Highlanders baseball back on top

Not since the likes of Kyle Drabek, Paul Goldschmidt and Steven Maxwell donned the red and green has there been such a buzz over The Woodlands High School baseball.

That was 2006; this is 2013. That Highlanders team won a state championship and mythical national championship. This Highlanders team is undefeated (19-0) and back on top of the high school baseball world.

The Highlanders are ranked No. 1 in the nation by “Baseball America” and will have that honor tested when they travel to North Carolina for the National High School Invitational. The second annual event runs Wednesday through Saturday, March 27-30, at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

The top three teams in the nation, according to the latest “Baseball America” rankings, and four of the top five nationally-ranked teams, will compete in the tournament. In addition to The Woodlands, No. 2 Venice (Fla.), No. 3 Cathedral Catholic (San Diego), and No. 5 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), the defending tournament champions, are in the field.

The 16-team tournament encompasses 10 states and also includes No. 12 Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.), No. 15 Tullahoma (Tenn.), and No. 21 Jenks (Okla).

The Highlanders’ opener is set for 9:45 a.m. Thursday with Jenks.

Like the 2006 team, this year’s squad is loaded with talent. Five seniors are headed to D-1 schools and that doesn’t even count sophomore sensation Chris Andritsos, who has already belted 11 home runs so far this season.

Alex Dunlap (Stanford), Carter Hope (Oklahoma State) and Charlie Warren (Rice) have also provided pop in the lineup to go along with strong pitching from lefty Ryan Burnett (TCU) and righty Brandon Miles (Houston). Hope is no slouch on the mound, either. He’s already thrown a no-hitter this season, as has Burnett.