RAYS OF HOPE | Atlantic Coast baseball's Gateway win highlights turnaround from 6-18

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Six wins a year ago.

On top of Jacksonville right now.

"I'm just lost for words," Atlantic Coast pitcher Chris Gant said. "Never thought I would be in this position at AC again, honestly."

The turnaround story of Atlantic Coast baseball added another chapter Friday night, defeating Englewood 15-0 for the Gateway Conference championship at the Bragan Baseball Complex.

Gant pitched a shortened shutout and opportunistic Stingray batters piled up runs to invoke the mercy rule once Noah Prudencio slid home with the 15th run off a pitch that got away in the bottom of the fourth inning.

A year ago, Atlantic Coast slumped to 6-18 and wasn't even among the qualifiers for the Gateway tournament, which invites only the top 12 among Duval County's 17 public high schools.

But after beating Mandarin, Fletcher and finally Englewood, they're Gateway champions for the fourth time since the school's 2010 opening, and they're making a statement ahead of next month's regionals.

A lot of work, and growing rewards.

"We came in with a new system, and we raised the standards and we worked them hard," said Atlantic Coast head coach Chris Laufman. "They didn't shy away from it and they bought into it."

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STINGRAYS STRIKE FAST AT PLATE

Atlantic Coast left no doubt Friday night.

With several of Englewood's most experienced arms unavailable for pitching duty -- junior Dominick Patruno had limited 2023 champion Sandalwood to two hits over 6 2/3 innings in Tuesday's quarterfinal, and senior Ethan Anderson had pitched a masterful two-hit shutout to oust No. 1 seed First Coast on Thursday -- the Rams (14-7) faced a challenge from the start.

The Stingrays started with boom-boom-boom efficiency against Englewood freshman Ranses Venero: Three consecutive hits from Ethan Strickland, Noah Prudencio and Wade Surber atop the order, a sacrifice fly by catcher Caden Williams, a bases-loaded hit batsman to Preston Cox and a two-base error off Gerrit Slawitschka's bat to bring home two more for a quick 5-0 lead.

Atlantic Coast blew the game open in the third inning, beginning with back-to-back triples from Gant and Cory Matthews and piling on to punish fielding miscues by an unusually erratic Englewood.

"The boys believed in how we were going to attack, and they really attacked the ball downhill all night tonight," Laufman said.

GANT FINDS INSTANT RHYTHM

Gant continued his improvement from the season's start.

"I was locked in from the first pitch, ever since I got to the ballpark," he said. "I knew I've just got to bring it to them, throw strikes and let my defense work."

Gant finished with a three-hit shutout, striking out three Rams and walking one. After a bout of wildness earlier in the season, he's brought his earned run average down to 2.58, along with a 5-1 record.

Pitching on the whole has fared well for Atlantic Coast, including the combination of Strickland (1-0, 2.62), Slawitschka (4-0, 2.06) and Surber (2-0, 2.33).

After several early-season shootouts, the pitching staff has settled down, allowing five total runs in the Gateway tournament.

HOW FAR CAN STINGRAYS GO?

Laufman said that by the Stingrays' spring break tournament at Sandalwood in March, when they beat University Christian, Wolfson and Mandarin in quick succession, the confidence was taking root.

"That week," he said, "you could feel it."

Even at 15-6, though, a berth in next month's Florida High School Athletic Association playoffs is no foregone conclusion.

As of this week, Atlantic Coast stood ninth in the FHSAA ranking formula for Region 1-7A -- on the outside looking in for now, although they're within striking distance to overtake teams like West Orange and Winter Park.

There's no time to rest on Friday's success. After the regular season's finish against Hilliard, Jackson and Sandalwood, attention turns to a brutally difficult District 1-7A, where the Stingrays' opponents include St. Johns County giants Bartram Trail and Creekside as well as Flagler Palm Coast and the always-dangerous Mandarin and Sandalwood.

"We've been working at this since August, and it's been slow and we've had our bumps in the road and moved forward," Laufman said. "But this is a special group of kids."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Atlantic Coast High School: Stingrays baseball wins Gateway Conference