Sharks advance to regional final

Ponte Vedra baseball continues hot streak, beats Stanton in 5A semifinals

Posted

Ponte Vedra defeated Stanton 7-3 at Shark Park on Tuesday evening to advance to its first regional final since its state championship run in 2013.

The Sharks broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning by scoring four runs, and then used the pitching duo of freshman Matt Hoag and senior Scott Griesemer to earn its third consecutive victory in the FHSAA playoffs.

Veteran head coach Tom Stanton was more than pleased with his team’s win over a Stanton team that had earlier nipped the Sharks 2-1.

“I like the way were playing now,” said Stanton, the only head baseball coach in PVHS history. “Our focus has always been to play our best ball at the end of the season, and I feel were doing exactly that at this time.”

Stanton may have surprised some Sharks followers when he started freshman Matt Hoag in the contest instead of his leading pitcher on the season, UNF commit Griesemer. 

“That was our plan all week,” said Stanton. “Hoag has become a very advanced pitcher of late, and we were confident he would deliver. Griesemer has been pitching all season on six-to-seven days' rest and we felt it best to have him in reserve to finish out the game.”

The plan worked to perfection as the flame-throwing Hoag allowed just one run in four innings to earn the win before giving way to Griesemer, who only had to use 27 pitches over the final three innings to get the save.

Griesemer once again was the hitting star for the victors. He went a perfect 3-3 at the plate with two RBI and has now belted out six hits in his last seven at-bats. Junior catcher Mac Wilkins had a perfect day at the plate for the Sharks with a double, two walks and a sixth-inning sacrifice fly that knocked in the final run.

The visiting Blue Devils did not go down quietly as they rallied to score two runs in their half of the seventh inning to make the game much more interesting. 

“We got caught up in the dream late in the game as many of our players lost their focus,” Stanton added. “However, I’m real proud of our guys and we’re looking forward to our regional final game here next week.”

In addition to some timely hitting and excellent pitching by the Sharks, with the exception of a couple of seventh-inning errors that contributed to the two Stanton runs, the defense has also been very solid during the late-season hot streak.  Add it all up and the Sharks have high hopes that they can advance to the Final Four when they play host to the winner of the Milton/Mosely game.

The first pitch in the Region 5A Championship is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, at PVHS.