SCF Baseball vs FSW Recap

The SCF baseball team (27-13, 11-6 Suncoast) turned the tables at Wynn Field as they defeated #9 Florida Southwestern (29-10, 10-7 Suncoast) in a nail biter by a score of 2-1 in 12 innings. With the win, the Manatees are now 15-8 against the Buccaneers and have moved up to first place in the Suncoast Conference.

For the game, SCF head coach Tim Hill II sent sophomore Corey Ireson to the mound while FSW head coach Ben Bizier sent sophomore Mitch Myers to counter.

After the first two innings going scoreless, the Manatees would get on the board first in the bottom of the third. The Manatees would begin with a leadoff double by sophomore Shane Shifflett. Two batters later, sophomore Geovany Lorenzo would send Shifflett home with an RBI single.

Despite the 1-0 SCF lead, it was a pitcher's dual between Ireson and Myers with Ireson having the advantage in strikeouts.

At the top of the seventh, the Buccaneers got on the scoreboard from a sacrifice fly by sophomore Tyler Solomon to make 1-1.

After that, both teams tried to take the lead but to no avail as the game would go into extra innings. In the 10th and 11th innings, both teams continued to try and out do each other in no success, but the Manatees found the moment they needed in the bottom of the 12th. Beginning with a leadoff walk drawn by Shifflett before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by redshirt sophomore Brian Dillingham and then third on a groundout, Lorenzo and freshman Nick Winkelmeyer would draw back-to-back walks to load the bases for sophomore Josh Crouch. Crouch had a walk-off win earlier in the season as he drove in the game-winning run against St. Pete College on March 23rd. With a 2-1 count, Crouch would be the hero and send Shifflett home for a Manatee win.

Both Ireson and Myers would earn no decisions and gave up a run each. Ireson threw seven innings and allowed seven hits while striking out six batters, while Myers allowed three hits with four walks and nine strikeouts.

Redshirt sophomore Josh Bonynge would get the win for the team after throwing 3.1 innings with a walk and three strikeouts. Bonynge is now at 4-1 on the season.

Sophomore Cole Beavin threw 1.2 innings, walking two batters and striking out one.

Sophomore Thomas Haggerty would be dubbed with the loss after throwing 3.2 innings, giving up one run on one hit while walking two and striking out five.

Freshmen Mason Adams and Marc Davis combined two innings while walking a combined three batters.

Shifflett (2-for-5, two runs and two walks) and Lorenzo (2-for-5, one RBI, one walk) would be the only Manatees with multi-hit game while freshman Tommy Joseph (2-for-4) and sophomore Shamir Morales (2-for-5) had the only multi-hit game for the Buccaneers.

Other Scores in Suncoast:
St. Pete College (16-19, 9-8 Suncoast) defeated Polk State (19-21, 6-11 Suncoast) 19-5.

Current Suncoast Standings:
1. State College of Florida (27-13, 11-6 Suncoast)
2. Hillsborough Community College (19-18, 10-6 Suncoast)
3. Florida Southwestern State College (29-10, 10-7 Suncoast)
4. St. Petersburg College (16-19, 9-8 Suncoast)
5. Polk State College (19-21, 6-11 Suncoast)
6. South Florida State College (15-25, 4-12 Suncoast)

Up Next:
The Manatees look to sweep the Buccaneers as they head back to Ft. Myers on Wednesday, April 10 at 6 pm at City Of Palms Park.