ORANGE PARK – The Clay Blue Devils scored 29 runs in two games dominating the back-to-back district baseball contests against Orange Park this week. On Wednesday, Clay scored 11 runs in the first two innings of a 16-1 victory over the Raiders. The very next night, they scored 7 runs in the first inning in a 13-0 against Orange Park.
It’s been the start to district play that head coach Josh Persinger was looking for.
“I schedule our district games toward the end of the year, so every game is like a playoff game for us”.
Persinger believes that he can get the best out of his players with a heightened since of urgency in do or die baseball. With the wins, Clay improved to 10-5 on the season 2-0 in district play. They understand that they must continue their hot pace to stay close to Ponte Vedra (4-0) and Ridgeview (4-0) in district play.
What they hadn’t been able to do early in the season is put the bat on the balls consistently. The Blue Devils found their rhythm against the Raiders thanks to Andrew Yarbrough. He’s excelled in driving the ball deep and bringing in runs.
“We’ve had a couple of hard practices, and we’ve just been working hard; said Yarbrough “We want to open district play really well.”
The Blue Devils have not only been able to swing the bat well the last two games, but they’d pitched better as well. One of the reasons is pitcher Dylan Faulkner who gave up only one run against Orange Park the first night.
“I feel like we have settled down and once I did that I was able to throw strikes” said Faulkner.
They are just two players of a team that seems more confident and focused going down the stretch.
” We ran into a very good Clay team, who is playing extremely well together” Orange Park head coach Michael Harrison said. “We are a young team, so we have a lot of growing to do, to gain more experience. ”
Orange Park looks to finish strong after a tough 1-11 start.
As for Clay they get Menendez next week before facing Ridgeview and Ponte Vedra in three district show downs. “
“We play an extremely tough schedule, and every game for us is preparation for trying to get into the playoffs” said coach Persinger.
With many returning players, and experience on their side, Clay hopes to peak late for a post season push. They showed this week with their impressive victories that they are fully capable of playing their best baseball on the road to the post-season.
