St. Johns Country Day advances to Class 1A state baseball finals

The Spartans received an eight-strikeout performance and blanked Brito in the Class 1A state semifinals

Brayden Harris of St. Johns Country Day posted eight strikeouts in 5-2/3 innings in the Spartans 2-0 victory over Brito in the Class 1A state semifinals. / Joe Frisaro

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA -- St. Johns Country Day is a step away from repeating as Florida baseball state champions.

The Spartans on Wednesday afternoon received a stellar pitching performance from Brayden Harris and blanked Brito, 2-0, in the Class 1A state semifinals at Hammond Stadium.

Pitching told the story in the semifinal showdown, with Harris striking out eight in 5-2/3 innings, before handing the ball over to Chandler Dantzler, who handled the final 2 -1/3 innings.

Brito (16-14), a surprise team from Miami, punched its ticket to Fort Myers by upsetting Miami Christian in two games in their Regional Finals.

Samuel Castro was the story for Brito. The Miami-Dade College commit gave up just two runs on two hits in six innings.

St. Johns Country Day (26-8) is the top seed in Class 1A, and on Thursday at 7 p.m. they will face the winner of Wednesday's Canterbury (No. 2 seed) and third-seed Orangewood Christian.

A year ago, the Spartans won the Class 2A state championship by beating Miami Christian in the title game.

Under reclassification, the Spartans are now a Class 1A power.

The way Harris pitched, all the Spartans needed were a pair of first-inning runs.

In the bottom of the first, Castro recorded a strikeout on three pitches to start the game. But second batter, catcher Hunter Rodgers, battled back from two strikes and singled. Preston Cole followed with an RBI double to deep center field, opening the scoring.

The Spartans added a second run when Cole, after advancing to third, was initially caught in a run-down on a pitch in the dirt. But the throw from Brito's catcher Luis Amariz struck Cole on the leg, and the ball deflected into the infield as Cole scored easily.

That was it as far as the scoring.

From that point, Castro settled and didn't allow another hit.

The trouble for the Brito starter was that Harris didn't give up much. The Class of 2026 Florida State recruit scattered four hits, worked out of a couple of innings where the Panthers placed two runners on base.

In the seventh inning, Brito threatened with two outs when Raivon Pinder doubled to deep center. But the game ended on a line out to first base.

RURAL CLASS SEMIFINALS

In the Rural Class semifinals, Holmes County scored five runs in the fourth inning and defeated Port St. Joe, 5-1. Right-hander Lyndan Flanary gave up one earned run with 10 strikeouts in six innings. At the plate, Flanary had two hits and two RBIs.

Holmes County will face Lafayette on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Lafayette defeated Trenton, also by a 5-1 score, in the other semifinal.

Ethan Tuten gave up one run in seven innings with 12 strikeouts. Garrett Taylor had a three-hit game.