ORANGE PARK- A Kyle Boylston three-run homer fueled the St. Johns Country Day School baseball team (24-4) to see another day in a highly competitive 2A tournament bracket on Friday night, this time fighting to the finish in a sloppy, error-filled, and exciting slugfest to seal a hard-fought, 5-2, grind-it-out victory over University Christian (Jacksonville).

But the win didn’t come without playoff drama.

“It was a battle. You’ve got to tip your hat to University Christian, both of their pitchers I thought were really good, competed. We didn’t play great, we made four or five errors, but the guys kept battling,” said Spartans’ head coach Tom Lucas.

University Christian put Spartans’ fans on the edge of their seats early in top of the second inning, as the Fighting Christians shot out to a 1-0 lead on an error.

St. Johns pitcher Jacob Thomas was reliable throughout the night, but a walk to UCâ’s Alonzo Monts set up a sequence that allowed the Christians to shoot out to their first lead of the night, as shortstop Shawn Andrade couldn’t retrieve a hot-hit grounder or make the difficult cutoff throw home for catcher Hunter Rodgers to lay the tag in time for the out.

The battle-tested Spartans had to do the comeback thing one more time, but St. Johns was made for the moment, with Luca’s squad putting things away for good in the bottom of the fourth.

“Kyle Boylston with that three-run home run, was just clutch. The bigger the moment, he generally steps up,” Lucas said. “I actually turned to our coaches and said, “˜I think he’s fixing to fix one out and properly pimp this thing, and he did, so hats off to him.”

Thomas left the game to a standing ovation from Spartans faithful in the top of the fifth inning, who received strong bullpen support in the form of side-armers, senior Jeffery Henry and junior Trevor Bradley, who has not given up an earned run all season.

“You don’t usually pull a guy whoâ’s throwing strikes with a three-run lead, but I had a note written to myself that said “seventh inning, you go to Trevor Bradley. And (Bradley) has done this every game,” Lucas said.