Wolves win regional rubber match against rival Eagles

Apr 24, 2025 11:40 pm
St. Francis Catholic's Chris Durstine (10) and Sander Williams (17) score in the seventh inning against Oak Hall in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
St. Francis Catholic's Chris Durstine (10) and Sander Williams (17) score in the seventh inning against Oak Hall in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish

The past week has been a roller coaster ride for the St. Francis Catholic Academy baseball team.

Last Thursday, the Wolves scored two runs in their final at-bat for a walk-off 3-2 win against rival Oak Hall School to win their first district title in program history.

They lost at home to Oak Hall, 6-4, on Monday in game one of the best-of-3 playoff series, but bounced back with a 10-7 win at home on Tuesday to even the series at 1-1.

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On Thursday afternoon at Roger Maris Field, in the decisive game three, the No. 3 seed Wolves rallied again to defeat the No. 6 seed Eagles, 9-7, in a FHSAA Class 1A-Region 2 Quarterfinal.

The win sends St. Francis Catholic to next week’s regional semifinals at No. 2 seed Orangewood Christian (Maitland), which swept No. 7 seed The First Academy (Orlando), 9-0 and 10-1, in their regional quarterfinal.

Oak Hall's Brody Beaupre (4) celebrates his first inning one-run double against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Brody Beaupre (4) celebrates his first-inning one-run double against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.

“It’s incredible, honestly,” said St. Francis Catholic coach Ryan Brown, who has led the Wolves to a program-best 21-win season. “It’s kind of surreal. This team just fights. We feel like we’re never out of a game. When the game is on the line, these guys just don’t get tense. They flourish. They shine. Man, I’m so proud of them.”

Just as they did in game two, the Wolves trailed 3-0 after the first inning.

St. Francis Catholic junior pitcher Sander Williams walked center fielder Aaron Akins to start the bottom of the first inning. Akins went to third on a single to right field by freshman Brayden Farmer (2-for-3, 2 runs).

A throwing error to third by Williams on a pickoff move scored Akins for a 1-0 lead.

Florida Southern signee Brody Beaupre (2-for-4, 3 RBI) and eighth-grader Lincoln Jones each doubled in a run to make it 3-0.

St. Francis Catholic (21-7) sent eight batters to the plate in the top of the third inning and scored four runs to take a 4-3 lead.

Williams singled to start the inning, and two batters later, freshman Andy Janelle (2-for-4, double, RBI, 2 runs) had an RBI single to put the Wolves on the scoreboard.

Sophomore Colin Kuruppacherry (2-for-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI) had a 2-run double to tie the game at 3-3 and junior Nate Muir singled in the go-ahead run.

Once again, the Eagles (9-11) answered with a pair of runs.

Jones reached on a fielder’s choice with one out and scored on the same play as junior Graham Rosenstone, who had singled to left field.

St. Francis Catholic's Colin Kuruppacherry hit a two-run double in the third inning to tie the game 3-3 against Oak Hall in game 3 of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish St. Francis Catholic’s Colin Kuruppacherry hit a two-run double in the third inning to tie the game 3-3 against Oak Hall in game 3 of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.

Beaupre hit a ground ball to shortstop Sawyer Williams, who bobbled the ball and then threw wildly to home plate, which allowed Rosenstone to follow Jones home for a 5-4 lead.

It stayed that way until the sixth inning when the Wolves got a two-out, two-run single by Dylan Diaz for a 6-5 lead. Akins made a diving attempt on the play but was unable to come up with it.

Sophomore Jake Long delivered the dagger for the Wolves in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run triple and a 9-5 lead, their biggest of the day.

“It was a tough battle,” said Oak Hall coach Kevin Maris. “We came out and competed. We had our opportunities. We jumped out early, and then we let them get back in it…they just kept punching, plugging away.”

Williams pitched 6.1 innings and allowed six earned runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts to pick up the victory to even his record at 4-4.

St. Francis Catholic's Sander Williams started on the mound against Oak Hall in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish St. Francis Catholic’s Sander Williams started on the mound against Oak Hall in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.

“We held him under 30 pitches in the first two games so that he would be available for this game and, if he was available and starting this game, I was going to let him go to his maximum pitch count,” Brown said. “Just a great job by him to give us a chance to win, and then you obviously give Liam (Green) credit too for coming in and shutting it down.”

He left the game in the bottom of the seventh inning after throwing 108 pitches.

“Once we were up, I was pumped,” Williams said. “I did not want to leave the game. My arm felt great from all of the adrenaline.”

Green entered the game with one out and allowed no runs or hits on 13 pitches in relief to clinch another postseason series.

“It feels great,” said Green, who started the game at first base. “We haven’t had a ton of success the last couple of years, and it didn’t end the way we wanted it to last year, so to get this win, especially after losing that first game, to come back and play really good baseball the last two days feels great.”

St. Francis Catholic coach Ryan Brown talks to his team after winning game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals at Oak Hall. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish St. Francis Catholic coach Ryan Brown talks to his team after winning game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals at Oak Hall.

Class 1A-Region 2 Quarterfinals

Game 1 – Monday, April 21

6 Oak Hall 6, 3 St. Francis Catholic Academy 4

Game 2 – Tuesday, April 22

3 St. Francis Catholic Academy 10, 6 Oak Hall 7

Game 3 – Thursday, April 24

3 St. Francis Catholic Academy 9, 6 Oak Hall 7 – St. Francis Catholic Academy (21-7) wins series 2-1

Class 3A-Region 1 Quarterfinals

Game 1 – Monday, April 21

3 Suwannee (Live Oak) 9, 6 Baldwin 4

Game 2 – Tuesday, April 22

6 Baldwin 8, 3 Suwannee (Live Oak) 2

Game 3 – Thursday, April 24

3 Suwannee (Live Oak) 6, 6 Baldwin 5 – Suwannee (21-7) wins series 2-1

Class 5A-Region 1 Quarterfinals

Game 1 – Wednesday, April 23

5 Columbia (Lake City) 2, 4 Mosley (Lynn Haven) 1 (8)

Game 2 – Thursday, April 24

5 Columbia (Lake City) 10, 4 Mosley (Lynn Haven) 0 (5) – Columbia (17-10) wins series 2-0

Oak Hall's Gavin Jones (2) runs safely to first base in the fifth inning after the throw to St. Francic Catholic's Liam Green pulls him off the bag in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Gavin Jones (2) runs safely to first base in the fifth inning after the throw to St. Francis Catholic’s Liam Green pulls him off the bag in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Oak Hall's Aaron Akins scores the first run in the first inning against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Aaron Akins scores the first run in the first inning against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Oak Hall's Brayden Farmer dives safely to first base in the third inning against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Brayden Farmer dives safely to first base in the third inning against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Oak Hall's Graham Rosenstone (3) scores in the third inning to put the Eagles ahead 5-4 against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Graham Rosenstone (3) scores in the third inning to put the Eagles ahead 5-4 against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
St. Francis Catholic's Liam Green closed the game on the mound against Oak Hall in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish St. Francis Catholic’s Liam Green closed the game on the mound against Oak Hall in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Oak Hall coach Kevin Maris talks with pitcher Brody Beaupre in the seventh inning against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall coach Kevin Maris talks with pitcher Brody Beaupre in the seventh inning against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
St. Francis Catholic's Sander Williams (17) gets to first base on a sixth inning dropped strike three in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish St. Francis Catholic’s Sander Williams (17) gets to first base on a sixth-inning dropped strike three in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Oak Hall's Gavin Jones steals second base in the fifth inning against St. Francis Catholic's Andy Janelle in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Gavin Jones steals second base in the fifth inning against St. Francis Catholic’s Andy Janelle in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Oak Hall's Brody Beaupre catches a popped up sixth inning bunt for an out against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish 1 (1)
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Brody Beaupre catches a popped up sixth inning bunt for an out against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Oak Hall's Gavin Jones started on the mound against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals. Photo by C.J. Gish
Photo by C.J. Gish Oak Hall’s Gavin Jones started on the mound against St. Francis Catholic in game three of the 1A Region 2 Quarterfinals.

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  • Mike Ridaught

    Mike Ridaught is sports director for Mainstreet Daily News. Mike hosts a weekly high school sports show at Sonic Drive-In from August - May and does play-by-play for a Game-of-the Week on 106.9 FM “I Am Country" during football season. He teaches a play-by-play class at the University of Florida. He does play-by-play for the Cal Ripken World Series in Branson, Mo., in August. Mike is also founder of The Prep Zone.

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