High school baseball ‘22: Rough night for local teams in regional finals

Bartram, Bishop Kenny, Fernandina, St. Johns all fall in 3rd round

Only three area teams reached the high school baseball state semifinals. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) (Thearon W. Henderson, 2022 Thearon W. Henderson)

St. Johns Country Day’s quest to win a baseball state championship ended on Tuesday night.

Visiting Tallahassee North Florida Christian stunned the Spartans 4-1 in the Region 1-2A final. Finn Howell had a big game on the mound (6.1 IP, 13 Ks) but the Spartans couldn’t generate much of anything offensively and lost their first home game of the season.

St. Johns (23-5) was ranked fourth overall in the state by MaxPreps and No. 1 in 2A. The Spartans were a heavy favorite to return to the title game where they lost last year to Out-of-Door Academy.

Region 1-7A

Bartram Trail couldn’t get its offense going until far too late in a 6-3 loss to visiting Hagerty on Tuesday night. The Bears were hitless for 3 2/3 innings against Garrett Baumann before finally making it interesting late. Bartram (21-9) pushed two runs across in the sixth and had the tying run at the plate in the seventh before Baumann ended it with a K. Noah Wood had two hits and a pair of RBI for the Bears.

Region 1-4A

Andrew Tabor homered and doubled but Bishop Kenny couldn’t get past Suwannee in a 5-3 Bulldogs win.

Josh Fernald, Tyson Greene, Cody Campbell, Easton Kirby and Peyton Waters all had RBI for Suwannee (24-4), which won its 15th consecutive game to reach its second state semifinal since 2019. Kenny’s 12-game winning streak ended with the loss. The Crusaders finished their season 21-7.

Region 1-3A

Fernandina Beach’s best season since 2006 ended with a 2-1 loss on the road to Villages Charter. The Pirates’ season ends at 16-10.

Tuesday’s results

Regional finals

Region 1-7A

Hagerty 6, Bartram Trail 3

Region 1-4A

Suwannee 5, Bishop Kenny 3

Region 1-3A

Villages Charter 2, Fernandina Beach 1

Region 1-2A

Tallahassee North Florida Christian 4, St. Johns CD 1

State semifinals

Naples

Wednesday

Fort White (16-6) vs. Holmes County (22-7), 7 p.m.

Thursday

Class 5A

Columbia (22-8) vs. Eau Gallie (21-6), 4 p.m.

Monday

Class 4A

Suwannee (24-4) vs. Island Coast (22-7), 4 p.m.


About the Author:

Justin Barney joined News4Jax in February 2019, but he’s been covering sports on the First Coast for more than 20 years.