The St. Johns Country Day baseball team is the best in the state again.
The Spartans did the bulk of their damage in the third inning and used an elite performance from Brayden Harris to beat Orangewood Christian 6-2 to win the Class 1A state championship on Saturday in Fort Myers. St. Johns Country Day’s championship was the second in program history, and the second in three seasons (2024). The Spartans were state runners-up in 2021, ’23 and ’25. Head coach Tom Lucas has been around for all of them and now adds another gold medal to the program’s growing trophy case.
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Harris was masterful in the final game of his career. Just two days after throwing 45 pitches in a state semifinal win, he started against Orangewood and went the distance. His 10th whiff of the game came on the final out, a pitch so perfect that it froze the batter in the box and the celebration was on.
It’s the second championship for a local team this week in Fort Myers. Union County had a miraculous rally to beat Trenton 10-9 in eight innings for the Rural championship on Thursday.
The Spartans did all the damage that they needed to in the bottom of the third.
Harris was unbelievable. He ended the fifth with an excellent defensive play on hard hit up the middle that he backhanded and tossed to first for the final out.
Brayden Harris blooped a shallow fly ball that dropped behind first base in right field and stretched that into a double. Small ball helped the Spartans scratch out a run, with Hunter Rodgers laying down a perfect bunt that he turned into a single. Preston Cole sac bunted in a run for a 1-0 lead. Madden Williams followed with an RBI single up the middle, and Jonas Wells drove in Williams with a single and a 3-0 lead.
Orangewood Christian got within 3-2 before St. Johns cranked things back up. Harris drove in a run in the bottom of the sixth for a 4-2 lead, and Rodgers hit what should have been a groundout to second for the third out, but the ball went off the second baseman and into the outfield to allow a run to score. Williams drew a bases-loaded walk to push in another run, and that put a bow on the championship.