USA Baseball Reveals First Matchups of 2016 NHSI

USA Baseball revealed the first matchups of the 2016 National High School Invitational on Wednesday.

Huntington Beach (Calif.) High will take on Poly Prep (New York), and Topsail (N.C.) High will face Trinity Christian (Jacksonville, Fla.), in the tournament at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., from March 23-26.

Huntington Beach is the No. 1 team in the nation. The Oilers return a promising core of juniors and are the early favorite to win the tournament, though beating Poly Prep will be a challenge. Poly Prep infielder Daniel Bakst, a Stanford commit, showed a high offensive ceiling while playing with Team USA’s 18U National team last summer, and he’s likely to face another Team USA alum against Huntington Beach, whose rotation includes southpaw Nicholas Pratto and righthanders Hagen Danner and Logan Pouelsen. Poly Prep also has an ace of its own in projectable LSU commit Nicholas Storz.

Hosting the tournament, Topsail faces an immediate challenge in Trinity Christian. Topsail is coming off a 25-3 season and third-place finish in the North Carolina 3A state playoffs, and the Pirates have a pair of promising prospects in senior lefthander Bryce Cota and junior shortstop Sam Hall. Trinity Christian, however, is off to a hot start this spring, thanks to promising pitchers JC Flowers and AJ Labas, as well as slugger Todd Lott.