JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – St. Johns Country Day is headed back to the baseball state championship game.
The Spartans used a combined four-hitter from Brayden Harris and Gavin Coffey to shut down Schoolhouse Prep 5-0 in the Class 1A state semifinals in Fort Myers on Thursday morning. Harris whiffed five in 3.2 innings of work, throwing just 45 pitches in the game. Coffey was superb, too, mowing the Wolfpack down on just 42 pitches.
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That means head coach Tom Lucas could call on Harris in Saturday’s final, and have the area’s reigning player of the year ready to go after a day’s rest. The Spartans will play either Orangewood Christian or St. John Neumann at 11 a.m. for the championship.
St. Johns made that possible by spotting Harris a 4-0 lead going into the third. Madden Williams doubled in pinch runner Evan Sproull in the bottom of the first with a pop fly that the outfielder lost. Kaeson Johnson drove in a run in the second on another fly ball that dropped for an unlikely hit. The Spartans were great with small ball, too. St. Johns had back-to-back bunts, one by Chandler Dantzler and the other by Harris, to keep the Spartans on the move.
Dantzler, Harris, Johnson and Williams all drove in runs for St. Johns.
Coffey came on in relief of Harris and needed just 42 pitches to take care of Schoolhouse Prep.