ORANGE PARK - The St. Johns Country Day Spartans took their fans for a roller coaster ride of a game on Mon., March 27 as they hosted the district 2-8A defending champion Atlantic Coast High School Stingrays (8-4 and region semifinalist last year) for an out of conference matchup. The Spartans went down three runs very early, battled back to take a sizable lead before some defensive woes showed their head and caused irreparable damage. In the end, the Spartans would go down swinging, but not hard enough. Final 10-7.

“I thought there were some balls we should have got to," said Spartans coach Tom Lucas. "Two guys looking for somebody else to make a play versus wanting to be the guy. That was the biggest disappointment. I don’t need guys to make spectacular plays, just make the routine out.”

The Spartan defense didn’t do themselves any favors in the first inning walking the first three batters. On the mound for St. Johns, pitcher Evan Engelbrecht would take a while to warm up and hit his stride. By time the half inning was over, the Spartans gave up three runs handing the Rays several breaks with bad defensive decisions. Atlantic Coast would also have issues getting going as they walked two of the three first batters, allowing St. Johns to get back in the game with a run on the board at the end of the first, 3-1.

When the Rays came back to bat, they left two on with the Spartans making a cut and catching the Rays over running second base and tagging him out to retire the inning. Back at bat, the Spartans waited to have two outs just to keep it exciting. With runners on, Tyler Kuramoto drove a ground ball that skipped near third base, fooling the Rays defense. The two run RBI tied the game 3-3. By the end of the inning, St. Johns was up 4-3.

Back on defense, Engelbrecht came to life and the team rolled right through the inning. Half way through the fourth inning, it was Jacob Asdot’s turn to pitch. He too needed some time to get going, walking a few and allowing the Rays to tie the game at 4-4.

In the bottom of the fourth, St. Johns kicked it in.

After a walk, a hit batter and loading the bases with one out, the Rays walked in run number five. When Cody Myers came to bat, he dropped a nice shot in to advance everyone and score number six. By the time Atlantic Coast pulled their pitcher, he threw 14 balls, hit two batters and walked in two runs putting the Spartans up 7-4. The fifth inning is where the Spartans made the game changing mental mistakes.

With a pop-up to right field, three players converged and no one called the ball. All three watched as the ball hit the ground and Atlantic Coast came to life.

“We just made a mental mistake there that we compounded and gave them one.” Lucas said.

The hit put runners on first and third base. When the Rays ran to steal second, the Spartans took the bait and threw the ball to second base. The runner at third ran home putting the score at 7-5. With another base hit, the Rays moved to 7-6 before the inning fell. The bright spot was the strikeout of the last two batters.

In the sixth, Troy Britts came in to close for the Spartans. The Rays got another run and still had two runners on when Britts threw his fastball. The Rays batter got all of it as the ball sailed out of the park, left field for a three-run homer, putting Atlantic Coast up 10-7. Britts would strike out the last two batters to retire the inning. The Spartans could do no better than get one man on base before the game ended. St. Johns moves to 6-3-1 on the season. The Spartans have a few days to prepare for a district matchup against St. Francis Gainesville on Thursday.