ORANGE PARK - Although the much-ballyhooed showdown of two college bound pitchers on the mound in the Clay versus St. Johns Country Day School baseball programs did not happen, it was Clay High's Lukas Moore who got to face off with Florida State University bound Brayden Harris in game one of the two game series between the two state ranked programs.

St. Johns improved to 15-4 with the Thursday 3-2 win at St. Johns and a 6-3 win on Friday at Clay High. St. Johns won both games with sixth and seventh inning heroics.

"The positive takeaway is that we were able to get runs later in the game," said St. Johns coach Tom Lucas. "Though we didn't score a lot on them, we made it tough on them. The elevated pitch counts got to their bullpen."

In game one on Thursday, March 26, Moore faced off in strong fashion against Harris and held his own with a five-strikeout effort against no runs and just two hits against the formidable Spartan batting lineup. Moore also put the score at 2-0 for Clay with a third inning homer on Harris.

Harris, a top-ranked right-handed hurler, whiffed 14 Blue Devils batters to keep the game tight, but did get struck for two early runs; a single, walk and RBI single series in inning one and the Moore homer in the third inning.

Moore would go toe to toe with Harris into the fifth inning getting a Hunter Rodgers groundout after a double from Madden Williams put possible game tying runs on the diamond. A single by Harris got Moore out and reliever Braden Phenneger in for the Spartan at bats with singles from Jonas Wells and Williams putting St. Johns on the scoreboard. An acrobatic play at second base by Clay's Tyler Gunsaulus who dove, scooped and pushed his grab to shortstop Peyton McRae to end the inning.

Gunsaulus would double after a Clayton Looney ground out to put Clay back in scoring position, but Harris dialed in two strikeouts.

With the Spartans sensing yet another seventh inning walk off scenario Evan Sproull walked, Cole was hit and Rodgers dropped a perfect bunt on Phenneger to force an intentional walk to Harris. Jones drew a walk for the tying run and Kaeson Johns walked in the winner, Harris, at third base.

On Friday, with University of Florida commit Rylan McMahan on the mound, the game got stuck at 1-0 for St. Johns in the first inning off a Wells single to right field that scored Rodgers, on third after a walk and Harris single.

"We used two guys out of the bullpen with a freshman earning the win," Lucas said. "That will be big for us to stay hot and make a deep run in the playoffs."

Clay had shots for runs with JC Rosette doubling in the first, but St. Johns pitcher Gavin Coffey and the Spartans defense held with a nifty double play from Ethan Mathis to Cole knocking the Blue Devils back into the dugout.

McMahan, who finished with eight strikeouts on the night, pitched to the fifth inning. In the fourth, Clay got their first run with a string of singles from Wyatt Rapoza, Mathis and an RBI single from Clayton Hickey against Coffey before Lucas put Hudson Oakley-Doran on the hill.

The response from St. Johns was a 3-2 count homer from Sproull to centerfield for a 3-2 Spartan lead. McMahan survived the inning with just the one run and, in his ensuing at bat, hit an RBI grounder to Wells with both McRae and Moore on base.
McMahan stayed on the mound after a visit from Clay coach Josh Persinger only to give up a run on a single to Harris and Wells getting hit by a pitch. Lucas Montoro came in to pitch for Persinger and got hit with a sacrifice bunt from Williams to put St. Johns up 3-2.

Two walks and a single put St. Johns up 4-1 before a 2RBI double from wells put up three insurance runs. Clay was not willing to leave their home field quietly with Rosette hammering a solo homer to the final 6-3 score.

Clay prepared for a second two-game series this week with Trinity Christian Academy (15-6, ranked sixth in Florida) April 2 and 3. Trinity returns to Jacksonville after beating Baylor High of Tennessee 9-7 for the National High School Baseball Tournament title.
St. Johns' (15-4, ranked 14th in Florida, No. 2 in Class 1A) schedule features games with Bolles (12-6), Bishop Kenny (12-9, six wins in last seven games) and Creekside (18-3, 8th in Florida, third in Class 7A) before a week's worth of Georgia powerhouses at St. Johns.

Middleburg, now 13-4 with seven straight wins after a 13-0 loss to Clay on March 6, won a close 6-5 game over Keystone Heights before unloading on Old Plank 11-1 on Friday. Middleburg's defense and pitcher Maddox Lee and Jonah Quesenberry both striking out three batters apiece for the win.

Middleburg had Tuesday, Thursday games with Orange Park and Oakleaf. Oakleaf looked to halt a four-game losing streak with a 10-0 loss to St. Joseph Academy on Thursday. Ridgeview is also trying to reverse a losing streak of three games with the Panthers losing tough 2-1 and 4-3 games to Baldwin and First Coast.
Orange Park (10-7) took on Ponte Vedra and held the game to a 0-0 tie until the Sharks blasted for seven runs to the Raiders four in the sixth inning topped by a two-run homer off Raider pitcher R.J. Reynolds. Orange Park got on base in the ensuing inning with singles and walks and got as close as 7-4. Two walks and two singles scored the Sharks final runs.

Keystone Heights had a two-game win streak going weeks ago, but have loss three: North Marion, Middleburg and Palatka. Fleming Island, 13-7, got a 6-0 win over DeLand after a tough 7-2 loss at home to Buchholz. The Eagles had Menendez, Beachside and Fernandina Beach this week with Bartram Trail ending the regular season.