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⚾️ Clay County Sports Report --St Johns Country Day in the spotlight!
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Perennial high school baseball powerhouse St. Johns Country Day School steps up to the plate on the Clay County Sports Report!
Join Clay Today Sports Editor Randy Lefko, along with ClayRadio’s Tim Mooney, as they sit down with:
Head Coach John Lucas
Spartan standouts Braden Harris and Kaeson Johns
Hear the Spartans break down their season, talk about their success, and preview a HUGE matchup with county rival Clay High School Blue Devils in a critical weekend series.
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Time now for the Clay County Sports Report on Clay Radio, your home team station. Each week we break down the big plays, celebrate standout athletes, and bring you the stories behind the scores. Now here are your hosts, Clay Today's sports editor, Randy Lefko, and Clay Radio's Tim Mooney.
SPEAKER_04All right, Clay County Sports Report about to start. Tim, we got we got one of the main cogs of baseball uh championship pedigree coming up with us today. Tom Lucas from St. John's Country Day. Interesting because he just came back from a Florida panhandler. This is uh by the way, this is Randy Lefko Clay. So we're gonna let him know who we are first. Tim Mooney with the uh ClayRadio.com Sports Report. I'm so excited. We got some heavy hitters coming here. We got a big rivalry uh that's gonna happen tonight and tomorrow. And uh then the playoff star for baseball, but it is hot and heavy here. So you know our championship pedigree always talk about this is the guy right here.
SPEAKER_05This is a lot of if you notice, I I've seen one trend when we the last three or four shows. St. John's Country Day. Those are the key words. When we ever be a state champ, uh soccer state runner-up, wrestling seventh grader wrestler champion. So I mean, it's not just I mean, it's Clay County in general that's the people bringing championships, but St. John's Country Day is doing a lot, Middleburg is doing a lot. I mean, everywhere is doing a lot of great.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just 500 kids.
SPEAKER_05Just 500 kids.
SPEAKER_04Now, when we talk to Tom Lucas, uh you'll you'll see what I'm talking about is the championship pedigree. The guy's schedule is murder.
SPEAKER_05He doesn't he's not a baker, he doesn't like cupcakes for some reason.
SPEAKER_04So we got that, we got uh Bob Hayes, we got a couple gold medals at the Bob Hayes, the uh biggest high school track meeting in the country this past weekend, and uh and a good spectacular performance by the Oakley 4x100 relay team that we'll talk about that. I thought was probably gonna be one of the best stories in uh for this year's uh sports season. We maybe try to get the four girls on for that because it was uh it's a it's a great story.
SPEAKER_05Not a problem. Let's bring every anybody and everybody we can to celebrate what these high school students, these athletes do. So at it in a bit. All right, we'll be back after this.
SPEAKER_04All right, Clay County Sports fans. Randy Lefko here, Clay Today's sports editor. We're at the Clay Radio, Clay County Sports Report. Tim Mooney on the soundboard. We got three great guys here. Timbo, we we keep talking about we're bringing in the champions here, and uh, we got one of the pinnacles of uh of Clay County uh championship uh athletics here. Uh do you want to give it away too yet? What do you think? I don't, but I'm sitting in front of you. Do you like these guys sitting in front of us?
SPEAKER_05It's baseball season. I uh that's what I'm excited about first. Baseball players are more reserved than everybody else. They have to be. It's okay, I'm gonna throw a little science at you. They're icy. Icy kinetic energy. Uh-uh. Kinetic energy. You have to be calm, cool, collective until it's time to attack. And that's the same thing when you're hitting your pitch and you're doing anything like that, you're just calm. And that's what these guys are right now. But I tell you the one the guy in the middle that we got here. Which is awesome. We're telling them exactly how they're sitting right now icy on the radio.
SPEAKER_04And the other guy, the other guy over there is uh explosive. I mean, the the the you know, and the coach is he's mild matter. I don't think in all the years that I've covered him, he's had a he does the he does a nice dance at the end of wins. Okay. Yeah, one day when we when we go. He's been dancing a lot lately, actually. He does his little jiggy in there, it's pretty neat. And uh do you still do that, coach?
SPEAKER_06Only if we win a regional championship.
SPEAKER_04Oh, is that oh okay. Well, we've been plenty of them because I've seen them, so uh that's where it comes from. Let's introduce our guy. We got Tom Lucas, coach of St. John's Country Day. Welcome. Thank you. How long have you been there?
SPEAKER_06This is my twelfth year as the head coach.
SPEAKER_04You got like what, twelve uh state final visits?
SPEAKER_06I know you got the championship a couple years ago. Yeah, we've been to the state championship game four out of the last five years. Four out of the five. So that's a trend. Yeah. That's a trend.
SPEAKER_04That's just one of the guys' key that this year we're gonna try and now last year. Tell us how you got here. Let's go there first. Let's get let's get Coach Lucas give us a little bit about himself, and then we'll get the boys in here.
SPEAKER_06How I got to St. John's? Yeah. Okay, well, my daughter actually was a student there. So they found out that I had a pitching background. Um, I was volunteering as an assistant pitching coach for a buddy of mine down at the um Wilkerson Junior High. Oh, wait. My daughter goes right now. Yeah, so that they talked me into volunteer, come down there, 45-minute drive, way out there. Um and then St. John's heard about it, and they're like, Man, we really need a pitching coach. Why don't you come over?
SPEAKER_04Is that Todd? Who was the A D? Um Todd's down at Wilkerson? No, at St. John's.
SPEAKER_06No, that was Tracy Livingston. Oh, Livingston, okay. Tracy Livingston was the AD and Luke Dill. I don't know if you remember him. So Luke Dill was a really good pitcher. Um, and they're like, Man, we've really we got a couple good pitchers. We need you. So they talked me into helping out Coach Hilliard. I did that for two years, and then he retired, and then they they offered me the help.
SPEAKER_04So let me ask you back then, Decca Wilkinson, you have some stature. Somebody found out about the stature. St. John's baseball was at what level when you took over? Ooh. That's a tough question. Now you're at you're at the top of you're at the top of the list right now.
SPEAKER_06Let's just say it wasn't what it is now. Like I would I would say it's I mean, we're we've always been a really small school. You know, it's a 1A school right now. 500 kids, right? We have in high school two less than 200. Well, that's right. Right. 500 altogether at that school. So yeah, so we're under 200 if you go through 9 through 12. Um, so I would say it was more of a club sport, you know. But back then they were actually pretty good. That was Drew Petty that was on that team. Um, they had some athletes and stuff like that. The Hardy guy, Patrick Hardy. Yeah, Patrick Hardy.
SPEAKER_04I remember he he was a great slider because he played goalie for the for the soccer team, so we knew how to get dirty.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, but my first team of coach, I had a lot of fun. The assistant coach, you get to have a lot more fun than I get to have as a head coach. That was um Garrett Hayes, Robert Bob Boat was on that team, Garrett Bishop, and so we we had a lot of fun. Um and they did we did make it to the playoffs. Um, both both years we met to playoffs district runner-up and got into the playoffs. And then I got hired and it went really downhill. I think we only won four games my first year. Uh let's not call it downhill. We reset.
SPEAKER_04Well, you got you got like a three-year uh window, right?
SPEAKER_06Correct, to to rank the ship. Yeah, so that that's how it got started. Uh and so that the the rest is history. You know, now I was telling somebody since 2020, we have been the number one team in our classification every year. Yeah, oh no, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so it's and then and then the other thing, I mean, you got a you got a good uh AD, John Scrimoli. Baseball guy. The baseball guy as well. Los Angeles Dodgers uh farm league and all that played for flat, played at Clay High. As a matter of fact, by the way, Tim, they're there what You already lost me, you said Dodgers. Do we do we segue? Do we segue to what's going on tonight and tomorrow? Do we'll let the boy we'll let we'll wait on the next segment. Okay, so who we got with us here? We got Braden Harris. Yeah, Braden Harris. Brayden Harris, very talkative. Yeah. I see news that the pitch was here, right? How'd you get the St. John's? Wait a minute. Let's get it. Give us uh give us uh how fast you throw it. How tall are you, like 6'2?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, round. 6'2. How fast? Uh mainly I'm like 92, 95, so I've been the Can you hit 92?
SPEAKER_04Um, no, I've been hit by a 92 before, but that's fine. You get on base still the same way. The question I wanted to ask, and the Brady's uh I'm in a powerhouse up there, right? And uh and uh been there for two years, two years, right? Yes with us here and uh you know gonna I mean just the guy, you know. And the question I want to ask with with Coach Lugas is so when you have a guy that's throwing, how does a guy how do you throw fast? You know what I mean? I mean you're you're tall, you're muscular, you're athletic, but what is the key to fast? Not just fast, but fast and in the catcher's glove where the where the where the catcher puts it.
SPEAKER_02Um there's a there's a lot more to it than people think.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well because I try and I'm hitting the uh the kid in the concession stand.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it took a lot of years to get the command, also with the VLO. And it it's the strength.
SPEAKER_04Velocity, that's velocity. Did you get that? Yeah, thank you. The strength. Tim's a wrestler. He wrestled.
SPEAKER_02The mobility, you also gotta move really fast. You gotta have everything. Like it's the highest level of like athleticism, I think.
SPEAKER_04Because you you know I I compare, you know, you guys know Caleb Dresseless. Dressel every time he swims a major event, he has a he has a little podcast, a little video where he details every little piece of his, you know, and I just when I take the photos and I see like where you guys' fingers are and and uh how the ball and your legs and all this kind of stuff, and I I'm thinking, what does the batter really see? Oh, yeah. And then the other thing that uh always fascinates me is when when the coach says, like, three, two, one, and I always see the guy, but you know, and then and then and especially at the lower level, like three, two, one might mean inside slider. This what is it? Does it mean anything? Uh not for us, three, two, no, one. It's not a just the numbers dictate to him like where you think it's good should go for this particular batter.
SPEAKER_06No, so we have a sequence like we would give But is Brandon just like I'm just throwing these. No, he's not gonna throw. I mean, because they're gonna hit I mean that's the thing. Like it used to be 95-96, you never saw it in high school. Yeah. Now we see it every game, like all the time. Like, um, so it's you have to locate. And so he does a really good job of that. So we have a a sequence. I mean, this isn't birth shattering and stuff like that. So this is the secret question. Yeah, this is a person.
SPEAKER_04So every every show we try and get a coach to divulge something.
SPEAKER_06Well, we'll give it. I mean, it's not gonna be.
SPEAKER_04But I just I'm I mean that to me, you know, baseball to me is is like you said, it's intensity, inches, but the fascinating part for me is how a guy like that can hit Hunter Rogers to catch his glove almost every time. And you don't see him doing, you know, slashing to get the ball. The ball is in that strike zone area almost. I mean, that's fascinating to me because you know, I can do it probably at 30 miles an hour and probably hit the glove four out of eight times, you know, where where we're with you, you know, it's just there's that whole like you said, that whole sequence. All right, sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_06No, so I was just gonna say so he'd get two signals. You know, one is always fastball. I mean, so that that's universal, but he could get a one one, he could get a one, two, one, three, one, four, one, five. Okay. So one is inside, two is down, three is away, four is up, and five is extended. Now, what determines that is the previous one. That's the cheap the CEO and pitch caller. Is that he gets over, he gets vetoed. He's earned the right to veto. Oh, okay, we would say.
SPEAKER_04Because you see him every now and then. Uh, not much. You watch a game.
SPEAKER_05If you watch a game, any kind of level, the the pitcher's gonna trust their catcher first. Oh, yeah. The catcher, and it's I've never played catcher, it's the hardest thing in the world, but they they know the most about the game. They study the most about it. They actually sit there and watch the entire game. You got center fielders that are just sitting out there looking around. Pitchers are just relying on this. Catchers are watching the entire game. They're smart, they're gonna do their homework on it, they're gonna know if this batter is a fastball.
SPEAKER_04They had one of the best catchers in the state, probably, Hunter Rogers. Not probably uh crushing the ball, and he's a he's a monster behind there. Nobody, nobody gets past him. You know, and it combines with the lightning bolts that are coming from the outfield for plays at the plate. I've seen him make massive plays at the plate, but you also got to credit out uh the guys in the like I remember Cody Dinault, one of your uh outfielders now playing in college, just had a laser for an arm out there knocking guys out, trying to trying to come in from third, and you would think this guy's at the fence. And he just freaking got nailed on a bounce ball to the catcher because it's in a good spot there. So all right, what were we we're here at Clay Radio? Yeah, yeah, I get so excited uh about the because that's what fascinates me about baseball.
SPEAKER_05It's so minute things more science than physical than anything else.
SPEAKER_04So what makes you veto? Let's go there, Braden.
SPEAKER_02Um you don't do it because you gotta go back to the dugout if your guy hits a home run. Right, right. I'll say two or three times a game. Yeah. Is it just the feel? I just know.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I just it's his and I tell him like a committed pitch is the right pitch. So I can call the the wrong pitch or the right pitch, but if he does if he doesn't think it's the right pitch, it's the wrong pitch. Yeah, yeah. So that's what I tell him, like, shake, shake. I mean, be committed. It's whenever they put the stats out, or when you publish the pitcher, it's him, it's not me that gives up the home run or who gets to celebrate the strikeout.
SPEAKER_04Because I always like and you've seen some of my photos. I know where like your hand is here and and I look at this, or I look at the you know where the fingers are chalked over and whatnot, like, okay, what is that? What is that? Yeah, screwball coming, I don't know, a curveball, or or just and then you know, he's got the whole hand on it. That's like throwing the lightning bolt down there. And uh but do you ever do you ever come up against a batter that befuddles you, perplexes you? Or you too, coach, because you have to dictate.
SPEAKER_02Um, not really.
SPEAKER_04I would say so.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and I just say there's some that are really hard to get out. I mean, I mean it's you know, we know it's gonna be tough. Even when as good as his stuff is, sometimes the the hitters are really good. Like we play IMG, you know, he pitched against them two weeks ago. They had some really good hitters. I mean, he he made some really good pitches, they made some really good swings. You know, the other guys get scholarship offers as well. Yeah, and so we're gonna get into your your visit on the pen then, but we're gonna get the third guy over here casen Jones.
SPEAKER_04Jones are Johns, John's Jones, Kasen, he spells it K-A-E-N-S-K-A-E-S-O-N. It's different. It's different. But he had the monster grand slam a couple of games ago that uh made the made the sports pages there. So now let me ask you, when you practice against him, do you s do do you give him feedback and saying, hey, I saw this when you pitched it and I knew what was coming?
SPEAKER_03Um he gets a lot of his feedback based on the swings. Other time it's not good swings. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um is that but so when when the batter swings, you know if you put it in the right spot?
SPEAKER_02Um yes, definitely. Um most of the time if I put it in the right spot, they're not gonna hit it. If they do, it's it's I miss the pitch.
SPEAKER_04But the but the flip side of that, and coach, you back me on this, is is the batting lineup at St. John's is monstrous. These guys, Cason Jones, John's over there, everybody's hitting. I think you're what, seven guys over 300? Yeah. Right now, as a team, we're hitting over 300. That's a good problem to have it there. So, in practice, with you, uh uh Ethan, Ethan, Ethan Bessel is the other guy, Mason Milton, Madden Williams.
SPEAKER_06Madden Williams, another pitcher. Um, we've got Gavin Coffee who's been happy.
SPEAKER_04Coffee, he's been hot, yeah. So we're gonna take a break. Tim's giving me the hi-ho here. We'll come back. We'll we'll talk. We did I get so excited here now. We missed everything. We need we've got to get Johns back in here. He's not talked a little bit. Johns, we'll come back to you. We'll be right back. After this. We're back. Randy Leftco Clay Day Sports Editor, Tim Mooney on the board. We got Tom Lucas, St. John's Country Day baseball coach, Braden Harris, flamethrower on the mound for them. Kasen Johns, the big bat over there. We left off with Casey Johns because I was getting so so freaky about uh uh uh Brandon Harris's his pitching expertise here. Kasen, tell me what you do. What do you play?
SPEAKER_03Um I'm a center fielder.
SPEAKER_04Center fielder, so you have the laser arm. Who is your center fielder?
SPEAKER_06Wasn't it uh we had Jordan Taylor probably was the biggest arm we've ever had out there.
SPEAKER_04And how do you how do you keep a guy with that kind of arm off the mound?
SPEAKER_06Or is it a different with Kate Kasen warmed up last night, so he almost came in last night.
SPEAKER_04So can you throw 95?
SPEAKER_03I cannot. No, he's he's one of the kind. Um but no, yeah, I take pride in playing center. Um we had our right footer who's another big bat for us, Mason Jones, just came off came off an injury last year, and then we have Braden. So it's kind of in the middle of tracking everything because we can't have him getting hurt or Mason. So and Mason and him are big bats for us, so we don't want to take risks. Um but no, we have I think we have the best, one of the if not the best outfit in Florida.
SPEAKER_04So you got the best feel. I don't care. I don't think you don't have a weak spot. Um catcher, you know, you're all over the place. You your your talent is there, obviously. You're playing. Let's go where that we're we'll we'll prove this by by who they're playing, even though uh Coach Lucas is not afraid to get beat up. You know, they went to the panhandle, they played the Texas State Champs, they played IMG, top five in the country, maybe. They played uh uh the Alabama state champion. Came back a little bruised, had some wins on him, but when him and I talked, you know what? You gotta know what you know. Right kind of stuff. And uh and uh and I asked him at the time, what do the players perceive from doing that? Let me get uh uh Coach Lucas talking about the objective of it, and then we'll have the boys talk about the reality of it.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so I mean, and I tell him, I mean we preach this all the time, you know, a lot of times they're so much better than the other team that they play that they can play bad and win. But when you go play an event like that, a national tournament, you're gonna play ING Academy that can go get, you know, everyone on the team is a D1 commit. If you play bad, you're gonna get embarrassed. You know, you can play good and still lose, but I I'm just trying to emphasize to them the the necessity that every play matters and that they need to play at their best. And if they play at their best, then they can expect to win. But they when you go to an event like that and we we didn't play good in a few games, we we we messed up in the first game playing IMG, um, which I was a really very competitive game. They were number one team in the country.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Um and they beat us by two, and we had bases loaded in the last inning with a chance to walk it off. But we but we played bad. I mean they they scored eight, but only two earned runs, you know. So and so the lesson to them is that's what happens. If you can we we have big goals, you know. You know, we we play a lot of good teams around here, but our we have really big goals. We want to get to Fort Myers and we want to win a state championship. And I want to emphasize to those guys if we get beat down there playing our best, we can live with that. But it that's a really bad bus ride when you come back from Fort Myers and you know you didn't play yeah, and you didn't play well and you just and you lost the state title. So that the whole season is trying to get them to understand that.
SPEAKER_04Now, our two players, what what do you gather as far as your uh mental intel when a game when games like that? I think it was 16-0 to the Bennett School, number one team in in Texas, and then IMG of course was closed. They had Hartzall on the ropes, and then uh the the kind of the pitching failed at the end, I believe, and then but you also come home and you you go 5-0, 8-0, 4-3 against Flagler, and 2-1 against Baldwin, to uh probably playoff contenders going. So you have four teams in a row that you know coming from that level of nationally ranked kids to to state, you guys rock and roll uh right after it. So there was no what moping? Would you call it moping?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I would go I mean there's no hangover. Hangover. That's the best way.
SPEAKER_04But what do you guys feel when you're coming back on the bus? What is what is being told to you as far as uh assimilating what just happened and bringing it home?
SPEAKER_02Um it was a little frustrating losing two really close games to those teams, but we just take what we learn. We just we learn from that and then we come back with the same confidence.
SPEAKER_04What's the biggest learning thing you had as a pitcher?
SPEAKER_02Um missed pitch is less because really good hitters will take advantage of it. Find it. Yeah, missing pitches. You almost can never miss pitches.
SPEAKER_04Is a missed pitch like the missed spot or not quite as fast as you wanted it to go? What's that what's a bad pitch on your vernacular?
SPEAKER_02Usually the location of the pitch.
SPEAKER_04And they can find it.
SPEAKER_02That's pretty much every time it's the location of the pitch.
SPEAKER_04So how when you go from the pitcher's arm to the right over the plate, how fast is that? Like tell me when you I know you guys every ever have like this when you're clocking other guys. How fast, how much time does the batter have to recognize what's coming down the pike? That's not much. Like two seconds?
SPEAKER_05Under a second. Yeah. Under a second? Under a second. You have to figure out you're watching the the seams, you're watching the hand release, you're watching the slot angle of the arm.
SPEAKER_04What do you look at? What how do how do you get your bat across the room?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, let me let me know. What are you looking at?
SPEAKER_04You're like a 360, you got like 16 RBIs and a bunch of stuff there. So you're the most prolific, I think. Well, you're you're right behind it with 14.
SPEAKER_03The biggest thing with hitting is timing. If you don't have your timing, you it's um dang near impossible to hit, and it's already hard enough. Um, so it starts from the second you see the pitcher warm-up pregame, you gotta get your timing, and then you gotta you gotta know what he throws. Um, and then from there it's like, what game plan are you on? Are you on fastball adjust, or has he been throwing a lot of off-speed first pitch to people? Um and then whenever it gets in the box, just I usually uh if they have consistent release point, I kind of look at the spot the release point's in and then pick up the ball. On the mound as it's coming, uh then pick up the ball from there.
SPEAKER_04Um you do do you see the laces as they say in the pros? When people are throwing 95, no.
SPEAKER_03You don't you don't see the laces. Uh you can see spin, um, but you usually it just depends on what type of game plan you're on. So usually it's fastball adjust for me. Um if I'm aggressive, I can hit that fastball usually in early counts.
SPEAKER_04Um so is it like golf where your swing is is the same all the time and it's a matter of the ball being in the the zone of the bat or are your hands adjusting as you s I mean I I it it it really is fascinating to me that the ball's coming 90 miles an hour and these guys are still hitting it. You know, because I was at the jumbo shoot when I they had like ten bucks to take uh ten pitches at sixty miles an hour. And if you hit it in the infield, you get a hot dog, you hit it in the outfield, you get a hot dog in a beer, and if you hit it out of the park, you get like season tickets. And I think I hit it back to the pitching machine. Although I hit it. I was proud just to make contact because sixty miles an hour looked like you know four hundred miles an hour for me. So what do you what do you when you swing it? Is it like a golf swing? Because those guys pick a club and if they say I need a hundred and eighty yards, uh you know, the caddy's like, uh, you know, do the three, do the four and uh do I gotta go up or do I gotta go straight? And they they pick a club, not I'm gonna smash this thing and Hope it gets there.
SPEAKER_03Um I'd say it's pretty different. The b uh the golf ball is stationary. It's not moving at ninety-five. Um and it also can't move up and down, side to side, sink, uh rise or anything.
SPEAKER_04Well that's why it's fascinating. That's a good point. I because when you when when I was in there and that guy I mean, I'm sure the pitching machine doesn't have a curveball. Some do. Some do. Well, no, I mean when they were doing it, the charity thing for us, they were just chucking it in there, and it still looked fast.
SPEAKER_05And it's all uh a mental game. Like look uh who is it? Yogi Berra said 60% of the game's half mental. And you're wondering if you gotta choke up. Are you in a 3-2 scenario?
SPEAKER_04You guys know who Yogi Bear is? Yes.
SPEAKER_05You don't know who Yogi Berra is? No, you're not. You can know history of the game. Yogi Berra, one of the greatest catchers in Major League history, played for the Yankees, ten rings.
SPEAKER_00And eight over two, it's over.
SPEAKER_05But um, it all depends on the situation as well. If you're uh down by two, you got runners on first, and you're the score.
SPEAKER_04Uh that's the that's the You got to do the science behind it.
SPEAKER_05It's all situations.
SPEAKER_04This guy comes up with bases loaded six days.
SPEAKER_06Right?
SPEAKER_04So do you give him a green light to let it rip, or did you hit it and and make contact and it felt good? Like, oh, I think I got a grand because you came out of the Battisbach as excited as when you returned after the third, the third, uh, third base uh move.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah. I I wasn't you're never going up there looking at a home run, uh especially the position I'm in. I'm not a home run hitter.
SPEAKER_04Um that was a home run. It was a line drive, Tim. It wasn't a lofter.
SPEAKER_03Um I'm usually sitting uh middle way.
SPEAKER_04Um what number are you in the lineup?
SPEAKER_03Usually six. Six six. Right behind uh Jonas Wells.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um so like I'm I was sitting middle way, and I just I got he wasn't coming very fast. Um so I got that fastball in and I adjusted, and I just I just got a barrel to it, and it was on the line. It wasn't like this big high fly ball. Um and I knew I got it. Yeah, it was.
SPEAKER_04It was a line drag, boop, right to the bottom.
SPEAKER_03I knew it got enough whenever I saw the left fielder's back, he stopped running and I'd so when you so when you That's how stupid I am.
SPEAKER_04So when you see it coming, are you going, oh damn, Harry? This is this is I'm I'm clinking this bad boy.
SPEAKER_03I'm just trying to get barreled to it. Uh be on time, get barreled to it, and just see what happens. Trust my swing.
SPEAKER_04And what do you say? When you when you are watching as the coach, and you're you know no, he he just kind of like this and he gives the signal out there, and then all of a sudden, bang, this guy will do you guys like I guess you film him. Um we do have you film swings and hits and whatnot and look at them to analyze stuff like that.
SPEAKER_06But I I mean I've got a very good view from where I'm coach of. I can see the side.
SPEAKER_04So on on that one He's running the firing range of foul ball. I stand by the case.
SPEAKER_06Coach Carter got hit last night. Yeah, I mean it barely missed me by like an inch and smoking.
SPEAKER_04These guys that are smoking these balls over here, and I'm on the over there behind the dugout uh fence over there, and and uh these guys are right. They almost you guys almost took out a one of the other coaches the other day I saw. He jumped.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's very tight at St. John's. Very tight. But I saw it coming. Um they missed on their location and he made them pay.
SPEAKER_04You saw the pitch before it got to him?
SPEAKER_06I saw it was fastball, and then you're just and that they missed. Like I know what they were trying to do, they missed and he made them pay.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Two minutes.
SPEAKER_06Two minutes.
SPEAKER_04I thought we had a break thing up there. Okay. So so was that your biggest hit ever? Have you ever had a grand slam? Um being that you told me you're not a home run hit.
SPEAKER_03Maybe once. Maybe. Yeah. Um, but no, it was it was a good swing in a big moment where we needed insurance just for more.
SPEAKER_04Where'd the bat go? I know you got excited when you because you kind of looped into the almost into the dugout.
SPEAKER_03I'm big on like putting my head down and just taking off, even if I know it's gone. Um and he's not big on bat flip, so I'm I'm making sure I don't make boss man mad.
SPEAKER_04So Raiden, what was your have you had a grand slam? I know you're a you're a big uh Um no, I've never hit a Grand Slam. How many home runs have you had?
SPEAKER_02Um this year I don't have any. What? I hit two in the preseason, but I haven't hit one yet.
SPEAKER_04Why not?
SPEAKER_06He's saving them for this week.
SPEAKER_04Saving them for this week. You guys, hey, I can tell you, I can guarantee you this guy knows how to hit the uh the big ones in the playoff games because what two years when you win the state title, I think every game into the state title was a walk-off. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Regional final, final four state championship.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, every game was a walk-off of uh then the final game was a walk-off steal.
SPEAKER_06Walk-off pass ball on a strikeout. Very fancy stuff.
SPEAKER_04Oh wow, that's a horrible way to lose.
SPEAKER_06And uh was it who was it, George? Um no, George had gotten all the walk-offs. He got the walk-off in the regional final, he got the walk-off Gilson. Yeah, he's done at Flagler. Yeah, I think he's up to seven home runs, I think, so far this year for Flagler. But um Gibby Gillian was he was at the plate and he's the guy who struck out, and Connor Osteen is the one who was at third. Third base, courtesy running for Hunter.
SPEAKER_04Well, see that now that we always talk about with our kids about knowing the game and whatnot. Now, if he was a kid that didn't know the game or the coach didn't tell him, hey man, if he drops the ball, run because you got a guy on third, because it was an absolute perfect uh scenario, and it just worked, you know, you get your bounce if you're not ready to get the bounce.
SPEAKER_05That's one of those situations that rarely ever happens. So that's a I mean, that's a heads-up play. That's the player being coached right, being head head on the swivel, being able to watch the game instead of just sitting there third.
SPEAKER_04Scenario coach and boys, who is the hero?
SPEAKER_06Well, that's that's what the funniest moment about that whole thing was because we didn't dogpile on the guy who scored. They all ran to the guy who struck out down in the outfield. He came across and he was standing by the time. They ran right behind him. It was the craziest thing, you know. I didn't I don't get involved in the dogpiles, but I noticed that. I was like, why are we running to the guy? We're literally yelling at him, see the ball up. See, they kept throwing him curveballs in the dirt.
SPEAKER_04And that was what, Miami Doral?
SPEAKER_06Wasn't that that was Miami Christian.
SPEAKER_04Miami Christian. All right, we're gonna go on a break. See, I remember all this stuff. Uh and uh St. John's baseball. We'll be back with Tom Lucas, Brayton Harris, and uh, and Casey Johns over there. We'll be back. All right, right after this. Play County Sports fans, we're back. Right, go play the sports header. We're gonna go, Tim, right into the old. You ready? Lap around the county. Take your breath. I know we got baseball guys here, we've had softball guys here, uh, but the track team at Oakleaf, the boy, the girls four by one hundred. It was uh Tamia McMillan, Reyna Lawson, Ania Boosey, and uh and Jasmine Silk, with Lawson the only senior. I tell you, this is this is one of the coolest stories because Lawson is the only senior going to UNLV, gonna be coached by Olympic bronze medals, five-time world champion sprinter, right? Massive. Has never won a Bob Hayes trophy or medal, stuff like that. So she somehow intimated to her team, I want to win a medal before I leave. Two of the girls, Silkert and McMillan, win their heats in the 100 meter uh hundred dash, right? So now they're in the the final, they're they're within, you know, half a second of winning a gold medal themselves, whatnot. The the Boosie girl was in the 200, and Lawson was also in the 200. And Boosie was in the long jump. And the other so the f the hundred comes up, Silkert and uh McMillan finish last purposely.
SPEAKER_06Oh wow.
SPEAKER_04Boosie goes into the 200 or in the long jump. She guys she does pretty well there because that's early in the that's before all the track meet. She gets fourth and that kind of stuff. And uh, and then Lawson is in the 200, but that's uh that's later on after the four, but the two the all three of the girls made a pact of themselves. We are going to give up our races to get Raina the gold medal. So in the prelims, they win that fastest qualifier, 4661. Basically in cruise control. So yeah, Rebo chasing them, Miami Northwest chasing them. They had um the Bulls School, B U L L S out of out of Maryland there. So they come back and uh coach uh Shane Mancy said their whole thing was keep the baton moving. Just give it to Raina, who was the second leg. So McMillan gives it a second leg and Lawson explodes down the back stretch. Gives uh Boosie and uh and Silicon enough room that they all they had to do was hold off uh Rebold and Wokaiva was in it. So they went in 4641. It was amazing. And so when I was told the story about the other girls, because like what happened to those dude? They get hurt I mean they were and but it was so fast, and if you don't know, Bob Hayes is uh is one of the biggest uh high school track meets in the country. Uh and to do that, especially in the four by one, because uh Bob Hayes, you know, was the hundred gold medalist and the fastest guy on the planet kind of stuff. So the hundred is the bread and butter thing in there, and the and the announcer that they have there was fantastic, talking about, and here we go, we're going into the final thing, and Oakleave is up ahead. Here you go, and bang, she wins the thing. So I thought that was, you know, we have it in the front page of this of uh Clay Today Sports here. But around the county here, we got baseball, Clay's at 8-8. Oh, we got a they got a pretty a couple of pretty good games coming up the uh tonight and tomorrow with St. John's Country Day. Is that becoming the rivalry for your coach?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I would say in the county, that's our our biggest rival.
SPEAKER_04And for Braden, uh one of the games you might know. Well, you don't have to divulge which game you're gonna pitch for.
SPEAKER_06Oh, everybody knows. I mean, it's not he starts every Thursday.
SPEAKER_04Oh, you think they're gonna put uh uh Ryland McMahon as their Florida? Now you're a Florida State commit, and Ryland, I think, is Florida, so we could have a little uh cold, blue, and orange uh kind of thing going on there. We're hoping because it'd be pretty silly my front page to picture the two of them looking at each other like throwing daggers. So uh uh Thursday uh at your place and then my place at 7 o'clock. And then Friday at Clay after that. Fleming Island, 12 and 6. Mike Martino got his third 300th win of the past week. Connor Massey's been hot with the bat over there. They're another one that last year they were all young. They got beat up. Now their son to exact a little bit of payback for people. 5-4 win over uh Fletcher. Although we'll go back to Clay, they just got beat 12-0 by Jesuit, and you think, oh my god, they're really not that good. But McMahon, the guy that we're gonna go one-on-one with, he was perfect. They both had they had a picture of Samir Mahal going to LSU. He was he hit now. I was in the back of the the the backstop and they had the the the radar and he hit 99 twice while I was sitting there.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, he's the number 127 right-handed arm in the country.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so so uh, but it was only one nothing into the sixth inning when they pulled McMahon, and then uh uh Josh Persinger put in the the Ethan guy, Ethan Mathis did pretty well, but then after that, a whole series of areas went up 12-0. So you think 12-0 Jesuit just did their job, but Clay's right there, and and Josh Persinger even told me, say man, you know what? We we just get in the tournament. We're the most dangerous team in the tournament in 4A. Middleburg, Alan Burns hit over there. He's I've always considered him the most dangerous coach in the in the county because he's won things with with uh non-winning records. Now he's 11-4. I'm probably jinxing them by saying that. Uh they just be a good Yule team, 11-8. They got OP coming twice home and away. And OP also is a dangerous team. I think they're nine and five playing Clay tonight at St. John's River uh uh college out there. So uh if uh if Clay is thinking of St. John's, then George Etheridge out there might pull a rabbit out of his hat there. Ridgeview is eight and seven. They've had a tough uh last week of the season with some good teams. So uh but Saul Jimenez is uh is uh is a good coach out there getting back. Oakley 5-12. Oakleaf has played as monstrous schedule in Florida as these guys have played out of Florida. So, you know, they've got some losses, but they they uh they almost beat they almost had you guys right. 5-4, wasn't that the game? Oakley? Yes, it was 5-4 in the end of the seventh inning. Now the second half of the season, you got uh you got the clay guys coming, you got a Georgia uh visit. You're all out of Georgia, correct?
SPEAKER_06We're gonna we'll be hosting three Georgia teams.
SPEAKER_04Oh, they're coming here?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, they're all coming here.
SPEAKER_04North Gwinnett 6A, Parkview 4A, North Oconey, uh 4A, number one. So no rest for the weary?
SPEAKER_06No, that's something Josh Person or Josh Baker put together with Baker Sports, so that's gonna we're gonna play in the Baker Sports Florida, Georgia Showdown. Um so those three teams are coming down.
SPEAKER_04At your place or somewhere in Jacksonville?
SPEAKER_06So the um those three teams will rotate between St. John's, um Bishop Snyder, and Bowls.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and so um, we're gonna actually have a home run derby the Monday night before.
SPEAKER_04Is that all at St. John's Country Day?
SPEAKER_06No, we'll host our games, and then at the same time there'll be games going on at um the other two locations. Oh, that's pretty deep. Yeah, so it'll be it's a really good event.
SPEAKER_04So when you guys know you got you got your final what probably two weeks before districts, how do you how do you mentally gear up knowing that the rest of your schedule is still monstrous, and then you get into the into the 1A district uh playoffs regional stuff like that. How do you how do you not kind of take your foot off the pedal a little bit for districts?
SPEAKER_02We definitely have to be a lot from every team we play. Every team we play is trying to beat us no matter no matter what.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um so we just have to keep just thinking every day, just go day by day and dominate every team, and then get a district's regional dominate all those teams too.
SPEAKER_04Hopefully I'm not jinxing you, but you've been pretty consistent over the year with the uh near 400, three, what, 364, I think I wrote down. Is that what you're batting? Something like that, 16 RBI. So uh what's the key? What's the key to keeping keeping consistent, or is it just knowing that uh Lucas will kick you in the pants?
SPEAKER_03Um also uh just making sure because you're gonna have a different swing every day, I bet. You gotta do your job while you're up there. Um especially that's been my role this year. So just coming up there, whether I need to sack bunt, bump for a hit, uh get a guy get a guy over. Um just trying to catch a barrel. Whichever one. Uh just making sure we're doing our jobs at the plate, and that'll that sets us up for success.
SPEAKER_04Who's the uh uh well I who's the unknown presence on the team that could be the the the critical guy? You know, everybody knows about him and him and Jonas Wells.
SPEAKER_06We've got a lot of guys have stepped up. I would I would say the first half of the year, Jonas Wells has probably been one of those guys that kind of stepped up the most. Five-hole hitters gotta be a really good hitter. You know, the four-hole guy is kind of your boom or bust guy, you can afford him to strike out, he's gonna hit some bombs. That's our Mason Jones. But the and sometimes teams will pitch around that guy because they're so scared of the home run. So you gotta have somebody five-hole that's really good. And Jonas Wells has had had a phenomenal year. Um, but you know, this year, our our six through nine um on any given night has really kind of picked the team. Last night it was Madden Williams. Um he had a really good night.
SPEAKER_04He was a pretty O.
SPEAKER_06He wasn't even a positional player, he was only gonna be a pitcher only, and he kept doing well, and he kept doing well, and we're like, we finally met with him. Like, you're gonna have to kind of go two-way. We're not real deep being such a small school. Um, and he's had some big hits for us.
SPEAKER_04So is FSU looking at you primarily as pitcher, or do they like your batting average as well too?
SPEAKER_02Um they they definitely like my hitting, but we'll we'll see how that goes.
SPEAKER_04If um they they they allow big time pitches to get into in the batter's buttons?
SPEAKER_02Um sometimes they do, but it it just depends.
SPEAKER_06If I'm pitching a lot and they want me to rest and not hit that's they came into town last week just to keep the pitch going on right now about don't go in the draft, don't don't sign, like we really need you to be one of our starting pitchers. Like they are all in on this guy, which is which is awesome.
SPEAKER_04So in the in the um you just had me, you just threw me off my guard there. Uh uh another scene. In the in the in the small school environment, are you guys uh you know walk the hallways with massive street cred? I always I asked a girls' soccer team this thing, and also uh little uh what's his name? Bryce Fion in the seventh grader with the state title. Do people know who you are now when you're walking walking through the hallways uh at St. John's? Well you they probably do. You're like nine feet tall.
SPEAKER_02Yes, a lot of the a lot of the younger kids will know you, even if you you don't see 'em much, but they definitely look up to you and I I try to talk to them a lot and help you. It is, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Because I know Carson Pickett always comes back that one of the probably the greatest soccer player out of uh the North Florida, if not Florida area, is always one that comes in and walks the hallways, comes out and stuff like that. But in that environment, when when you have less than 250 b kids, let alone boys, to to put together a state level. When did it start clicking for you? I guess five years ago.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, um 19, 20, somewhere right in that. But what I love about St. John's is the K through twelve, you know. So these guys get young kids. I mean, so we've got young kids on campus, so it's not just high school kids. Um, like he's getting asked all the time, you know, can I get a ball and get Braden to autograph it and things like that from one of the third or fourth graders up at the school? Um and it's so tight and in the stands a lot of times, you'll have little league teams and stuff like that will be up there. So that's what's really good about the environment at St. John's Country Day of being a small school, but being a K through 12 and having that family type of.
SPEAKER_04Now, do you do you do anything with the middle school as far as brokering the talent from there to stay at St. John's and move into the realms? Because I know what with with Mike Pickett, I mean, he has sixth and seventh graders playing state championship soccer games. And I think that was the the the groundwork for what's going on. You got a seventh grader winning a state title, you got track guys, uh the the cross country girls are all seventh, eighth grade freshman girls going to state cross country, you know. So the youngsters come in, and I see a lot of your guys in your batting cages that are like three feet tall.
SPEAKER_06Well, when I got hired, I mean, I tried to copy everything that Mike Pickett was doing. And so I quickly learned one of the biggest advantages I had was the ability to get my hands on sixth graders and put them in the same environment as varsity. And so we kind of had a rule if a seventh or eighth grader was as good as an 11th or 12th grader, we played the seventh or eighth grader because I was gonna have those kids for five or six years and I could convince them to stay. Um so that first really, really good team with Brad Hodges and Finn Howe and all those guys, they played as seventh and eighth graders. So um, you know, that's one of the you know secret stars.
SPEAKER_04Who who who whose autograph did you get when you came to say who who mentored you in St. John's when you got there? Um you came over what from Barstrop Trail?
SPEAKER_02Uh Trinity.
SPEAKER_04Trinity, oh, so you came from good to good to better. Yes.
SPEAKER_02I like that. I like that. Um I knew a lot of the kids. Already, yeah. Yeah, I knew some of the kids. I've I've heard a lot of good things about them, so I knew I was gonna fit in pretty good.
SPEAKER_04Casey, how long have you been in St. John's?
SPEAKER_02Uh this is my first year.
SPEAKER_03I came over I came over from Baldwin.
SPEAKER_04From Baldwin? Oh, you guys just did they did they did they sneer at you last night? No, no, it was all good.
SPEAKER_03It was all good. Um, I've been I played for Tom Coach Tom's travel ball team for a while, and every time we had practice, there was always two people up there, Brad Hodges and Jordan Taylor. I just thought that was fascinating.
SPEAKER_04Now, Hodges uh was your guy that went to Virginia?
SPEAKER_06Went to Virginia, graduated there, and now he's uh World Series guy.
SPEAKER_04Who else you got at? I know you got guys at University of North Florida.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I got a bunch at UNF. We've got Cody Denalt's at FSCJ, um Kyle Boston's at FAU. Boston, that's the guy. Yeah, yeah. We've got them all. Who's Denult? Is he still playing? FSCJ.
SPEAKER_04Oh, how about um who was uh uh uh the guy who got hurt, Strathman.
SPEAKER_06Strathman's at UNF. Oh, really? Yep, he was at the game last not less hard.
SPEAKER_04He was the guy that during that their run couldn't play because he was hurt, and uh, had he been able to play, it'd have been it'd have been a mop-up. He was a he was a wicked pitcher. So uh we appreciate you guys coming, man. Casey Johns and Brayden Harris. You got you got another monster week or two of uh of games uh against monster teams. Coach Lucas doesn't give you guys any rest. And uh so good luck with the Georgia boys and uh the Baker Sports thing you call it?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, Baker Sports Invitation.
SPEAKER_04All the all this week, and uh we got Clay tonight, Clay tomorrow, and then uh we are into the playoffs and that state championship run.
SPEAKER_05Crazy, it's right around the corner. Uh how can they listen to this show, Randy?
SPEAKER_04Thursday, 7 o'clock on clay radio.com. Also Spotify, I sent you that one. You can listen to the uh previous shows there if you want to get a get an idea of how silly we are.
SPEAKER_05Well, you got Spotify, Apple Podcasts, any other podcast you can look up, just type in Clay Radio. You can find every show.
SPEAKER_04I know you guys, Scramola is uh Johnny Network uh media mogul. Yeah, yeah. So that'll be good. And uh we just appreciate you guys taking the time. I know you're in a busy schedule. I'm glad I was able to catch you on a on a Wednesday, but uh Clay Day Radio Bell. Here we go.
SPEAKER_05All right, we're out of here. Have a good day. See you guys next week.