GREEN COVE SPRINGS - In a clash of the two top teams in Clay County; St. Johns Country Day School (10-2, ranked No. 1 in Class 1A and the defending state champion) and Clay High (9-3, ranked No. 3 in Class 5A, region finalist last year) duked it out at Clay High School with Spartan pitcher Brayden Harris smacking down the vaunted Clay batting lineup with 15 strikeouts on the night to propel the Spartans to a 3-2 win.
"We were going to let him pitch the entire seven innings to get him ready for tough games like this as the season progresses," said Spartan coach Tom Lucas. "Their guy was having a good night too (Easton McMahan), but we got him early and then our defense held them. That late flurry is Clay High baseball."
For Clay, with just four hits on the night against Harris; two in the first with a Cole Carnell single and a Easton McMahan double that looked like trouble for Harris, the Blue Devils looked to exact some early runs on the Spartans, but Merrick Rapoza struck out to leave the runners on base.
In the second, McMahan, on the mound and with just three strikeouts on the night, got himself into his own two baserunner pickle with two walks, but extinguished St. Johns' Madden Williams with a strikeout as both teams flexed some batting muscle early.
A single to TJ Sunderhaus and a walk to Hunter Rodgers after a Sunderhaus steal put the Spartans in scoring position where Harris blasted a long fly to centerfield that scored the first run of the night.
In the fourth, St. Johns got two more on base with a J Wells single and George Gilliand take a pitch on his thigh before Chandler Dantzler got a wicked but to McMahan that scored Wells before Sunderhaus hit a thunderous double to centerfield to put the score at 3-0. Sunderhaus got snagged out at home plate to end the inning.
Strikeouts kept the game at 3-0 for a few innings before Clay coach Josh Persinger encouraged some bats to work in the sixth inning to which LJ Martin ripped a double and an error to a McMahan grounder put the Blue Devils in scoring position when Harris had his first two mishaps; wild pitches to score two Blue Devil runs.
McMahan locked down the seventh inning to put Clay in typical Blue Devil position for a late rally, but Harris emptied his clip with three strikeouts to end the game.
"If we could have gotten one of those three last batters on base, our 1-2-3 batters were coming," said Persinger. "I know coach Lucas did not want to get there so I figured he would leave the starter in."
Clay finishes regular season play before Spring Break with Tocoi Creek, St. Augustine and Fleming Island this week with the Blue Devils upping their schedule ruggedness with trips to south Florida powers Tampa Jesuit and the IMG Academy with a return game against Middleburg on March 25.
St. Johns will travel to the Florida Panhandle (South Walton High) to take on Tennessee power Houston High on Thursday, March 13 with games with Bishop Verot and Winter Park to end the upcoming week.