St. Johns County baseball playoffs: Morton leads Creekside, Clay denies Beachside

First, Lake Mary jolted Parker Morton physically. A few minutes later, they wounded his pride.

Then, Parker Morton struck back.

The junior third baseman whacked a go-ahead, bases-clearing double for what proved to be the winning runs, leading Creekside past Lake Mary 6-4 in a wild Friday night's Florida High School Athletic Association Region 1-7A baseball semifinal at Freedom Field.

"This is awesome. The team's doing incredible right now," Morton said. "I feel like no one can stop us."

Winners of five in a row, the Knights (19-10) move on to a Monday night road game at No. 1 seed Timber Creek, which rallied past Spruce Creek 5-3 on Eli Buffaloe's walk-off homer.

But Creekside wouldn't have made it without Morton, who got the last laugh in an turbulent fourth inning. In the top of the frame, Morton was sent flying in a bizarre collision at third base with Lake Mary baserunner Hunter Wallace, who went on to score to tie the game 3-3.

Then, with two on and two out in the fourth, Lake Mary (20-8) opted to intentionally walk Rutgers-committed leadoff batter Sean Ashenfelder to load the bases and pitch to Morton — a strategy that backfired dramatically.

"I just felt the disrespect when they walked Sean just to get to me, to get what they thought was an easy out," said Morton, who had entered the game with a .179 batting average. "And I didn't think that."

Morton rocked a double to left field off pitcher Jimmy Kelly to score all three runs. The Knights locked down the victory from there with 2 2/3 gritty innings from reliever Quinn Wilfong, assisted by a spectacular diving catch in the sixth from left fielder Zack Jackson.

Creekside had grabbed a first-inning lead on Ty Martineau's RBI triple and Carson McFarlin's RBI single, only for the Rams to exploit two errors to score in the following inning. McFarlin added an RBI double in the third for another short-lived lead.

REGION 1-5A

Merrick Rapoza belted a grand slam on a seven-RBI night and Rylan McMahan hurled an abbreviated no-hitter, helping Clay to a 12-0 shutout that ended the season of Beachside (16-14) in Green Cove Springs.

Rapoza began the night with a two-run triple in the first, slugged his grand slam in the second and tacked on an RBI single in the third. The Barracudas elected to intentionally walk him in the fourth, leaving him a double shy of the cycle.

The run support was more than enough for McMahan. The freshman pitcher, already committed to Florida, worked around four walks to strike out seven batters over five innings.

L.J. Martin also went 3 for 4 with two RBI for Clay (18-9), and Cole Carnell and Parker Lowrance scored three runs apiece.

The Blue Devils advance to a Monday regional final against the winner of the second-round game between Tallahassee Lincoln and Escambia. That contest was postponed to Saturday because of the severe storms that hit Tallahassee Friday.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: St. Johns County baseball playoffs: Friday second round recap