The Trinity Christian baseball team is bringing some hardware back to town.
Nearly 11 years to the day that the Conquerors won their only championship, they added title No. 2 with an 8-4 win over True North in the Class 2A title game in Fort Myers on Tuesday night. Trinity’s only other championship came just after midnight on May 22, 2015, a game that was delayed more than three hours by rain. This time, a weather delay and an 11-inning game before their first pitch pushed their start time back by more than three hours.
Eleven years later, the result was the same.
It was the 44th baseball state championship won by an area team. And combined with wins last week by St. Johns Country Day (Class 1A) and Union County (Rural), it marks just the second time in area history that three area teams have brought home championships in the same season. Bishop Kenny (Class 4A), Providence (Class 2A), and Eagle’s View (Class 1A) all won titles in 2008.
The Conquerors, perhaps the most talent-rich baseball team in area history, saw 10 players sign with college programs on national signing day. Nine of those were to Division I programs. Head coach Jonathan Murphy scheduled how you’d expect a team of that caliber to schedule: tough.
Trinity played multiple state champions (Magnolia Heights, Miss., South Walton, St. Johns Country Day) and teams that are still playing deep into the postseason (Baylor, Tenn., Orange Lutheran, Calif., St. John Bosco, Calif., Tampa Jesuit). The results weren’t always the cleanest like they were during last year’s 30-5, state runner-up finish, but Trinity was battle-tested to the core.
The Conquerors were tested throughout the season. They rallied for a 13-inning win over Bishop Snyder in the district championship game, then dug out of a 1-0 series hole to win back-to-back games against the Cardinals in the regional final.
Against True North, Trinity found itself in a slugfest early. The Conquerors went up 3-0 in the second inning by cranking out four consecutive two-out hits by JaRod Flowers, Brady Harris, Aiden Arnett, and Jordan Martinez. The Titans rallied to knot things at 3-all in the top of the third before Trinity erupted. The Conquerors scored three runs off two wild pitches and an error on a pickoff attempt. Martinez ripped a two-out single to up the lead to 8-3.
Brennan Bachtell Jr. worked five innings for Trinity before being relieved by Romy DeCenzo.
DeCenzo ran into a pinch of trouble in the top of the sixth, including a batter advancing to first after a strikeout on a passed ball. A throwing error allowed a run to score to get the Titans within 8-4, but DeCenzo settled in and whiffed three batters with two runners in scoring position, a rare four-strikeout inning.
Local baseball state champions
2026: Trinity Christian, Class 2A; St. Johns Country Day, Class 1A; Union County, Rural
2024: St. Johns Country Day, Class 2A
2017: Nease, Class 7A; Bolles, Class 5A
2016: Bolles, Class 5A
2015: Trinity Christian, Class 4A
2013: Ponte Vedra, Class 5A
2012: Providence, Class 3A; Union County, Class 1A
2010: Bolles, Class 3A
2009: Bolles, Class 3A
2008: Bishop Kenny, Class 4A; Providence, Class 2A; Eagle’s View, Class 1A
2007: Eagle’s View, Class 1A
2006: Episcopal, Class 3A; Arlington Country Day, Class 2A
2005: Eagle’s View, Class 1A
2003: Providence, Class A
2002: Bishop Kenny, Class 4A; Bolles, Class 3A
2001: Arlington Country Day, Class A
2000: Arlington Country Day, Class A
1999: Englewood, Class 4A
1991: Parker, Class 4A; Bolles, Class 2A
1990: University Christian, Class A
1989: Bolles, Class 2A
1988: Sandalwood, Class 4A
1983: Bolles, Class 2A
1979: University Christian, Class A
1978: University Christian, Class A
1975: Palatka South, Class 3A
1968: Ribault, Class 2A
1966: Palatka, Class A
1965: Palatka, Class A
1963: Palatka, Class A
1961: Lee, Class 2A
1954: St. Augustine, Class A
1949: Jackson, Class A
1945: Lee
1928: Putnam