CARY, N.C. – Brad Hodges went 4-for-4 and was a triple away from the cycle, and the St. Johns Country Day Spartans tallied five extra-base hits in a 12-2 run-rule quarterfinal victory over Don Bosco Prep at the USA Baseball National High School Invitational (NHSI) presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance.

St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park, Fla.) advances to the semifinals on Friday and will face Huntington Beach High School (Huntington Beach, Calif.), who advanced to the semis with an eighth-inning walk-off win over Hamilton High School (Chandler, Ariz.). With the loss, Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) falls into the consolation bracket.

Power was the name of the game for the Spartans, led by Hodges who hit a 335-foot home run over the right-field fence in the top of the third inning. On the day, four St. John Country Day batters hit doubles, including Hodges, Jordan Taylor, Kyle Boylston, and starting pitcher Finn Howell.

Boylston also had a stellar outing for the Spartans, finishing 3-for-3 and with a team- and game-high three RBIs. Eight different Spartan batters tallied hits on the day. Pablo Santos and Anthony Zollo led Don Bosco Prep at the dish, going 2-for-3 with a RBI-double and 2-for-2 with two runs scored, respectively.

St. Johns Country Day starter Howell was stout on the mound, striking out three batters and giving up two unearned runs for the victory. Clayton Poiley got the nod for Don Bosco Prep and suffered the loss after giving up four runs on eight hits in 4.0 innings of work. Zach Stichweh relieved Poiley in the fifth inning and surrendered eight runs (seven earned) on five hits.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• St. John Country Day’s Finn Howell led off the top of the second inning with a double down the left field line, moved to third on an infield single by Kody Daneault, and scored on a Don Bosco Prep wild pitch to score the first run of the game.
• Kyle Boylston launched a 1-1 pitch to left centerfield for an RBI-double, scoring Kody Daneault from second base and extending St. John Country Day’s lead to 2-0 after the top half of the second.
• Brad Hodges launched an 0-2 fastball 335 feet over the right field fence in the top of the third inning to extend the Spartans lead to 3-0.
• Anthony Zollo kickstarted the Don Bosco Prep’s offense in the bottom of the third inning with a one-out single to left field and Pablo Santos followed with a single through the left side to put a runner into scoring position. Eric Becker’s grounder then forced an errant throw by the first baseman and Zollo scored the first Ironmen run to make it 3-1 after three.  
• Brad Hodges slammed a double down the right field line to lead off the top of the fifth inning and then extended St. Johns Country Day’s lead to 4-1 on an RBI-double through the left side by Jordan Taylor.
• Jordan Taylor stole third base and came around to score on a sacrifice fly to center by Finn Howell to extend the Spartans lead to 5-1.
• Anthony Zollo picked up another single and moved to second on a throwing error for Don Bosco Prep in the bottom of the fifth inning. He came around to score on a laser of a double down the left-field line by Pablo Santos to get the Ironmen within three again, 5-2.
• Shawn Andrade was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a groundout, and stole third before Kyle Boylston tallied his second RBI of the day with a line-drive single, extending St. Johns Country Day’s lead to 6-2 in the top of the sixth.
• Brad Hodges laced an RBI-single to right field, Isaiah Mamea scored on a balk, and Tyce Moore’s single to right padded St. John Country Day’s lead in the top of the sixth inning, putting the Spartans up 9-2 over the Ironmen.
• An error by the Don Bosco Prep left fielder and two bases loaded walks scored the fifth, sixth, and seventh runs of the sixth inning for St. John Country Day, extending its lead to 12-2.

NOTABLE INFORMATION

• Finn Howell was stellar on the mound for St. Johns Country Day, striking out three batters and giving up two unearned runs for the complete-game six-inning victory.
• Don Bosco Prep starter Clayton Poiley gave up four runs on eight hits in four innings of work for the loss. Zach Stichweh gave up eight runs (seven earned) on five hits in 1.1 innings of relief for the Ironmen.
• Brad Hodges went 4-for-4 and was a triple short of the cycle in the victory for St. Johns Country Day. He scored three runs and tallied two RBIs for the Spartans.
• Kyle Boylston went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for the Spartans, who hit five extra-base hits in Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup.
• Pablo Santos (2-for-3, RBI) and Anthony Zollo (2-for-2, 2 runs) contributed multi-hit games for the Ironmen, tallying two-thirds of the offense for Don Bosco Prep on the day.

ON DECK

• St. Johns Country Day advances to the semifinals of the 2022 National High School Invitational on Friday. The Spartans will face Huntington Beach High School (Huntington Beach, Fla.), who defeated Hamilton High School (Chandler, Ariz.) with an eighth-inning walk-off win on Thursday. The semifinal will be streamed live on USABaseball.com, the USA Baseball Facebook page and its YouTube page, @USABaseballTV.
• Don Bosco Prep falls into the consolation bracket with the loss. Their next opponent will be announced this evening.

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Stay tuned with all the action at the 2022 National High School Invitational by follow @USABEvents on Twitter and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Fans and media can use #NHSI22 in their posts.