Vasco Sutton has cemented his place in Jacksonville baseball history – a statement second-year coach Josiah Zamora proudly proclaimed.

“Vasco was the guy who helped put us back on the map,” Zamora said. “Seeing him every day, I saw the way that everyone else looked up to him and how he went about his business. It speaks volumes of who he is and what he’s done for us.”

Sutton did a lot in his senior season for the Cardinals as a pitcher, catcher and slugger.

He batted .366 with 21 runs, 20 RBIs, 11 doubles and four home runs, had 11 stolen bases and went 2-3 with a 3.56 earned run average and 71 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings to help the Cardinals go 12-11 overall and advance to the third round of the NCHSAA 6-A playoffs.

As a result of Sutton’s solid play amid the Cardinals’ difficult schedule, he is The Daily News Player of the Year for the 2026 area baseball season.

Sutton is the first Jacksonville player to earn the area player of year nod since Cade Anderson won it in 2019.

“I think it was a good last run with the guys and I had a lot of fun,” Sutton said. “I’m going to miss being at Jacksonville and all the guys. I love Jacksonville High School, but I’m also excited for what’s coming in the future.”

Sutton is playing for the Jacksonville Ospreys summer collegiate team this summer as he prepares to play at Brunswick Community College. But before he looks ahead, Sutton was asked to reflect on his final season with the Cardinals, which saw him become the program’s all-time doubles leader with 32.

“Going into this year, my goal was to copy and paste what I did my junior year, but add more juice to the plate and add more VELO (velocity) and punch on the mound,” Sutton said. “I would say I did that. It would have been nice to hit a couple more home runs and have a couple more strikeouts, but I think I did well and made a big jump on the mound.”

As a junior, Sutton was a first-team all-area catcher after he hit .410 with 25 RBIs, 24 runs, 10 doubles and a home run while also going 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA and a save with 65 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings. He was also Most Valuable Player of the 2025 Jones-Onslow Baseball Classic at Richlands.

But as a senior, the four-year varsity player knew he had to elevate his presence on the diamond and in the dugout.

“As a junior, having a leadership role was tough because I didn’t understand what it meant, and I wasn’t the best at it,” Sutton said. “But going into my senior year, I had to step up into that role better. “

“Vasco is there every day, and he’s very consistent in the way he goes about things,” Zamora said. “He’s a rah-rah guy. He leads by example and he does the right things and the guys follow him.”

Sutton’s best offensive effort came when he went 4-for-5 with a double and home run, three RBIs and three runs in a 10-1 win over White Oak. Perhaps his most impressive pitching performance came in a 2-1 third-round loss to Southern Lee when he allowed just three hits and no earned runs, walked only one and struck out seven in six innings.

Sutton led Jacksonville to a second consecutive winning season and second straight third-round playoff appearance, despite a daunting schedule, including conference games with D.H. Conley, J.H. Rose and South Central.

Sutton admitted that the challenging schedule is tough, but it allowed him and the Cardinals to grow stronger.

“If we were to play teams who were not as strong, we would not succeed as well,” he said. “We beat J.H. Rose this year so going into the playoffs, we knew we were not going to see anybody as good as them. We just needed to go out there and play our game.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.