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Former St. Johns Country Day baseball player Brad Hodges capped off his freshman season with the Virginia Cavaliers with an appearance in their matchup in Omaha versus TCU Sunday evening.

Clay County was filled with exciting softball and baseball for the second to last week of the season. Some teams' seasons came to a close this week but one team sealed a ticket into the FHSAA Final Four. Listed below are the teams who played from May 15-19 and how they fared in their matchups.

The St. Johns Country Day Spartans baseball team will advance to the FHSAA 2A State Championship Saturday morning after they got an 8-3 win over the Westminster Academy Lions Thursday evening in the FHSAA 2A State Semi-Final.

Thursday night was a celebration for numerous baseball and softball teams across Clay County as five teams won District Championships. Listed below are the teams who won their district title.

The St. Johns Country Day Spartans baseball team got an 8-3 win at home Wednesday night over the Creekside Knights. St. Johns jumped out to a five-run lead in the second inning. The inning started off with a solo home run from Jacob Thomas. Later in the inning with the bases loaded and no outs, George Gilson got an RBI on a ground ball that went to the pitcher, who failed to get the runner out at home. Hunter Rodgers got an RBI on a sacrifice ground ball. The Spartans added two more runs courtesy of RBI singles from Kody Daneault and Kyle Boylston.

The St. Johns Country Day baseball team got a shutout 4-0 win on the road against the Clay High Blue Devils Thursday night. St. Johns jumped out to an early lead in the baseball game. In the top of the first inning, starting pitcher Jacob Thomas got two RBIs on a fielder's choice to give St. Johns a 2-0 lead. St. Johns added the last two runs of the game in the fourth inning. Isaiah Mamea got two RBIs on a double to put the Spartans up, 4-0.

The Oakleaf Knights got a walk-off hit-by-pitch in an extra-innings victory against the St. Johns Country Day Spartans Wednesday night, 3-2. Oakleaf appeared on the scoreboard first with a solo home run from Devin Outlaw in the bottom of the first inning. Both offenses were quiet until Kyle Boylston hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game up 1-1.

The St. Johns Country Day Spartans baseball team mercy-ruled the Bolles Bulldogs after five innings in St. Johns 2023 home opener Wednesday night by a score of 13-2. The Spartans started the game off very slowly. Outside of Seth Alford’s RBI double in the first inning, the Spartans struggled at the plate and had multiple errors on the field that caused them to be down 2-1 after the top of the third inning. Bolles scored their first run on a sacrifice fly from Nolan Hartsell in the first inning. The last run scored by Bolles occurred in the top of the third inning after Spencer Stephens hit an RBI single. JD Hay started on the mound for the Spartans and held the dominant Bulldogs offense to two runs in three innings pitched with five strikeouts.

The 2023 FHSAA baseball regular season starts Monday. Here is a brief recap of each team’s 2022 season and how each team will look heading into 2023. In 2022, Clay High went on a playoff run for the first time since their Final-Four appearance in 2018. The senior-heavy roster made a deep run in the playoffs that ended with a 2-1 loss against the Suwannee Bulldogs in the FHSAA 4A Regional Semifinal. Clay High graduated eight of its nine starters from last season, with many of those starters playing at the next level in Alabama outfielder Max Williams, UNF pitcher Brandon Adams, FSCJ catcher Dylan Greene, FSCJ pitcher Jayden Long, Berry College pitcher Brady Greene and Point Park first basemen Josh Isenberg.

The St. Johns Country Day Spartans season comes to an end after they lost the Regional Final at home Tuesday night to the North Florida Christian Eagles, 4-1. St. Johns started the game off hot on offense and defense. UNF commit Finn Howell started on the mound for St. Johns and struck out the first six batters he faced. In the bottom of the second inning, St. Johns scored their only run of the game. Kyle Boylston walked and advanced to second after the pitcher balked. St. Johns catcher George Gilson hit a single into right field, scoring Boylston from second.

With the high school baseball district tournament games starting Monday, teams looking to make a deep run in the postseason will need their best players to contribute. Here are some of those top players:

With the regular season wrapping up next week, baseball teams in the county prepare for the playoffs with hopes of making a run at the state title in the final weeks of the school year.