Dylan Cease and his Milton Eagle teammates return to play in this year's National High School Invitational.
File photo by Alyson Boyer-Rode
The National High School Invitational will have a new champion this year when 16 teams compete at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C.
USA Baseball has announced the 16 teams that will appear in the 2014 National High School Invitation, which has come to be considered as the premier baseball tournament in the country. Complete first round matchups have yet to be released for the event which runs from March 26-29.
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), which won the first two NHSI tournaments, will not be returning to defend its title this year, but the tournament does include two teams that finished in the
final Xcellent 25 National Rankings in 2013.
Joey Sanchez, Orange Lutheran
File photo by Heston Quan
and
Milton (Ga.) both played in the NHSI last year and won state titles in 2013. Venice ended the year ranked No. 4 while Milton landed at No. 22. Both figure to be ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation when MaxPreps announces its preseason rankings in early February.
Venice is one of four Florida teams in the tournament. Others include
Coral Springs Christian,
Bishop Verot (Fort Myers) and
The First Academy (Orlando). All three teams are newcomers to the tournament.
Meanwhile
Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.),
Roberson (Asheville, N.C.) and
Orange Lutheran (Calif.) all return to the NHSI. Parkview played in the inaugural tournament in 2012 while Roberson, the tournament host, and Orange Lutheran played in last year's event.
Parkview and Milton are joined by a third Georgia team as
Gainesville makes its first appearance in the tournament. Two other California teams,
Aliso Niguel (Aliso Viejo) and
Clovis join Orange Lutheran.
Colorado places two teams in this year's event, including defending state champion
ThunderRidge (Highlands Ranch) and
Regis Jesuit (Aurora).
Other teams that will make their initial appearance in the tournament include
Dyer County (Newbern, Tenn.),
Huntsville (Ala.) and
Mountain Pointe (Phoenix).
USA Baseball will be announcing first-round matchups throughout the month on its website,
usabaseball.com.
