With a 10-strikeout by junior Brayden Harris, St. Johns Country Day School baseball team defeated Orangewood Christian Academy to win the Class 1A State Baseball Championship Saturday at Fort Myers. It was the second championship for the Spartans in three years.

St. Johns got into the championship game with a 5-0 semifinals win against Schoolhouse Prep Academy on Thursday, May 14.

"I've been saying all season, Brayden has been the best pitcher in North Florida the last two years, if not the best player overall," said St. Johns coach Tom Lucas. "We had a unique situation to be able to use him in both Final Four games. He stepped up big, even had a great behind-the-back catch on a hard hit."

In the Class 4A state semifinals Tuesday at Fort Myers, Clay lost, 5-2, to Tampa Jesuit. The Spartans finishes 19-14 with a district and region titles. In the Jesuit game, the Tigers scored two runs in the first inning to take an early lead. Down 5-1 in the sixth, Clay made the game interesting with one run before stranding two baserunners on a final ground ball.

For St. Johns, Lucas said that his strategy for Harris was to get the score comfortable against Schoolhouse Prep to get Harris out with 45 pitches, then have him available for the championship game.

"I've been preparing my game for a championship like this and having to go the distance," said Harris, who is headed to Florida State University in the fall. "My teammates and I talked about where we started, some of the games we didn't do so well in this season and getting all together for this run. After we missed the title last year, I think we were focused on finishing this year."

For Lucas, the team backed the plan by putting quick runs on the board to save Harris' pitch count.

“Looking at the two different pitchers from both games, we knew the Orangewood guy was not going to give us many long ball pitches," said senior catcher Hunter Rodgers, who committed to Jacksonville University next year. "With a guy like Brayden on the mound, all we were looking to do was work the pitch count and get into their bullpen. Our batting lineup has been rock solid all year against some of the best pitching in Florida."

With the combination of solid bats and a strong pitching, Harris only needed four innings in the semifinals and enough runs to get him off the mound under the pitch count - and into the championship game for unique semifinals-finals starting assignments.

"He wasn't going to come out of the final game," Lucas said. "With the daybreak between the first game and the final, we wanted to get him out with 45 pitches so we could use him in the final. The team had to get the runs to do that, and they stepped up (5-0 win over Schoolhouse Prep in the semifinals)."

St. Johns finished at 26-8 with a 10-game winning streak dating back to a 4-1 loss on April 8 to Georgia powerhouse Parkview High, which lost last week in the State Semifinals.

The Spartans outscored their last 10 opponents, 83-15, with four shutouts.

"It tested them, those tough games," Lucas said. "We play a 1A schedule to win the title, but play teams from around the state and Georgia to face teams that will be better than what we might see in the playoffs."

St. Johns had nine hits against Orangewood Christian, which finished at 27-4, with Harris doubling in the third inning and starting a barrage of Spartans hits — a single by Rodgers, a sacrifice bunt to Preston Cole and three singles in a row to Madden Williams, Jonas Wells and Gavin Coffey — to get to a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

"All those singles were with two outs," Lucas said. "It was part of the plan to get them to their bullpen."

In those first two innings, Harris had three strikeouts and two fieldings on a bunt and grounder to keep the Rams' bats at bay.

"The offense gave us the lead. We got three runs with Harris on the mound, we are in good shape," Lucas said. "That team was scrappy and trying to get bunts and hits to move the bases, but the defense responded."

Orangewood got to Harris with a single and double in the fourth to put their first run on the scoreboard with Harris getting out of the inning with grounder and strikeout.

Harris also displayed some fielding skills with a behind-the-back snag of a ground ball.

"It was coming right behind my foot as I was finishing my throw and I grabbed it with my glove and got the throw to first base," Harris said. "That's like a slam dunk in basketball, a play like that."

St. Johns kept the balls flying and Orangewood's outfielders busy but only got Chandler Dantzler on base with a single in the fourth.

"I think Hunter Rodgers was the most impressive guy on the field," Harris said. "He gives us a one-two punch in the batting lineup and is so reliable behind the plate. He threw out a guy trying to steal third in the championship game."

In the sixth, Orangewood Harris hit a batter who later scored off a fly ball to Kaeson Johns in center field to make the game tense at 3-2.

Orangewood relief pitcher Aiden Balls gave up two walks, along with singles by Harris and Rodgers to make it 5-2. Two more walks then made it 6-2.

"Their starter is a University of Miami commit, but he pitched the semifinal," Lucas said. "We wanted the get three runs, get the pitch count up and get them into the bullpen. We didn't their bullpen was as deep as ours."

Harris rifled three strikeouts to squash any comeback hopes for the Rams.

"Their last guy had two strikes and hit a foul ball that may have been the last out, but the ball was dropped," Harris said. "I was kind of glad it fell because I got the third strike from the mound. That was a neat finish."

Broncos reloaded; win 34-0 spring game

By Randy Lefko, randy@claytodayonline.com

PALATKA - Middleburg High football, led by head coach Ryan Wolfe, and the director of four straight region playoff appearances, appeared optimistic about his 2026 team missing nearly 22 graduated starters.

"Our spring game was a good way to culminate our spring session," said Wolfe, who saw his football team dismantle Palatka, 34-0, on Friday. "Our defense looked very good, and we had a good offensive stretch with the varsity guys."

Wolfe had the talents of players like Jordan Williams, Gino Addison, Mason Bacus, the Swilley brothers on defense and stalwart Gabe Baker manning key positions on the field.

"They way we layer our junior varsity and six quarter guys, the transition into our varsity team is not that big of a stretch," Wolfe said. "Though we have a lot of new faces on the field now, they have plenty of experience against a pretty good team that we had last year. Those names are going to be hard to replace, but this team is very capable of adding their names to that list."

At quarterback, Wolfe saw good action from junior Dalton Motes, who directed the Broncos to a run pass game that featured eight catches from wide out CJ Williams and tough running from Braydon Ventura. Ventura romped from tackle to tackle against Palatka to set up two first quarter touchdown strikes from Motes to Williams and a good-looking freshman, Ravi Elliott.

"When these young guys get their chance to make plays, we are confident they will," Wolfe said. "Brayden got a lot of reps last as a sophomore with our senior back Gino Addison. We also have Gino's brother, Iyen Addison, who sat out the spring game. Dalton was very good with his choices."

Wolfe was also optimistic about his offensive line, led by senior center Logan Tedrick with senior Mark Albney moving to a guard slot, with the loss of grads like Jakeyvious Carter, Brad Darnold, John Elixson and Trent Pavlus.

"We got a sophomore guy, Daniel Mendez, who looked real good on the offensive line," Wolfe said. "He's big, smart and very agile."

On defense, Wolfe liked what his Broncos did to shut out Palatka with a bunch of new faces replacing last year's crew.

"We had one returning starter playing in his position from last year," Wolfe said. "Ronell Seward, a linebacker last year, is now at a defensive end position. Darrick Marshall is the only guy, at safety, that was a starter there last year."

One key player on defense expected to return is linebacker Mason Peevy, a top tackler throughout last season who injured a knee. Peevy had 71 tackles with double digit stops in four games.

"He is supposed to be back with us during the summer," Wolfe said. "He will be our middle linebacker."