Spruce Creek, Pine Ridge earn top seeds in this week's district baseball tournaments
The Volusia-Flagler high school baseball teams are rounding third and heading for home.
The regular season? Over, as of last Saturday. Playoffs? Here we go.
District tournaments kick off Monday and wrap up Thursday. Fourteen local teams will compete across seven league brackets. All will be fighting for spots in the regional postseason, set to commence on May 7.
Two local squads — Spruce Creek and Pine Ridge — enter their respective tournaments as the top seeds.
The Hawks, members of District 2-7A, are the highest-ranked area program. They sit 49th in the Florida High School Athletic Association poll. In their regular-season finale Thursday, they eked out a 5-4 victory over Fleming Island to snap their only losing streak of the season (three games).
Spruce Creek holds a 17-8 record. Its winning percentage of .680 is better than it was a year ago, when it cruised to the 7A semifinals. The Hawks beat their district’s No. 2 seed and reigning champion, Lake Mary, 3-1 last month in their only meeting this season.
DeLand (14-10) and University (9-13) also fit into this district.
The Bulldogs split their season series 1-1 with Spruce Creek. They join the Hawks as one of three Volusia-Flagler clubs in the state’s top 150 at 137.
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Flagler Palm Coast (14-11) is 146th after winning the Five Star Conference Tournament. It upset Spruce Creek and took care of Pine Ridge in the finals to control area bragging rights. After starting 5-10, the Bulldogs have triumphed in nine of their last 10 games, hitting their stride at the right time. They are the defending champions of District 1-7A.
Pine Ridge (14-10) plays in the most populated local bracket. District 5-5A includes five area teams, with the Panthers, No. 2 Seabreeze, No. 3 Deltona, No. 4 Matanzas and No. 5 Mainland. The first three seeds have Monday byes. The Sandcrabs emerged as district champions in 2023.
The last Volusia-Flagler program with a bye in the quarterfinals: Trinity Christian (14-8), the third seed in District 6-2A.
Capturing the league trophy is the most straightforward path to regionals. Otherwise, the four highest-ranked teams that do not secure district titles will receive at-large bids.
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District 1-7A
Monday, April 29
Game 1 — No. 5 Sandalwood at No. 4 Flagler Palm Coast, 6:30 p.m.
Game 2 — No. 6 Mandarin at No. 3 Atlantic Coast, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 30
Game 3 — Game 1 winner at No. 1 Creekside, 6:30 p.m.
Game 4 — Game 2 winner at No. 2 Bartram Trail, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 2
Game 5 — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner (at highest remaining seed), 6:30 p.m.
District 2-7A
Monday, April 29
Game 1 — No. 5 Seminole vs. No. 4 University, 4:30 p.m.
Game 2 — No. 6 West Port vs. No. 3 DeLand, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, April 30
Game 3 — Game 1 winner vs. No. 1 Spruce Creek, 4 p.m.
Game 4 — Game 2 winner vs. No. 2 Lake Mary, 4 p.m.
Thursday, May 2
Game 5 — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7 p.m.
District 4-6A
Monday, April 29
Game 1 — No. 5 Lyman vs. No. 4 New Smyrna Beach
Game 2 — No. 6 Lake Powell vs. No. 3 Oviedo
Tuesday, April 30
Game 3 — Game 1 winner vs. No. 1 Hagerty, 4 p.m.
Game 4 — Game 2 winner vs. No. 2 Winter Springs, 4 p.m.
Date TBA
Game 5 — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner
District 5-5A
Monday, April 29
Game 1 — No. 5 Mainland vs. No. 4 Matanzas, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, April 30
Game 2 — Game 1 winner vs. No. 1 Pine Ridge
Game 3 — No. 3 Deltona vs. No. 2 Seabreeze, 6 p.m.
Date TBA
Game 4 — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, TBA
District 7-4A
Monday, April 29
Game 1 — No. 5 Atlantic vs. No. 4 Mount Dora
Tuesday, April 30
Game 2 — Game 1 winner vs. No. 1 Bishop Moore
Game 3 — No. 3 Tavares vs. No. 2 Eustis, 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 2
Game 4 — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner
District 4-3A
Monday, April 29
Game 1 — No. 5 Interlachen vs. No. 4 Father Lopez, 7 p.m.
Game 2 — No. 7 Taylor vs. No. 2 Keystone Heights
Game 3 — No. 6 Crescent City vs. No. 3 P.K. Yonge, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, April 30
Game 4 — Game 1 winner vs. No. 1 Trinity Catholic
Game 5 — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner
Thursday, May 2
Game 6 — Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner
District 6-2A
Monday, April 29
Game 1 — No. 5 Lake Mary Prep at No. 4 Geneva, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 30
Game 2 — Game 1 winner at No. 1 Mount Dora Christian Academy, 7 p.m.
Game 3 — No. 3 Trinity Christian Academy at No. 2 Master’s Academy, 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 2
Game 4 — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner (at highest remaining seed), 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school baseball: Volusia-Flagler district brackets start Monday
