JACKSONVILLE - Orange Park baseball coach George Eldredge has a bit of an optimistic glimmer in his eye when talking about his Raider baseball team that last year stormed the castle with a thrilling 6-0 district championship win over Clay High, then a tough 1-0 region playoff loss to 5A Final Four finisher Tallahassee Lincoln, but then a graduation of 10 players heading into 2025.
"I talked to this team about that finish last year and also about my finish at Paxon years back when we took a losing record into the playoffs and went to the Final Four," said Eldredge, now in his fifth season at Orange Park. "Remember, we turned this program on its head last year with how we finished, but we also showed that anything can happen if we execute basic baseball fundamentals. I don't mind being a Cinderella team again."
Eldredge, who was part of the South States WalkOff Spring Series at Fort Family Park in Jacksonville, had a tough schedule with Ponte Vedra first; an 11-1 tournament loss on Tuesday, then 6A-Fletcher on Thursday that was a well-played 2-0 loss where the Raiders held the Senators to a 0-0 score into the sixth inning.
"This season, we have been able to go up against most teams for five innings and hold our own," said Eldredge, noting a 7-1 loss to Clay, 2-1 at the time with a nine inning 7-6 loss to Lincoln and now 11-4 and ranked seventh in Class 4A.
"Clay was up just 2-0 in the fifth, then put five runs on us in the sixth," said Eldredge. "Against Middleburg, a 5-2 loss, we were 2-1 into the fourth and against Baldwin, we were 5-5 into the fifth and lost with four runs in the seventh. We just don't have the depth that we had like last year, but today's game shows us getting closer at getting a strong game for the whole seven innings."
With pitcher Corey Hopkins on the mound, Eldredge got some sterling defensive plays from his infielders; Brady Ryan at third, shortstop Brian Allen, Chris Contreras at second base and first baseman Adrihan Marty to keep the Fletcher batting lineup fairly quiet.
"We are missing six guys to Spring Break travel, one our top pitcher, but these guys stepped up today even after a pretty bad loss to Ponte Vedra on Tuesday," said Eldredge. "We will regroup and come back to finish the season strong."
In the bottom of the sixth, Fletcher struck with an error at third by Ryan who barely missed a diving stab of a sharp hit over the third base that got followed by a triple by senior Kolby Batten that got fumbled in right field to allow the first run.
A passed ball by Hopkins scored Batten for the Senators second run.
Orange Park continues after Spring Break with "test" games against First Coast (7-4), Stanton (7-7), Tocoi Creek (13-2), Paxon (9-2) with Englewood and Middleburg finishing the regular season.
In more Spring Break baseball action, in the Florida Panhandle, Fleming Island, Oakleaf and Ridgeview have been busy at tournaments at Bay High and at Arnold High with Fleming Island and Oakleaf both taking on Tennessee teams Knoxville Central, McMinn County and Silverdale Academy while Ridgeview, at Bay High, has played Knoxville Catholic (lost 11-0), Karns High (won 7-5) and Christian Academy of Knoxville (won 14-8).
Fleming Island lost 11-4 to Knoxville Central, and was to play McMinn County and Silverdale on Wednesday, March 19.
Oakleaf lost to McMinn County 4-2 and beat Knoxville Catholic 13-11 with a Wednesday match against Tennessee 4A champions (40-5) Farragut out of Knoxville.