The offense came alive for Ponte Vedra baseball during a back-and-forth 9-7 loss at home against Oakleaf High of Clay County March 24, in which both teams traded scoring blows throughout.
The seven runs the Sharks plated were the second-most runs the Knights (12-1) had surrendered to this point in the season.
The Knights got the scoring going with three runs in the top of the first, however, it did not take long for the Sharks to answer once they had their chance to step into the batter’s box.
Senior Braden Kessel got the pitch he was looking for and blasted a home run to straightaway center field and just like that the Sharks scored a thunderous two runs and cut the deficit to one heading into the second.
The bomb was Kessel’s fourth home run of the season, as he continued his memorable senior season.
The Sharks tied it up at 3-all with another run in the third, before the Knights scored six runs over the next four innings to take a 9-3 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.
However, their lead was not as comfortable as it may have seemed and the Sharks’ bats reignited with four runs in the final two innings, but the comeback bid fell two runs short in the end.
Kessel was joined by fellow senior Ethan Yesensky, as the two each drove in a pair of runs in the game.
Junior Caden Eidam and sophomore Jack Ottesen led the team with two hits, including a double apiece, as the Sharks finished with three of their nine hits on the night being worthy of extra bases.
Ottesen and junior Matt Hoag both stole a base on the night, as not only did the Sharks look to be aggressive at the plate, but they also looked to carry that aggressive nature onto the base paths.
Starting on the mound for the Sharks was sophomore Carson Evanger, who allowed five earned runs on nine hits in four innings of work. He also struck out two batters en route to the young pitcher dropping to 0-2 on the season.
Yesensky provided relief for Evanger and held his own allowing just one earned run and three hits across the final three innings.
He was able to best the Knights’ hitters on several occasions and finished with five strikeouts on the night.
Next up for the Sharks is a home contest against Orange Park March 31 beginning at 6:30 p.m. It will be the fourth consecutive game against a Clay County school.
