Just the facts: Wakulla Christian baseball, Class 2A state semifinal vs. Seacrest CD

As the first area baseball team to play in a state tournament game this spring, Wakulla Christian’s team hits the road for Fort Myers for a Class 2A state semifinal against Seacrest Country Day.

The Saints and Stingrays have never played, but the Saints were in this final-four game a year ago and beat Mount Dora Christian 13-5.

Wakulla Christian has won 11 in a row heading into the game and only has losses to defending Class 1A state champ Port St. Joe (17-11) in the third game of the year and to Liberty County (15-11).

Here’s a breakdown of Wednesday 4 p.m. match-up, available to be watched online at NFHSNetwork.com or on the NFHS app.

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Wakulla Christian Saints (18-2) vs. Seacrest Country Day Stingrays (20-9)

The polls: Wakulla Christian sits at No. 6 in Class 2A but has only made incremental moves up the rankings over the last couple weeks. That’s probably due to a strength of schedule viewed by MaxPreps as second worst among the top 19 teams. But SOS didn’t seem to matter in last week’s win over No. 2 Christ’s Church Academy, and it certainly won’t matter against No. 9 Seacrest.

The history: In its first year as a varsity program while still independent (and in FHSAA member probation) in 2017, Wakulla Christian went 22-3-1. Eligible for the postseason last year, the Saints not only went 17-6 while winning their first district title, they won a regional title and finished as Class 2A state runner-up in that first year. Now, the Saints are 2 for 2 in state tournament appearances in their two years of eligibility. How many programs anywhere in history can boast a statement like that?

Last week: The Saints went on the road and knocked out No. 2 Christ’s Church (17-7) by a 7-4 score with a four-run sixth inning. The big blow was a two-run triple by junior Allen Willis, who got the win in relief with 3.1 innings of no-hit ball and six strikeouts. Seacrest eliminated No. 3 Seven Rivers Christian (22-5) by a 5-4 score with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on a game-tying RBI single by sophomore Matt Riley, who had three hits, and the game-winning RBI on a hit-by-pitch junior Joseph DiNorcia.

For Wakulla Christian: The Saints are hitting .350 as a team, paced by junior Aaron Collins at .509, and junior Seth Dudley and senior TCC signee Aiden Driscoll-Sadusky at .490. Junior Lyric Oaks is batting .423 before a drop-off down to Willis at .333. Oaks and Dudley each have two homers, while the aforementioned five batters and senior Jonah Lawhon are the RBI producers, each with 16 or more. The Saints have stolen 115 bases as a team, including six with 10 or more. Defensively, they’re a solid .940 fielding percentage.

On the mound, Dudley is 6-2 with a 3.57 ERA but won’t pitch due to an arm injury suffered in Wakulla Christian’s district championship game. Willis (5-0, 0.82 ERA) and Lawhon (3-0, 0.34, 5 saves) could be used in tandem to save both for the championship game. Sophomore Kody Spiers hasn’t pitched much, but he’s 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA and has a save.

For Seacrest: The Stingrays hit .328 collectively, led by freshman Danny DiNorcia at .418, while Riley (.393) and senior Andrew Geiger (.390) also get on frequently. Junior Brandon Espinosa (.347) has one of Seacrest’s two home runs. Comparatively, the Stingrays have fewer stolen bases (88) than the Saints, and the fielding percentage is .910.

Pitching-wise, freshman Justin Jackson has been getting it done with a 10-1 record and 1.53 ERA. Espinosa, who got the win in relief of Jackson in the regional final, and Geiger both come in with ERA’s higher than 3.50 and have combined for seven wins and seven losses.

Up next: The winner gets the winner of No. 1 Miami Christian (17-8) and No. 8 Real Life Christian Academy (20-2) in the Class 2A state championship on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Should Miami Christian and Wakulla Christian win, it would be a rematch of last year’s championship, won by the Victors, 9-3.

Quotable: “We need to hit – that’s our take going down. (Jackson) throws a lot of strikes and doesn't issue many walks. If we can get one or two runners on an inning that gives our big bats a chance to do some damage. I think we can hurt him. If we can get up on them, we’re better defensively than last year. Hopefully, we can supply Jonah with some runs and then get him out of there and eat up some innings with our sophomore side-armer Kody Spiers. We hope that’s the scenario, but we have to win Wednesday to play Thursday. If we have to burn Jonah for the whole day, I’m confident with Allen Willis on Day 2.

“The only way we can save them is to produce a bunch of runs. They don’t have gap power, they spray the ball around. And we hit lefties pretty well. We’ll crowd the plate, dare them to throw inside, and try to hit the ball on the outside corner. Hopefully that gameplan works and we can score some runs.” – Wakulla Christian head coach Bubba Dempsey