JACKSONVILLE – Ridgeview High’s baseball team closed out their season with a tough 5-4 loss to Paxon High in the region 1-6A quarterfinal held Wed., May 15 at Paxon High.
With just two starting seniors on the team, pitcher Evan Wickeri and catcher Anthony Roman, Ridgeview coach John Sgromolo praised the finishing surge of his Panthers who combined late regular season wins over both Clay, a 6A Final Four finisher last year, and 4A-power Trinity Christian, set to play in the region 1-4A final against Episcopal on Sat., May 18.
“Evan didn’t have it tonight,” said Sgromolo. “Logan (reliever Logan Morris) did a great job keeping us in the game.”
Going into the season, Sgromolo and his team set goals of finishing at or above .500 and to make the playoffs.
Unfortunately, Wednesday night the Ridgeview baseball season came to an end against Paxon on a walk off single season in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“You have to give credit to Paxon,” said Sgromolo. “They were aggressive at the plate.”
The Panthers season ends at 13-13 while Paxon (19-6) will host Terry Parker in a regional semifinal game on Sat., May 18. Ponte Vedra, the district 4-6A champion over Ridgeview, lost 7-5 to Terry Parker in their region opener.
The Eagles came from behind two different times in the game eventually walking off on an RBI single off the bat of a Marshall Thompson scoring Jackson Durant who drew a leadoff walk to win the game 5-4.
Logan Morris came in and pitched the last five innings giving up the lone run while giving up five runs, walked three and struck out seven to absorb the loss.
The Panthers Calvin Gunsaulas was 2-3 with a walk and two runs scored and Ryan Dickey added a two run single. Richard Long had a two run single in the top of the fifth inning to give Ridgeview a 4-3 lead.
The scrappy Eagles pushed across the tying run in the bottom of the fifth when Albren Pringle reached on a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch.