Trio Of Gainesville Teams Still Alive In Baseball Playoffs

Late April means it’s crunch time for high school baseball, and three Gainesville teams are ready for the bright lights and big moments. Buchholz, Oak Hall and Saint Francis commence play in the regional quarterfinals this week. The Eagles and Wolves will square off in the Class 1A bracket after already meeting three times this season. The Bobcats are the top-ranked team in Class 6A and will host the First Coast Buccaneers (Jacksonville).

The FHSAA baseball brackets have a new format this year, with three-game series in the regional stages. The higher seed hosts the first two games and a tiebreaker third game will be played if necessary.

Buchholz Bobcats (26-1) vs. First Coast Buccaneers (17-9)

Buchholz has carried over the momentum from a state runner-up finish last season into a dominant 2025 campaign. The Bobcats won their first 21 games before a 10-4 loss to Tallahassee Lincoln earlier this month. Met with the slightest hint of adversity for the first time, coach Ron Brooks’ squad has responded well.

In their five games since that loss, the Bobcats have outscored opponents 45-9, including a 12-2 walloping of Tocoi Creek in the 6A District 2 title game. Buchholz can get production from anywhere in the lineup with eight batters hitting .300 or better, but junior infielder Blake Brewer has been the standout. He paces the Bobcats in average (.413), hits (38), and RBI (34), and is tied for the home run lead (4).

Buchholz is undefeated at home this season at 11-0, while the Buccaneers have only a 5-7 record on the road. The first two games of the series will be a doubleheader Wednesday evening.

2025 FHSAA Baseball State Championships 6A Baseball State Championships

Saint Francis Wolves (19-6) vs. Oak Hall Eagles (8-9)

You’d be hard-pressed to find more familiar opponents than Saint Francis and Oak Hall. The two squads are preparing for their fourth and fifth showdowns of 2025. The Wolves have come out on top in all three so far, with each win coming by a single run. The 1A-District 5 title hung in the balance of their most recent meeting and ended with a 3-2 Saint Francis victory.

Saint Francis has been the significantly better team this spring and enters the series on an eight-game win streak, but this series will serve as a true test of the old adage “it’s hard to beat a team twice.” In this case, though, the Wolves will have to win five of six against the same team on the year if they want to move on to the regional semifinals.

The first game is Monday afternoon at Saint Francis with Game 2 on Tuesday.

Rural Teams

There are a handful of north central Florida teams in the Rural Class bracket. Trenton and Chiefland take each other on in a series starting next Monday and Union County will host Branford.