This is the order in which the teams will appear when the first rankings are released on the SWakeSports blog, so be looking for those sometime this weekend.

Green Hope (9-1, 4-0 Tri-Eight) The Falcons have just one blemish on their schedule this year, a 16-2 loss to East Chapel Hill on March 12. Outside of that, GH has been outstanding and now leads the Tri-Eight after four easy wins, outscoring those teams 27-9. Leading the way has been senior shortstop Eric Brady, a Duke signee who has 14 RBI and three home runs. In his most recent outing, 6-foot-7 sophomore pitcher Max Povse threw a one-hitter against Cary. Povse has 27 strikeouts on the year and four of his team's wins.

Holly Springs (7-3, 4-3 Greater Neuse) Despite regularly starting five sophomores, the Golden Hawks got off to a 5-0 start this year. However, Holly Springs has dropped three of their last five with all three losses coming by one run each. It’s hard to imagine anybody in our area has put together a better week than the one sophomore Carlos Rodon had in the second week of March. In two games, Rodon went 4-for-4 with 11 RBI and two home runs, including a grand slam.

Middle Creek (7-4, 3-1 Tri-Eight) No team in the area has been as hot as the Mustangs, winners in seven of their last eight. Pitcher Max Drisko has anchored the pitching staff with four wins this year. After dropping the conference opener, Middle Creek has won their last three conference games and is tied with Apex and Fuquay for second place.

Apex (6-2, 3-1 Tri-Eight) Apex coach Mike Valder said after his team’s season-opening 4-3 win over Millbrook that the Cougars would go as far as their pitching and defense can take them. So far, he’s been dead-on. Despite an anemic offense this year, only scoring more than five runs once, Apex is still in a three-way tie for second place thanks in large part to its play in the field. UNC-Greensboro signee Jake Milinichik has half of his team’s wins.

Fuquay-Varina (4-6, 3-1 Tri-Eight) Perennial power Fuquay-Varina entered this year with a roster depleted of experience and upperclassmen and struggled out of the gate to a 0-5 start. But as expected, it didn’t take long for coach Milton Senter to have his group playing well come conference time. Sure enough, the Bengals opened Tri-Eight play with a dominating 8-0 win over Panther Creek and an 11-1 blasting of Lee County. Fuquay almost made it back to the .500-mark on March 31, but fell to Middle Creek 5-4.

Athens Drive (7-2, 2-2 Tri-Eight) The alma mater of Josh Hamilton had raced out to a 5-0 start before being tripped up by Apex on March 20. Athens Drive has split its last four games, which includes a 5-1 win over Cary and a 5-0 win over winless Lee County. In Athens’ seven wins, the Jags are averaging 7.6 runs per game. In their two losses, they average just one.

Cary Academy (3-2, 0-0 TISAC) The Chargers were recently bounced from their own rain-shortened tournament and remain a game over .500. The highlight of the young season was Brandon Wilson’s seven-strikeout, no-hitter against Cary Christian on March 30.

Cary (2-6, 1-3 Tri-Eight) The Imps have lost their last three, all in conference, and will, like Athens, be in the Bobby Murray Classic this weekend. Cary will first play Wake Forest-Rolesville on Thursday. Until getting one-hit by Green Hope on March 31, the Imps had been competitive against some of the Tri-Eight’s best, falling to Middle Creek 5-4 and Athens 5-1. The bright spot of the year was a 13-3 throttling of Lee County.

Panther Creek (0-7, 0-3 Tri-Eight) Still in their third year of competition, the Catamounts have scored just 10 runs in seven games and have yet to win any of them. The closest contest, surprisingly, came against conference-leading Green Hope. That March 24 game ended with the Falcons eking out a 5-2 win despite going against Povse.

Cary Christian (1-2, 0-1 EPIC) Thanks to only having played three games all season, there isn’t a whole lot to say about the Knights thus far. They took their season opener by the 7-6 score and were dropped by rival Cary Academy and conference foe St. David’s.