Dwyer, Oxbridge perfect so far
Baseball is in full swing around Palm Beach County, bot h i n hi g h s c hool a nd spring training form.
On the high school side, some of the count y ’s top teams have started to separate themselves from the pack. No. 1 Dwyer and No. 4 Oxbridge Academy are the only teams in the county that have played four or more games and not lost. Between those two teams are perennial powers Jupiter and Park Vista, who have dropped one game each but have otherwise looked like their usual top-tier selves. Wellington, which has lost one game so far, rounds out the top five.
Palm Beach Central and Spanish River lead the bottom half of this week’s top 10, but otherwise it is the domain of small schools. American Heritage, Saint John Paul II Academy and Trinity Christian round out the top 10.
Royal Palm Beach (3-2) at Seminole Ridge (2-3), Friday 6:30 p.m.: There have been a couple of bumps in the road early for these two western Palm Beach County teams. Royal Palm Beach has dropped games to a pair of top-five teams — Park Vista and Wellington — but held its own. Tarik Latchmansingh is a player to watch on the Wildcats; he has already hit his first home run of the year. Seminole Ridge has also lost to the Wolverines, but its other two losses are against a 1-4 John I. Leonard team and 3-3 Cardinal Newman. It’s still early in the season, but this District 12-8A match could give the winner some momentum going into the middle of the year.
No. 6 Palm Beach Central (4-2) at No. 2 Jupiter (4-1), Friday 7 p.m.: The Warriors showed last week they can dominate other good teams, trouncing Palm Beach Gardens. The top of Jupiter’s order is probably the best in the county: infielder and Ole Miss signee Anthony Servideo, Air Force signee and first baseman Tyler Ward, outfielder and FSU signee Reese Albert and catcher and LSU signee Mason Doolittle. And past those four are players like UNF signee Andrew Martinez and Mitchell Hartigan, who has committed to FAU. But the Broncos’ pitchers may be able to get the best of the Warriors. Palm Beach Central has given up an average of three runs per game.