Top 25 Georgia High School Baseball Teams Across All Classifications
Updated 3/4/2026
The 2026 GHSA baseball season is now in full swing as teams finish up the non-region portion of their schedules and begin region play across the state. Here are our updated Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings.
The top-ranked Houston County Bears are off to an 8-2 start, including a strong start in Region 2-5A action. They opened region play with a decisive 9-0 win over Northside, who had won eight in a row before running into the red-hot bats and outstanding pitching of the Bears.
Head coach Matt Hopkins’ pitching staff has now recorded four shutouts in nine wins, and the offense continues to shine, averaging more than six runs per game.
That’s why the Bears remain our top-ranked team this week.
The Bears’ strong start through 10 games represents one of the best records among the top teams across the state, as few programs are running away with things.
Etowah is 6-3 through nine games, and the Eagles remain our No. 2 team this week. They are off to a 1-2 start in Region 5-6A, trailing front-runner Cherokee, who is 9-3 overall and 5-0 in region action. North Paulding is 3-1 in the region, as is Walton.
Lowndes is starting to heat up, as expected. The Vikings have evened their overall record at 5-5 through their first 10 games and have gotten off to a strong start in region play with a 10-0 shutout over Richmond Hill. The Richmond Hill Wildcats, led by head coach Hill Thomas, are expected to be one of the teams to watch in Region 1-6A in 2026, so the 10-run shutout was an encouraging victory for the Vikings and head coach Ryan Page.
Blessed Trinity, playing through one of the tougher schedules in the state, has leveled off after jumping out to a 5-1 start. The Titans are 2-4 in their last six games, including a 5-4 loss to North Oconee.
Speaking of red-hot teams, the Pope Greyhounds have won nine straight games since their season-opening loss to Blessed Trinity. They are now 10-1 overall and 4-0 in Region 6-5A, which has a logjam at the top of the standings with Lassiter, Woodstock, and the Greyhounds all tied for the early lead at 4-0.
Things will begin to sort themselves out as region play takes over the rest of the schedules.
Pope takes over the No. 3 spot this week, continuing its swift move up the rankings.
Buford is now 8-1, and the Wolves move up to No. 4 this week after a nice start to the season that includes four straight wins in region action. Their only loss came to McEachern, who shut out the Wolves 4-0.
The Indians are now 10-1 on the season and earned their way into the ITG Next top 25 this week.
Pickens has remained undefeated and, after breaking into our previous rankings, stays at No. 7 this week.
After jumping out to a 9-1 start, Vidalia has lost three of their last four games and falls out of this week’s rankings.
Cherokee moves up seven spots this week after a 9-3 start, including a 5-0 region mark in Region 5-6A.
Cartersville continues to struggle early in the 2026 season with a 3-7 start. The Hurricanes drop out of this week’s poll.
Others falling out of the rankings this week include Appling County and ECI.
Colquitt County, Locust Grove, and North Paulding join McEachern as new teams in this week’s top 25.
Here are the complete 2026 Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings. Check back as we update the top 25 each week.
- Houston County (5A)
- Etowah (6A)
- Pope (5A) +2
- Buford (6A) +2
- Lowndes (6A) -2
- Blessed Trinity (4A) -2
- North Paulding (6A) NR
- Pickens (3A) -1
- Lanier County (1A-DII) -1
- Walton (6A) -1
- Newnan (5A) -1
- Gordon Lee (1A-DI) -1
- Morgan County (2A) -1
- McEachern (6A) NR
- Cherokee Bluff (3A) -1
- Worth County (1A-DI) -1
- Benedictine (4A) -1
- Cherokee (6A) +6
- Loganville (5A) -1
- Charlton County (1A-DII) -1
- Holy Innocents’ (2A, Private)
- Locust Grove (4A) NR
- Colquitt County (6A) NR
- Parkview (6A) -4
- Coffee (5A)
Out: Vidalia (1A-DI), ECI (1A-DII), Appling County (2A), Cartersville (4A)
Updated 2/25/2026
Most teams are now into their second week of the 2026 season, and we’re starting to see a bit of separation from our preseason Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings with several new teams making their way into this week’s poll.
Lowndes is off to a 3-4 start and falls to No. 3 after starting the season as our top-ranked program. The bats are still trying to catch up in the early stages of the season and will likely get there sooner than later.
Houston County takes over the top spot this week as head baseball coach Matt Hopkins’ team has five wins in the first six games to start the year.
Etowah is now 5-2 after starting the season 3-1.
Defending Class 6A state champion Walton is now 4-3, as is Newnan, who also has four wins in its first seven games.
A few teams have found the early season road a bit rocky. Cartersville has just two wins in its first seven games. Rockmart and Jeff Davis have just one win each to start the season, and both Yellow Jackets programs fall out of the rankings this week. Marist and Greater Atlanta Christian are both winless to start the season at the time of writing.
We welcome several new teams into the top 25, including undefeated Pickens and Vidalia, as well as Worth County, Benedictine, Cherokee, and Coffee.
Here are the complete 2026 Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings. Check back as we update the top 25 each week.
- Houston County (5A) +1
- Etowah (6A) +1
- Lowndes (6A) -2
- Blessed Trinity (4A)
- Pope (5A) +4
- Buford (6A) +4
- Pickens (3A) NR
- Lanier County (1A-DII)
- Walton (6A) -4
- Newnan (5A) -4
- Gordon Lee (1A-DI)
- Morgan County (2A)
- Vidalia (1A-DI) NR
- Cherokee Bluff (3A)
- Worth County (1A-DI) NR
- Benedictine (4A) NR
- ECI (1A-DII)
- Loganville (5A)
- Charlton County (1A-DII) +4
- Parkview (6A)
- Holy innocents’ (2A, Private)
- Appling County (2A)
- Cartersville (4A) -8
- Cherokee (6A) NR
- Coffee (5A) NR
Out: Troup County (3A), Calvary Day (3A, Private), Rockmart (2A), Jeff Davis (1A-DI), Greater Atlanta Christian (3A, Private), Marist (4A)
Updated 2/18/2026
The 2026 Georgia high school baseball season has just begun, with the first week in the books for most teams. ITG Next will be bringing you updated rankings throughout the season with our Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings.
We started off with our 2026 preseason rankings to give us a starting point, and now we take a look at how the teams are doing into the first few games of the regular season.
It’s still early, so don’t expect to see any major shifts in our first regular season poll of the year.
Our No. 1 ranked team and last year’s Class 6A state runner-up Lowndes is 2-2 as head coach Ryan Page takes a look at some of the younger arms on his staff, which is what many of the teams are doing as they try to get a feel for how their pitching staff will come into focus as the season moves forward.
Lowndes has played some tough games to start with IMG Academy and Carrollton, along with two games already with Ware County.
The Vikings have appeared in each of the last three Class 6A finals, and there’s plenty of talent on this year’s 2026 Vikings squad to make it back to a fourth.
The Houston County Bears are our No. 2 ranked team with a 3-1 start to the season. Head coach Matt Hopkins and his Bears have recorded two shutout wins so far and have split two games against North Oconee, both of which were one-run affairs.
Houston County made it to the 5A state finals last year but came up short to champion Newnan. All that did was make these Bears hungry for another shot at the finals in 2026.
Etowah is looking quite strong so far in 2026, with three wins in their first four games. The Eagles’ only loss was a one-run game against IMG Academy.
Defending 6A state champion Walton has had a bit of a mixed-bag start to the season with a 12-4 loss to Lassiter but rebounded with wins over Creekview and Harrison. Walton falls one place to No. 5.
Blessed Trinity has started off red hot with four victories in their first four games, including a season-opening 5-2 win over Pope and an 11-1 win over Parkview. Things will toughen up with Loganville next up for the Titans, but for now they are rewarded by taking over the No. 4 spot from Walton.
Other changes after the first few games of the season include defending two-time state champion Lanier County moving up from No. 9 to No. 8.
Pope is our biggest mover this week, jumping from No. 20 into the top 10 at No. 9. Buford moves up two places, and Morgan County moves up three places.
Calvary Day falls five places after a rough 0-3 start to the season, and Rockmart falls from No. 11 to No. 16.
Here are the complete 2026 Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings. Check back as we update the top 25 each week.
- Lowndes (6A)
- Houston County (5A)
- Etowah (6A)
- Blessed Trinity (4A) +1
- Walton (6A) -1
- Newnan (5A)
- Troup County (3A)
- Lanier County (1A-DII) +1
- Pope (5A) +11
- Buford (6A) +2
- Gordon Lee (1A-DI) -1
- Morgan County (2A) +3
- Calvary Day (3A, Private) -5
- Cherokee Bluff (3A) -1
- Cartersville (4A) -1
- Rockmart (2A) -5
- ECI (1A-DII) -1
- Loganville (5A) -1
- Jeff Davis (1A-DI) -1
- Parkview (6A) -1
- Holy innocents’ (2A, Private)
- Appling County (2A)
- Charlton County (1A-DII)
- Greater Atlanta Christian (3A, Private)
- Marist (4A)
Preseason Rankings
The start to the 2026 Georgia high school baseball season is just a few days away, and ITG Next is pleased to present to you our annual preseason Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings.
Before we take a look at the teams we think are the ones to watch moving forward into the 2026 regular season, let’s take a quick look back at the way the 2025 season ended, with the crowning of eight state champions.
The Walton Raiders won the GHSA Class 6A state championship, knocking off the Lowndes Vikings in a two-game sweep in their best-of-three state finals series.
The Newnan Cougars won the GHSA Class 5A state championship with a sweep of their own. Newnan won with their own two games to none series.
In Class 4A, Blessed Trinity came up huge after falling behind one game to zero against powerhouse Cartersville in their best-of-three series, with everything on the line and zero margin of error. The Titans came up big with two straight wins, a 7-3 win followed by the series-clinching 7-6 win.
In the Class 3A state finals, Troup County won game one 5-1, meaning a win in game two would give the Tigers a two-game sweep and the Class 3A state championship. However, a 15-0 romp by Cherokee Bluff evened things back up and evened the momentum of the series. Then in the third and deciding game, Troup County was able to win 6-3 and take the state championship.
Rockmart won consecutive games 6-0 and 6-0 to come away with the Georgia high school Class 2A state championship.
In Class 1A-Division I, Gordon Lee swept the series two games to zero with a 5-2 win in game one, then a one-run 7-6 squeaker in game two to clinch the state championship.
The Class 1A-Division II state championship saw Lanier County win their second straight title in a two games to one series win over Wilcox County.
In the Private (1A-3A) Class state final series, Calvary Day defeated Savannah Christian two games to one with a 9-1 and 7-5 win in Games 1 and 3. Savannah Christian was able to win game two 2-0 in a shutout.
As we project the Georgia high school baseball all-classification top 25 rankings, how do we think the teams that finished the 2025 season as either state champions or runner-up will start the 2026 baseball season? You’ll see some familiar names included in the top 25.
Lowndes starts the season as our No. 1 team as the Vikings return the core of their infield, including shortstop Cason Fletcher, a University of Memphis commit. The corners are secure with the return of first baseman Derrick Carter, a Maine University commit, and third baseman Weston Hancock, who is committed to play for Thomas University following his senior season with the Vikings.
The pitching will be in good shape with the return of Easton Blanton, who is committed to Georgia Highlands College. Blanton will also serve as designated hitter this season for head coach Ryan Page and the Vikings.
Lowndes will welcome back with open arms Matthew Kerrigan, the 2025 Georgia Class 6A Player of the Year. Despite suffering a season-ending arm injury before the start of last season, Kerrigan was able to hit and play outfield for the Vikings. He obviously played well enough to not only be named the Player of the Year, but he also captured the attention of MLB scouts, with whom he worked out this offseason.
The good news is that the Lowndes senior will not only bring those same offensive and defensive skills that he displayed last year but will also return to the mound as one of the team’s top pitchers. Kerrigan throws and bats left-handed and is an Auburn University commit.
Joining Kerrigan in the rotation will be Brinson Rountree and Easton Blanton.
The Vikings will be looking for a return to the state championship, where they battled Walton for the 6A state title but came up short two games to zero.
The Vikings will be challenged at the top by Matt Hopkins and his Houston County baseball Bears. They are our No. 2 team and are also hoping to make it back to the state finals, where the Bears came up short to champion Newnan. Head coach Matt Hopkins is back to lead the Bears this season, and he’ll have one of the best hitting infielders in the state returning to the lineup in senior shortstop Isaiah Galason, who batted .471 last year as a junior, with 21 extra-base hits and 34 stolen bases. Galason is a Georgia Tech commit.
The pitching staff will be led by a couple of right-handed pitchers in Raymond Byrd and Ethan Kinney.
Etowah is our No. 3 squad heading into the 2026 season, and the Eagles will have a lineup that will include one of the state’s best two-way players in Matthew Sharman, a first baseman and right-handed pitcher, and Deion Cole, an outfielder and second baseman. Etowah will be solid up the middle with junior shortstop and right-handed pitcher Nate Curcio, who is a Jacksonville State commit, and Walker May, a catcher and outfielder.
Here is the complete 2026 Georgia high school baseball all-classification preseason top 25 rankings. Check back as we update the top 25 each week.
- Lowndes (6A)
- Houston County (5A)
- Etowah (6A)
- Walton (6A)
- Blessed Trinity (4A)
- Newnan (5A)
- Troup County (3A)
- Calvary Day (3A, Private)
- Lanier County (1A-DII)
- Gordon Lee (1A-DI)
- Rockmart (2A)
- Buford (6A)
- Cherokee Bluff (3A)
- Cartersville (4A)
- Morgan County (2A)
- ECI (1A-DII)
- Loganville (5A)
- Jeff Davis (1A-DI)
- Parkview (6A)
- Pope (5A)
- Holy innocents’ (2A, Private)
- Appling County (2A)
- Charlton County (1A-DII)
- Greater Atlanta Christian (3A, Private)
- Marist (4A)
