ORANGE PARK - Maybe the Solar Eclipse approaching Florida on Monday created a mood of excitable surrealism Friday night as three baseball games hosted by Clay County provided enough fireworks to light up the moon itself as Clay, St. Johns Country Day School and Orange Park all won thrilling baseball challenges with exciting finishes.

"We had plenty of opportunities, but we could not get the baserunners to home plate," said St. Johns coach Tom Lucas, who saw his Spartans battle to a 12th-inning 6-5 win over visiting Calvary Day Academy out of Savannah. "These guys showed a lot of their character tonight in winning this game."
See St. Johns baseball on page 43.
For Clay High, on a night dedicated to a wonderful teacher, the mood was shadowed for much of the night as the Blue Devils struggled to keep up with a fast-flying Fleming Island team, but the sun blasted through in the final innings with three doubles adding up to a scintillating 7-6 win in front of a packed house on both sides of the field.
"We've never lost a "McCool" game and there was some mystique that happened tonight," said Clay coach Josh Persinger. "I know she was watching and maybe her spirit again kept the boys in the game. Something weird just happened."
See Clay High baseball on page 44.
And, finally, at Orange Park High, in a rematch of sorts between two teams; one Keystone Heights team, now 12-4, riding a strong season except for a first loss to Orange Park a week ago (5-2), the other an Orange Park team, now 6-9, that is finding a small way to punch out some season success, it was a second upset of sorts that got the Raiders a 3-1 second win over the Indians.
"We'll take ugly wins over pretty wins every single day," said Orange Park coach George Eldridge. "We know this is a big win for us, a bounce-back for (after a 3-2 loss to Ridgeview on Thursday)."
See Orange Park baseball, page 45.