Mike Ridaught
The Santa Fe (Alachua) baseball team played its toughest opponent of the season on Tuesday night in Jacksonville.
Trinity Christian, which is nationally ranked by a couple of publications, scored four runs in the second inning and kept the visiting Raiders off the scoreboard in a 10-0 win in six innings.
“We knew they were a good club and you’ve kind of got to be perfect to beat them and have a chance,” said Santa Fe coach Travis Yeckring. “We weren’t perfect, but I thought we played ok. We gave them a few extra outs defensively and they really make you pay for that.”
Sophomore Tyler Ellis (4 IP, 1H, 1BB, 6K) allowed the only two baserunners of the game, while FSCJ commit Braden Hansen and Virginia commit Aaron Watson retired the final six as the Conquerors improved to 6-1.
“Their arms were really, really good,” Yeckring said. “I thought we had some decent at bats early even though we only had one hit. We fouled off a lot of balls straight back and I just felt like we were just missing it. Playing them will make us better in the long run, no doubt about that.”
Senior Dylan Lovelace, a Santa Fe College signee, got the start on the mound for the Raiders (2-6).
He struck out the first batter in the bottom of the first inning and didn’t allow a run.
However, Trinity Christian scored four runs on four hits to plate the only runs they would need.
“He (Dylan) was coming back a little bit on a short start, so I didn’t want him to throw a lot of pitches,” Yeckring said. “They had nine singles tonight so it’s not like they were killing us and driving the ball all over the field…that was our game plan to hold them to singles but unfortunately it still didn’t work out. I thought Dylan threw well, got some soft contact that went for hits, and we just didn’t get a break offensively either.”
Sophomore Evan Christmas had the only hit for Santa Fe in the second inning and went to second on a walk by senior Logan Summers.
But Ellis struck out sophomore Angel Irizarry and junior Tyler Whitworth to end the threat.
University of Florida commit Ethan Wheeler finished 2-for-2 with 3 RBI for Trinity Christian, which built a 6-0 lead after three innings and an 8-0 lead after four.
Santa Fe will travel to Palatka on Wednesday. The first pitch is at 6 p.m.
“Big district game for us,” Yeckring said. “I told our guys any time it’s a district opponent or a county opponent there’s always a little bit more juice in the building so tomorrow is a very important game for us as far as what seed we want to get in the district tournament. We’ve got to kind of turn the page on this one as quick as possible and get ready to play tomorrow.”
Chiefland 6, P.K. Yonge 3 (late from Monday)
Chiefland scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning on two hits, a walk and an error to hand P.K. Yonge its first loss of the baseball season, 6-3, on Monday.
The Indians (3-3) scored three runs in the first inning off Blue Wave ace Nick Roach (2-1). Saia Wilson doubled and Trey Meeks singled to start the frame. Kelani Wilson then hit a two-run single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by JR Hudson.
P.K. Yonge (5-1) cut its deficit to 3-1 in the second inning on Deacon Northway’s RBI single, but Chiefland escaped further trouble by throwing out a runner at home.
The Blue Wave tied the game at 3-all on Josh Davis’ two-run single in the fifth.
P.K. Yonge missed an opportunity to take its first lead of the game in the sixth when another runner was cut down at home following a single by Northway.
Chiefland next hosts Dixie County at 7 p.m. Thursday. P.K. Yonge will take the rest of the week off for spring break before returning to action March 20 at Bradford.