting McCarthy.

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