Facing elimination, the St. Francis Catholic Wolves found themselves down 5-0 to rival Oak Hall going into the bottom of the second inning on Tuesday afternoon.
Two innings later, the Wolves were in control and on their way to a third and deciding game slated for Thursday afternoon.
Sawyer Williams had three hits, scored two runs and drove in three more, and settled down to pitch six solid innings as host St. Francis rallied for a 10-7 win over Oak Hall in game two of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. It was the first regional playoff win for the Wolves in program history.
Oak Hall, which won game one, 6-4, on Monday, now returns home to host St. Francis Catholic on Thursday in a deciding third game with the winner moving on to the regional semifinals next week.
The Eagles (9-10) broke on top with a three-run first inning. Brody Beaupre and Gavin Jones singled and Graham Rosenstone walked to load the bases. Beaupre scored on a wild pitch and Brayden Farmer brought in two more runs with a single to left for a 3-0 Oak Hall lead.
Oak Hall extended its lead to 5-0 in the top of the second on a two-run triple by Jones.
But then the Wolves (20-7) woke up. Two walks and two doubles set up a two-RBI triple by sophomore Colin Kuruppacherry down the right field line to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Oak Hall picked up a run in the top of the third, but then St. Francis took control with a six-run bottom half of the inning.
“We’ve been battle tested throughout the year and have been down in some of the games and found ways to come back,” St. Francis Catholic coach Ryan Brown said. “When your season is on the line like that, you pull out everything you got and these guys caught fire today.”
The Wolves sent 11 batters to the plate in the deciding third inning, driving Farmer from the game. The big blows were two two-run doubles — one by Liam Green that tied the game 6-6 and another by Sawyer Williams — that put St. Francis up, 8-6. Two more Wolves runs scored on wild pitches.
Sawyer Williams did not allow a run in the next three innings, and his cousin, junior Sander Williams, allowed a run in the seventh but picked up the save.
“He (Sawyer) pitched in the district championship game so he couldn’t pitch in game one (on Monday) due to the pitch count rules,” Brown said. “We knew if our season was on the line in game two, we would feel pretty good about him defending it for us. We will go back to the drawing board and see what we have for game three.”
FHSAA Baseball state playoffs (Best-of-3)
(Teams in the Mainstreet coverage area in bold)
Class 1A-Region 2 Quarterfinals
Game 1 – Monday, April 21
6 Oak Hall 6, 3 St. Francis Catholic Academy 4 (OHS leads 1-0)
Game 2 – Tuesday, April 22
3 St. Francis Catholic Academy 10, 6 Oak Hall 7 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3 – Thursday, April 24
3 St. Francis Catholic Academy at 6 Oak Hall, 4 p.m.
Game 1 – Monday, April 21
1 Mount Dora Christian 16, 8 Countryside Christian 0 (MDC leads 1-0)
Game 2 – Tuesday, April 22
1 Mount Dora Christian 12, 8 Countryside Christian 2(MDC wins 2-0; Minutemen finish 14-8)
Class 2A-Region 1 Quarterfinals
Game 1 – Monday, April 21
2 Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) 8, 7 Keystone Heights 3 (Bishop Snyder leads 1-0)
Game 2 – Tuesday, April 22
2 Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) 9, 7 Keystone Heights 0 (Bishop Snyder wins 2-0; Indians finish 19-9)
Class 3A-Region 1 Quarterfinals
Game 1 – Monday, April 21
3 Suwannee (Live Oak) 9, 6 Baldwin 4 (Suwannee leads 1-0)
Game 2 – Tuesday, April 22
6 Baldwin 8, 3 Suwannee (Live Oak) 2 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3 – Thursday, April 24
3 Suwannee (Live Oak) at 6 Baldwin, 7 p.m.
