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Baseball brackets time: See full FHSAA playoff matchups for Northeast Florida schools

clayton freeman, florida times-union
·3 min read

The history books say Trinity Christian-Bolles is a mouthwatering football matchup in postseason.

Time to add baseball to the menu.

The private school rivals were drawn in a head-to-head Class 3A matchup, among several Northeast Florida highlights as the Florida High School Athletic Association released its brackets Friday for next week's high school baseball regional tournament.

Trinity, state champion in 2015, received the No. 2 seed in Region 1-3A, while eight-time champion Bolles landed the seventh seed.

Baseball districts: Providence, Ridgeview, Trinity, St. Johns Country Day win tournaments

Softball districts: University Christian, Baldwin, Creekside, Oakleaf win tournaments

First Coast Varsity Weekly: Middleburg's Morgan Beckham perfect in softball districts

Trinity Christian's Jacob Miller swings and misses at strike three from St. Johns Country Day's Kody Daneault (not pictured) during an April 17 game. The schools occupy the top two seeds in Region 1-3A baseball.
Trinity Christian's Jacob Miller swings and misses at strike three from St. Johns Country Day's Kody Daneault (not pictured) during an April 17 game. The schools occupy the top two seeds in Region 1-3A baseball.

That's one of five all-local first-round matchups, a list that also includes Ponte Vedra at Ridgeview, Wolfson at Fernandina Beach, Christ's Church at St. Johns Country Day and St. Joseph at University Christian.

The bubble, however, burst in painful fashion for Oakleaf. The Knights (19-6) entered the District 3-6A tournament with the No. 7 ranking in Region 1-7A, but after losing in the semifinal to Fleming Island, they slipped 0.468 points behind Gulf Breeze for the final at-large berth. Mandarin, Yulee and 2022 state semifinalist Suwannee were also among the teams missing out.

The FHSAA ranking formula tossed a couple of unexpected curveballs.

Sandalwood leapfrogged Creekside in the Region 1-7A standings to the No. 3 seed, despite losing to Flagler Palm Coast in the District 1-7A tournament. Creekside, which had entered second in the region, dropped to fifth in the ranking formula following a win over Bartram Trail and a loss to Flagler Palm Coast.

Similarly, in Region 1-5A, Clay jumped ahead of Columbia into the top seed, even though Clay lost its final to Ridgeview in District 3-5A and Columbia beat third-seeded Tallahassee Lincoln in the District 2-5A championship.

Clay, Providence and St. Johns Country Day hold top seeds in their respective regions for the tournaments, which open Tuesday for Class 2A through 5A and Wednesday for Class 1A, 6A and 7A.

Region 1-7A

(8) Flagler Palm Coast at (1) Lake Mary

(5) Creekside at (4) Winter Park

(6) Spruce Creek at (3) Sandalwood

(2) Timber Creek at (7) Lake Brantley

Region 1-6A

(8) Winter Springs at (1) Pace

(4) Tate at (5) Leon

(7) Gulf Breeze at (2) Gainesville Buchholz

(6) Fleming Island at (3) Lynn Haven Mosley

Region 1-5A

(8) Escambia at (1) Clay

(5) Ponte Vedra at (4) Ridgeview

(3) Tallahassee Lincoln at (6) Fort Walton Beach

(7) Pine Forest at (2) Columbia

Region 1-4A

(8) Tocoi Creek at (1) South Walton

(4) Alachua Santa Fe at (5) Bishop Kenny

(6) West Florida at (3) Panama City Beach Arnold

(7) Wakulla at (2) Baker County

Region 1-3A

(8) Marianna at (1) Providence

(5) Wolfson at (4) Fernandina Beach

(6) Ocala Trinity Catholic at (3) Pensacola Catholic

(7) Bolles at (2) Trinity Christian

Region 1-2A

(8) Christ's Church at (1) St. Johns Country Day

(4) St. Joseph at (5) University Christian

(7) Tallahassee St. John Paul II at (2) Tallahassee NFC

(6) Eagle's View at (3) Gainesville Oak Hall

Region 3-1A

(4) Wakulla Christian at (1) Mayo Lafayette

(3) Madison County at (2) Union County

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school baseball 2023: FHSAA Northeast Florida playoff brackets