‘We over me’: Loaded Trinity Christian baseball team ready to back up lofty expectations

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jon Murphy scribbles down notes during a Wednesday afternoon baseball scrimmage at Trinity Christian. He knows what the national rankings say and what the draftniks write about the Conquerors.

What Murphy sees on the practice field is a bunch of kids who play for each other and shrug about the accolades that many have put on this year’s Trinity Christian baseball team. They’re a coaches dream, he says, and they’re quite possibly the most talented in Trinity history.

Yes, they’re good.

Yes, they know it.

And yes, the Conquerors are ready to prove it on the field.

Trinity is the fourth-ranked team in the country by Perfect Game and No. 7 by MaxPreps, and packed to the dugout roof with talent and eager to start the regular season next week.

From a local perspective, it may be the best collection of high school talent by volume in area history. Trinity has 12 college commits or signees and two legitimate prospects to go in the first round of the 2025 (Aaron Watson) and ‘26 drafts (Brady Harris). Nine of those players are committed to or have signed with Division I programs.

The potential to Murphy is off the charts.

“Talk to the boys all the time, modern day, it’s really cool all the coverage that we get. You see this and rankings and all that, and it’s cool that people are acknowledging,” said head coach Murphy. “But at the same time, you still haven’t actually done anything. You put this team on paper and the team is great on paper, but you have to go out and compete every night.”

This Trinity team is loaded, but there have been quite a few stacked local teams in the past that have had elite talent throughout.

Trinity Christian baseball college commits/signees

Several of Bob West’s teams at Bishop Kenny come to mind, including the 2000 team that went 34-2 and produced the area’s only Mr. Baseball winner (Tony Richie). Gil Morales’ Eagle’s View teams (2005-’08) won three championships in four seasons. At Bolles, Storm Davis, Mike Boswell and Don Suriano all had teams during their tenures that were wicked tough and stacked with state championships to show. Wolfson’s 2004 team had the first pair of teammates who went in the first round (Eric Hurley and Billy Butler).

The 2013 Arlington Country Day squad had five eventual draft picks that year. This year’s Conquerors (and next year’s, too) have a chance to be in that conversation as the most decorated team to line it up. But to get into that conversation on more than just paper, as Murphy says, Trinity has to deliver when it matters. The Conquerors went 24-7 last year and reached the state semifinals. They’re ready to take it a step further this season and bring it all home.

Trinity outfielder Harris, a Florida commit and one of the top-rated draft prospects in 2026, said that it’s been a blessing to be able to go to practice each day and be challenged by some of the best players in the country. It’s one thing to be able to do that in the ultra-competitive travel ball circuit, but it’s another to be able to do that at a place where some players have been at since elementary and middle school.

“I feel like sometimes when you’re actually in the lineup, you kind of overlook it sometimes and take it for granted,” he said.

“But then when you really sit back and watch and, like, rewatch a game and something that’s compared to other teams, it’s like, ‘holy crap,’ you know, we really got, we got it stacked, and we got it, [we’re] blessed. And we’re very fortunate here to have enough talent to do what we can do.”

Blessed is a word that multiple Trinity players use. Many of the Conquerors have played together for years, and they say that their bond is special. There are no egos, no talk of draft status or their future college teams playing in Omaha.

The only thing on the minds of Trinity players during a Wednesday scrimmage is the pursuit to get better.

Wheeler, a junior right-handed pitcher and Gators commit, said the lofty rankings and college choices do shine a brighter light on the team than usual. But the perspective is key.

“I mean, you obviously take it in, it’s cool, you post on your Instagram, you’re happy about it,” he said. “But in the end, none of it really matters until you hit the field and you go get your job done. We’ve all grown up together and got better and surrounded ourselves with a good group of guys.”

Watson, a 6-5 right-handed hurler and Virginia signee, said the mission is right in front of the Conquerors, and it starts with what happens every day in practice.

“I think it’s kind of believing in ourselves. People are telling us that we could be the best team in the country, but at the end of the day, if we don’t believe in ourselves, what are we going to be able to,” he said. “Just kind of going out there and fighting for our guys, just kind of a ‘we over me’ mindset.”

Murphy knows that to be in that conversation as the best of anything, the results need to show up on the field, too. He’s quick to point out that Trinity lost to three local teams last season (Creekside, Oakleaf and University Christian) and that they’ve got to wade through a tough area schedule this year, too.

“They care about each other. That’s what gets me excited as a coach. It would be really easy in that locker room to have a lot of egos,” he said. “You talked about all the commitments and this and draft stuff and they’re getting pulled in 100 different directions at 16-17 years old and it would be really easy for them to make it about themselves and they just don’t do that. It’s just not who they are. They care a lot about each other. They care a lot about winning. That’s what makes it fun for me as a coach.”