GREEN COVE SPRINGS - As the week of April 9-13 approached, the ingredients for a perfect two-game baseball series started to build up as Clay and Ridgeview high schools were on a collision course to determine the top seed for the uber-competitive district 4-6A lineup.

Clay, with two wins over Menendez in the bag, and Ridgeview, with two wins over Ponte Vedra, stood as the top two teams in the running for the coveted top seed and the first round bye in the championship tournament in a week. Clay, though, still has Ponte Vedra to play in the final two-game series of the season though the former Final Four Sharks are at the tail end of a five game losing streak; including two to Ridgeview.

Clay High, a region finalist last year after losing the district final to Ponte Vedra, was riding a five-game winning streak. Ridgeview, the district champion over Clay in 2016, was on 11 straight victories and the weather was picture perfect. Clay beat Ridgeview in the district 4-5A title game in 2015 to start the annual rivalry in the first championship game between the two former Clay players; coaches Persinger and Sgromolo, who also coached under former Clay head coach Rob Thompson on the 2014 Class 5A runnerup team that lost to Tampa Jesuit.

Game one on Thursday afternoon at Tippy Roberts field on the Ridgeview High School campus saw Clay build an early lead, build on it and close out a 6-1 win with the help of a late inning homer from senior Connor Solomon.

“As long as we keep winning, our season doesn’t end” said Clay Head Coach Josh Persinger. “Our speech after the Thursday win was less about great job today, and more about finish the job tomorrow.”

Clay used the game two Friday night game at Clay High School to host the Mrs. McCool honor night to debut pink jerseys and rile up the huge home crowd. McCool was a sports fan of all Blue Devils athletics and lost a long battle with cancer recently.

On Friday night, in front of a packed crowd behind both dugouts, Ridgeview threw every weapon they had in their arsenal to even to series, but again it was the Blue Devils that got ahead early in a big way, then defensively pin down the Panthers, never allowing them to catch their breath or build any sort of momentum as Clay again rolled the Panthers 6-1, owning the two-game series and firmly grasping the lead in district 4-6A.

“Anytime you play a good team like Ridgeview or Fleming, you have to strike first” said Persinger, who lost a 3-2 decision to Fleming Island after giving up three runs in the first inning.

Ridgeview’s last hope to derail Clay comes on the backs of the Ponte Vedra Sharks as Clay has one last division opponent to face. Ridgeview handedly disposed of the Sharks 11-0, and 5-0 the week prior. If Clay falls to the Sharks this week, it will come down to tie rules to see who takes the division title.

“Baseball is one of the best games in the world because just when you feel like you have it figured out, not that I’m saying we do, but when you think things are going well, this game humbles you,” said Ridgeview coach John Sgromolo. “Our pitching carried us all season and we just broke an 11-game winning streak. It was all because we were throwing strike one, and today we didn’t do that. Today was a huge teachable moment. You have to handle your business and today we didn’t do that. We didn’t do what we were supposed to do.”

In Thursday night’s event, Ridgeview hurt themselves early when Kevin Jackson, the first Blue Devil at bat, was hit by Panther’s hurler Evan Wickeri, who then walked Nick Barrie putting Blue Devil runners on first and second base. Tyler Spence stepped up next and crushed the ball into right field for a two-run double to put the Devils up 2-0 quickly in the top of the first.

With Ridgeview unable to answer the runs, Clay was back at work with Zack Morris singling to left field, Kevin Jackson singling off third baseman Austin Kittle, then Nick Barrie with an RBI single scoring Morris, 3-0.

In the top of the fourth, Clay again turned up the wick with a Dylan Faulkner double, followed up with a Nick Barrie RBI single to put Clay up 4-0.

“Two was not enough at the time,” said Persinger. “Staying in it one through seven is what we really did today.”

Ridgeview did show a spark in the bottom of the sixth when Even Wickeri tripled to lead off the inning, followed by a Maury Gonzalez RBI single. Clay finished up with a Zack Morris RBI double to score Connor Solomon in the fifth, capped off with a Connor Solomon solo home run, taking the first pitch, to lead off the top of the seventh inning to seal the game.

Friday the 13th, back at Clay again struck fast to a 3-0 lead through the second off Chase Holman reaching on an error and Andy Yarbrough whisking a single before Zach Morris slammed a second single to score Holman. Kevin Jackson kept the run going with a single to load the bases before Barrie belted a line drive to left field to score the game 3-0.

Sgromolo quickly pulled starting pitcher Marcus Roman for senior Brandon Dumas, but Spence landed an RBI single to score Jackson for a 4-0 lead.

“The offense has come on late. Coming in we were not concerned about hitting” said Persinger. “The first 10 games we were batting around .200 as a team. We’ve hit a lot and we are peaking late. Some of these guys are hitting .500 and you don’t really hear about them. We’ve got it to work.”

With Solomon on the mound, Ridgeview got a wild pitch with baserunners to score their lone run off a Dumas grounder.

Solomon finished all seven innings allowing four hits, posting 11 strikeouts, and only a single walk.

“My team makes it easy on me knowing I have that defense behind me if I make a mistake,” said Solomon. “It’s a total team effort and my guys are always there for me.”