ORANGE PARK - With four homers coming on their home field, St. Johns Country Day School baseball may have reestablished itself at the top of the Class 1A rankings after a brief spot the number two slot. In the week before the game, Neumann of Naples visited St. Johns as the No. 1 team at 10-4 in Class 1A with St. Johns at No. 2 at 10-6. Note: In updated rankings in the days before the game, St. Joseph Academy (11-1-10) was at No. 2.
"I had a talk with them after the Columbia game (an 11-3 loss on Wednesday) and reminded them that we were the defending state champions and we should start playing like we were," said Lucas, now 11-6. "The bats came alive here and we expected that, but I was more impressed that they only got one homer off our pitcher, Brayden Harris."
Neumann, 22-7 last year in Class 2A, lost in their region semifinal to Carrollwood Day Academy with St. Johns winning the Class 2A title over Miami Christian.
Down in Tampa, Clay High (11-5, ranked 6th in 4A) took on defending 5A champion and 2023 5A runnerup Tampa Jesuit (11-4, ranked No. 1 in 4A) and lost a 14-0 game. The Blue Devils were scheduled to play IMG Academy on Friday, March 21.
With pitcher Brayden Harris controlling the mound with 14 strikeouts on the night with relief pitcher Ethan Bissell finishing the night, St. Johns added runs with two homers from Preston Cole, and one apiece from Hunter Rodgers and Camden Brown to take an early Neumann 1-0 off their solo homer to a 4-1 lead after back-to-back homers in the third from Rodgers and Cole followed a solo homer in the second by Brown.
Cole's second homer, with Rodgers on base from a walk, was in the fifth to a 9-1 lead.
St. Johns is home Tuesday, March 25 against Columbia a second time then takes to the road with games at Oakleaf, Providence (11-6, 10th in 2A), and Bronson and a Monday, March 31 game at home against two Georgia powerhouses, Lowndes County of Georgia (11-5, 9th in 6A, lost in 6A quarterfinals), and Richmond Hill (10-7, ranked 10th in 6A).