Final-four qualifiers: Trinity Christian, St. Johns Country Day win baseball regions

For Aaron Watson, big pressure was no problem.

"Blood was definitely pumping, heart was pumping, but it was fun going out there," the Trinity Christian pitcher said.

Watson nailed down the save to escape a final-inning jam and Trinity Christian survived a seesaw battle, holding off Bishop Snyder 8-6 in Tuesday night's Florida High School Athletic Association Region 1-3A baseball final.

Entering with two on and nobody out in the top of the seventh, Watson retired the side in order to help the Conquerors (24-6) punch their ticket for a May 21 state semifinal at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers against Miami Westminster Christian.

Two weeks after the Conquerors overwhelmed Bishop Snyder 14-0 in the district championship, the Cardinals (20-9) presented a far tougher challenge, even though the expected pitchers' duel between Brayden Harris and Aidan King — committed to Florida State and Florida, respectively — turned into a back-and-forth slugfest instead.

Trinity exploited fielding miscues and a rare mini-bout of wildness from Snyder starter King, who was coming off a 20-strikeout gem in the regional quarterfinals against Providence. King yielded three walks after issuing only seven bases on balls all season, and was lifted after 72 pitches over three innings.

But Trinity still had to fight through every inning, particularly after Cody Boshell's two-run homer and a Mason Baptist RBI single two batters later pushed Bishop Snyder in front in the fifth, 6-4. After an error allowed one run across, Maddox Lee delivered a game-tying single, Tyler Ellis pushed Trinity in front with a go-ahead drive off the wall and Chandler Dantzler tacked on an insurance run to score Lee.

Trinity still had two jams to escape: Tyler Ellis struck out Bishop Snyder's Jack Perry to leave the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, and Watson slammed the door in the seventh as the Cardinals left runners on second and third.

"Just so proud of the guys. They've worked so hard for this," Trinity head coach Jon Murphy said.

REGION 1-2A

One swing for the final four.

George Gilson connected with a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, leading St. Johns Country Day to a dramatic 8-6 come-from-behind win over Tallahassee North Florida Christian, the most recent in a string of postseason classics between the schools.

St. Johns (23-6) seals a return trip to the FHSAA final four in Fort Myers, with a semifinal scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday against St. Petersburg Northside Christian.

The Spartans entered the bottom of the seventh down 6-5 when outfielder Kyle Boylston tied the score with a solo shot to open the inning, paving the way for Gilson's highlight.

North Florida Christian (19-7-2) whacked five home runs on the evening, the last by Jimmy Meeks to move in front 6-5 in the top of the seventh. Ace Walker, Jace Riggan, Kaseman Pressley and Noah Miller went deep earlier in the ballgame, with Miller tying the game 5-5 in the sixth.

The teams started on fast-forward at the plate — the score was 4-4 by the top of the second — before settling into a long, tense battle of starting pitchers Jack Ensell for St. Johns and Garrett Workman for NFC.

Leadoff man Boylston went 3 for 3 for the Spartans, Nick Bowden drove in two runs and Florida signee Kolt Myers earned the win in relief.

The final-four trip is the third in four years for St. Johns Country Day, which lost to Sarasota Out-of-Door in the 2021 Class 2A championship and to Lakeland Christian in last year's final.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: FHSAA baseball 2024: Northeast Florida regional final reports