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Columbia's Grant Bowers slides safely into third base during Tuesday's District 2-5A semifinal against Gainesville. (BRENT KUYKENDALL/Lake City Reporter)
The good news for Columbia was a No. 2 seed in Region 1-5A during Saturday’s FHSAA bracket reveal.
The bad news? The Tigers have to go on the road for the first round of the playoffs despite being ninth in Class 5A with a 14.204 rating.
Columbia (15-12) will travel to No. 7 Beachside (15-13, 6.131) for Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal at 7 p.m. following Thursday’s loss to Lincoln in the District 2 championship. Beachside is hosting because it won the District 4 title and district champions automatically host non-district champs in the opening round of regionals.
If the Tigers get past Beachside, they would host the winner of No. 3 seed Clay (16-9, 13.988) and No. 6 seed Ponte Vedra (12-15, 6.746). Beachside was ninth entering districts but upset St. Augustine in the district semifinals and then Ponte Vedra in the district championship to jump into the top eight.
Lincoln (15-11, 15.417) is the 1-seed and is hosting 8-seed Orange Park (14-13, 4.660), which stole a playoff spot by beating Clay for the District 3 title that in turn knocked Englewood out of the field. District 1 champion Escambia (20-7, 11.186) is the 4 seed and will welcome 5 seed St. Augustine (15-10, 9.243) for Pensacola.
2024 FHSAA Baseball State Championships 5A FHSAA Baseball
SUWANNEE, WAKULLA MEET FOR THIRD TIME
Suwannee (16-8-1) is back in the playoffs after missing out a year ago, receiving the No. 5 seed in Region 1-4A with a 12.163 rating and earning a long road trip to 4-seed Wakulla (20-5-1, 14.325) for Wednesday’s regional quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Both teams came up short in the District 2 tournament, which Baker County (16-12, 8.021) won to grab the 7 seed in the region.
The winner of Suwannee and Wakulla then faces either top-seeded Arnold (21-5, 15.281) or 8 seed Santa Fe (14-12, 7.834), which is hosting that matchup as the District 4 champion because Arnold was beaten by the region’s 3 seed, South Walton (17-10, 14.470), in the District 1 title game. District 3 champion Bishop Kenny (19-8, 15.126) is the No. 2 seed and is hosting Baker County, with the winner then facing the winner of either South Walton or 6 seed West Florida (18-7, 10.423).
Yulee actually finished seventh in the region with a 10.046 rating but was knocked out of the bracket by Baker County and Santa Fe both winning district titles. The top five seeds in the region are all ranked in the top 10 in Class 4A: Arnold is fourth, Bishop Kenny is fifth, South Walton is sixth, Wakulla is seventh and Suwannee is 10th.
2024 FHSAA Baseball State Championships 4A FHSAA Baseball
LAFAYETTE GETS 1 SEED
There was no question that Lafayette (21-2) would be the No. 1 seed in Region 3-1A once again following Thursday’s District 6 title. The Hornets finished ranked second overall in Class 1A with a 14.317 ranking and will host District 5 champion Madison County (15-9, 6.798) in Tuesday’s regional semifinal at 7 p.m.
Union County (14-13, 7.446), which fell to Lafayette 2-1 in the district championship, is the No. 2 seed and is hosting 3 seed Liberty County (16-7, 6.853).