It’s tough to beat a team twice or three times in a season, especially if it is a rivalry game.

But five times? From 2015 to 2024, the St. Francis Catholic Academy baseball team won a total of five games against rival Oak Hall School.

They matched that total in one season in 2025.

On Thursday at Roger Maris Field, visiting St. Francis scored nine runs on 12 hits in a 9-7 come-from-behind win over Oak Hall in game three of a Best-of-3 series in the FHSAA Class 1A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.

“It was incredibly tough,” said St. Francis Catholic baseball coach Ryan Brown. “They’re a really good ball club. Kevin’s (Coach Maris) done a great job with them. When we saw that we were going to be playing them in the first round, we knew this was not going to be easy. This was going to be perhaps the most mentally tough games of these guys’ lives. We were able to fight through it and find a way.”

The Wolves lost at home to Oak Hall, 6-4, on Monday in game one, but bounced back with a 10-7 win at home on Tuesday to even the series at 1-1.

“It was just another one of those situations where we got down a little bit early in the game and faced some adversity,” Brown said. “There’s just something about our team. Every time that happens, it brings out the best in us.”

A week ago, the Wolves scored two runs in their final at-bat for a walk-off 3-2 victory in the FHSAA Rural District 7 championship game to win their first district title in program history.

“I feel like I’m way more nervous than the kids are, so I try and hide that so that they don’t feel it,” Brown said. “I think they feel good when the game is on the line. A lot of teams get tight. Our team seems to loosen up and has that approach that we’ve been here before.”

Prior to this season, Oak Hall had won eight in a row in the series, including scores of 15-0 and 11-1 last year before a wild 12-8 win against the Wolves in the 2024 FHSAA Class 2A-District 4 championship game.

“It feels great,” said junior Liam Green, who played first base and pitched in relief in Thursday’s win. “It’s obvious they’ve beat the crap out of us the last few years so to take five of six from them this year feels great…we got down early but we’ve been down to them every game, so we never really wavered. We stayed confident the whole game.”

The Wolves trailed at some point in all six games against the reigning district champion Eagles but finished 5-1 against their rival.

“Last year we would be down and couldn’t quite pull off the comebacks, but this year we’ve pulled off a ton of comebacks all year, so we kind of built up that confidence going into the postseason that we were never really out of a game,” Green said.

They won by scores of 7-6, 5-4, 3-2, 10-7,and 9-7 this season.

“It was a crazy experience,” said sophomore Sander Williams, who threw 108 pitches on Thursday and picked up the win. “Going back to basketball, we also beat them three times in a row…we knew they were going to come out with a chip on their shoulder, but we were able to shut them down.”

St. Francis will travel to 1A No. 9 Orangewood Christian (Maitland), which is seeded second in the region, for a best-of-3 series on Monday and Tuesday.

If the Wolves can win one game against the Rams (17-9), St. Francis would host the decisive game three on Thursday.

St. Francis Catholic is ranked No. 27 in Class 1A, but in baseball, there’s always a chance.

“That’s all this team needs,” Brown said. “Just give us this fighting chance, and we’re going to show up and give it everything we’ve got. I’ll start scouting them this weekend and try and find whatever video I can on them. We’ll do what we can to prepare for them.”

Orangewood Christian swept No. 7 seed First Academy-Leesburg, 9-0 and 10-1, to advance to next week’s FHSAA Class 1A-Region 2 Semifinals.

“We’ve just got to keep our bats alive,” Williams said. “Defense, we’ve really got to lock down on. There were a bunch of errors today (Thursday), but I know our team will lock down on defense.”

In his first season as head coach in 2024, Brown and the Wolves matched the program record with 14 wins and advanced to the school’s first playoff appearance since 2015.

This year, Brown has guided St. Francis Catholic to a program-best 21 wins, its first district title, its first regional win, and they will now play in their first regional semifinal.

“It’s been surreal, it’s a dream,” Brown said. “I wanted to be a head coach, and I dreamt of having a team like this that I could maybe go into the postseason with. I give all the credit to the players. There are some special players on this team, and I just love being around them.”

The Wolves (21-7) got off to a 5-5 start this season, but they have won 16 of 18 games since.

“It’s been quite a journey,” Brown said. “Early in the year, we had our struggles, but everyone kept believing. We just kept telling these guys that things were going to turn around for them, and they did. It’s true what they say that early-season woes and tough things that you go through early in the year can certainly benefit you down the road, especially in baseball.”