California CIF Southern Section High School Baseball Preseason Top 25 Rankings

Some of the best high school baseball in the country is played in the CIF Southern Section. Here's the preseason Top 25 rankings as of Feb. 22, 2026.

St. John Bosco will start the 2026 season the No. 1 team in High School On SI's Top 25 preseason rankings after winning the CIF-SS D1 title in 2025. / Photo by Donn Parris

The CIF Southern Section is home to some of the best high school baseball in the country. Programs like Harvard-Westlake, Corona, and most recently St. John Bosco, have tasted the pinnacle by lifting the Division 1 crown.

St. John Bosco opens the 2026 season as the No. 1 team in the section after returning the core of last year's dramatic 2025 CIF championship team thanks to the late-game heroics of Miles Clark in extra innings to beat Santa Margarita 3-2.

PRESEASON TOP 25 RANKINGS

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO

KEY RETURNERS: James Clark, SS, Sr. (Duke); Noah Everly, OF, Sr. (Seattle University); Moises Razo, 1B, Sr. (Long Beach State); Miles Clark, OF, Sr. (Duke); Gavin Cervantes, RHP, Sr. (Long Beach State); Brayden Krakowski, RHP, So.

2. ORANGE LUTHERAN

KEY RETURNERS: Gary Morse, P, Sr. (Tennessee); Hamilton Freidberg, OF, Sr. (UCLA); Brady Murrietta, C, Sr. (Texas);

3. HUNTINGTON BEACH

KEY RETURNERS: Jared Grindlinger, LHP, Jr.; Tanner Brown, LHP, Jr. (TCU); Jason Dunham, SS, Sr. (Long Beach State); Owen Bone, OF, Sr. (Cal Baptist); and Dane Cunningham, INF/RHP, Sr. (Cal Poly SLO).

4. HARVARD-WESTLAKE

KEY RETURNERS: James Tronstein, SS/OF, Sr. (Vanderbilt); Jake Chung, RHP, Sr. (Brown); Jake Kim, 1B/DH, Jr. (UCLA); Justin Kirchner, RHP, Jr. (Yale); Ethan Price, OF, Sr. (Santa Clara); Ira Rootman, OF, Jr. (Texas); James Venick, RHP, Jr. (USC).

5. CORONA

KEY RETURNER: Trey Ebel, SS, Sr. (Texas A&M); Anthony Murphy, CF, Sr.; (LSU); Jesiah Andrade, C, Sr.; Mason Sims, LHP, Jr.

6. NORCO

KEY RETURNERS: Dylan Seward, SS, Jr. (Tennessee); Marcus Blanton, OF, Sr.; Jordan Ayala, RHP/INF, So.; Elijah Alvarez, UTL, Jr.

7. JSERRA

KEY RETURNERS: Blake Bowen, OF, Sr. (Oregon State); Shane D’Arcy, 3B, Jr. (UC Irvine); Joey Koenig, SS/OF, Fr.; Aidan Kent, RHP, Jr. (Georgia); Aidan Rae, 3B/OF/RHP, Jr. (UCLA); Jax Janeski, UTL, So.

8. LA MIRADA

KEY RETURNERS: Luke Armijo, LHP, Jr. (Texas); Noah Dabela, LHP, Sr. (UC Santa Barbara); Kaden Corns, RHP, Sr.; Jacob Oropeza, RHP/1B, Sr.; and Justin Torres, C, Sr.

9. MATER DEI

KEY RETURNERS: Ezekiel Lara, CF, Sr. (Georgia Tech); Jackson Campbell, RHP, Sr. (Notre Dame); Kai Bratton, RHP, Sr. (Tennessee); and Brady Guth, SS, Jr. (Oklahoma State).

10. SIERRA CANYON

KEY RETURNERS: Mikhal Johnson, 1B/DH, Sr. (Harvard); Armando Solorio, RHP, Sr. (Westmont); Isaias Tirado, UTL, Sr.; Greyson Gullage, INF, Sr. (Cal Poly SLO); Sam Stoller, OF, Sr. (Pomona-Pitzer); Teddy Levin, OF, Sr. (Brandeis); Cody Gallegos, INF, Sr.; Dezi Delgado, C, Jr. (CSUN); and Sean Parrow, RHP, Jr. (LSU).

11. AQUINAS

KEY RETURNERS: Jonathan Tena, INF, Sr.; Jacob Bitonti, 1B, Sr.; Hayden Vanderhoof, RHP, Sr.

12. ROYAL

KEY RETUNERS: Dustin Dunwoody, P, Sr. (Arizona); Dean Barkman, P, Sr. (UC Santa Barbara); Colten Rainer, P, Sr. (UCLA); Peyton Visage, C, Sr.; and Noah Vasquez, SS, Sr.

13. CYPRESS

KEY RETURNERS: Noah Johnson, C, Sr. (Cal State Fullerton); Jake De Laquil, SS, Sr. (Air Force); Drew Slevcove, LHP, Sr. (UC Santa Barbara); Tate Belfanti, LHP, Jr. (TCU); and Tyler Vladic, CF, Jr. (Oregon).

14. SANTA MARGARITA

KEY RETURNERS: Brody Schumaker, INF, Sr. (TCU); Warren Gravely, C/1B/RHP, Sr. (Notre Dame); Chase Marlow, C/OF, Sr. (San Diego); Luke Blanchard, OF, Sr.; Andre Owens, UTL, Sr. (Oklahoma State); Vincent Milo, OF/RHP, Sr. (Trinity); Tyler Unter, INF/RHP, Sr. (Claremont McKenna); and Noah Darnell, LHP, Sr. (Harvard).

15. NOTRE DAME/SHERMAN OAKS

KEY RETURNERS: Jacob Madrid, C, Sr. (Oregon); Malakye Matsumoto, 3B/RHP, Sr. (Air Force); Beckett Berg, RHP, Jr. (Texas); AJ LaSota, RHP, Jr. (Virginia); Juju Diaz-Jones, RHP, Sr. (Cal); Lachlan Clark, RHP, Sr. (Ohio); Peter Jackson, RHP, Sr. (UC Santa Barbara); and Holden Newhouse, RHP, Sr. (LMU).

16. ARCADIA

KEY RETURNERS: Damian Catano, LHP/1B, Sr. (St. Mary’s); Jordan Vogel, SS, Jr.; Tyler Brereton, OF/3B/P, Jr.; Maverick Silva, C, Sr.; Aiden Soto, C/1B, Sr.; and Julian Salmon, UTL, Sr. (William Penn).

17. AYALA

KEY RETURNERS: Caleb Trugman, RHP/INF, Sr. (UC Santa Barbara); Jaden Valenzuela, OF, Sr. (UC Irvine); Elijah Duarte, C/INF, Sr. (Cal Baptist); Dylan Wood, 3B/OF, Sr.; and Easton Sarmiento, LHP/OF, Jr. (UC Santa Barbara).

18. CORONA CENTENNIAL

KEY RETURNERS: Aiden Simpson, SS/RHP, Sr.; Jacob Torres, RHP, Sr. (Nevada); Michael Nonis, C, Sr. (Nevada); Jesse Mendoza, OF/LHP, Fr.; Ethan Miller, SS/2B, Fr.; and Jaden Walk-Green, CF/RHP, Jr.

19. OAKS CHRISTIAN

KEY RETURNERS: Carson Sheffer, C, Sr. (Oklahoma State); Luke Puls, 1B, Sr. (Princeton); Christian Ipsen, RHP, Sr. (NYU); and Jack Brinkman, INF/RHP, Sr. (Rhodes College).

20. GAHR

KEY RETURNERS: Jake Ourique, RHP, Sr. (Oregon); Bryce Morrison, RHP/OF, Sr. (USC); Jorge Valdez, LHP, Sr. (CSUN); Anthony Ward, RHP, Sr. (Hope University); Andres Gonzalez, SS, Sr. (USC)

21. SOUTH HILLS

KEY RETURNERS: Justin Romero, P, Sr.; Christian Santoyo, P, Sr.; Nicholas Carillo, P, Sr. (La Verne); Pax Czubek, P, Jr.; Diego Villarreal, SS, Jr. (St. Mary’s); Carson Baker, UTL, Sr. (Azusa Pacific); Ayden Vieth, UTL, Sr.; and Gabe Guerrero, UTL, Sr.

22. EL DORADO

KEY RETURNERS: Brady Abner, C, Sr.; Xavi Cadena, CF, Sr. (Cal State Fullerton); Logan Steenburgen, RHP, Sr.; and David Domingo, IF, Sr.

23. SIMI VALLEY

KEY RETURNERS: Kyle Casey, LHP/SP, Sr.; Evan Rodriguez, CF/C, Jr.; Danny Pina, SS, Sr.; and Andrew Nicklaus, C/RF, Jr.

24. SANTIAGO CORONA

KEY RETURNERS: Ben Lewis Jr., RHP, Jr. (Oklahoma State); and Tommy Padilla, RHP, Sr. (UC Irvine); Striker Pence, RHP, So.

25. VILLA PARK

KEY RETURNERS: Aidan Young, OF, Sr.; Jack McGuire, P, Sr.; Dom Gutierrez, OF, Sr.; and Gunner Santillo, INF, Sr.

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