SCF Baseball Opens Neutral Win Over FSW

The SCF baseball team (1-0) opened up their season in success as they defeated Florida Southwestern (0-1) 6-2 at the CoolToday Park in Venice. The game did not count towards either teams conference record. With the win, the Manatees are now 17-8 against the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers will return home and welcome ASA Miami Friday afternoon, January 31 at 4 pm at City of Palms Park.

For the game, head coach Tim Hill II sent freshman Danny Batcher to the mound, while FSW head coach Ben Bizier sent sophomore Enrique Cotto to counter.

After the first two innings went scoreless, the Buccaneers would get on the board first at the top of the third after freshman Axel Melendez hit a solo shot to right to make it 1-0 FSW. In the bottom of the third, the Manatees answered back in retaliation. After a one-out double by freshman Owen Ayers, sophomore Nick Winkelmeyer would send him home while reaching on an error before being called out at second.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Manatees would take the lead. After back-to-back singles by sophomores Jamarcus Lyons and John Malcom, and a one-out walk drawn by classmate Aaron McKeithan to load the bases, classmate AJ Fritz would send Lyons home to make it 2-1 SCF on a sacrifice fly to center.

After a scoreless fifth, the Manatees continued to extend their lead in the bottom of the sixth. After Lyons drew a leadoff walk, Malcom would send Lyons home with a single to left to make it 3-1 SCF before being called out at second trying to stretch a single into a double before freshman Jacob Steinberg hit a one-out single of his own. Following a McKeithan strikeout, Fritz would draw a walk before freshman Richard Rodriguez hit an infield single to load the bases for Ayers. Ayers would draw a walk and send Steinberg home for a 4-1 SCF lead. Sophomore Rook Ellington would then extend the Manatees lead to 6-1 with a bases-loaded two-run single to send Fritz and Rodriguez home.

At the top of the ninth, the Buccaneers would bring in one more run after sophomore Warnner Rincones scored on a Rodriguez fielding error, but it was all the Buccaneers could produce as the Manatees pulled away with the win.

Batcher and Cotto would both earn a no-decision after they both threw one scoreless inning with one strikeout each.

Freshman Michael Dorso would be credited with the win after throwing a 1.2 scoreless innings giving up one hit with one strikeout.

Sophomores Grady Martin, Jake Smith and Logan Fraiser and freshmen Clay Callan, David Barrett and Steinberg each contributed in relief for pitching. Martin and Barrett gave up the Buccaneers only two runs.

Redshirt freshmen Ty Burton would be credited with the loss for the Buccaneers after giving up one unearned run on three hits with one strikeout in two innings. Redshirt freshman Danny Galvan, sophomores Robert Wegielnik, Marc Davis and Brendan Koester and freshman Alan Mercado also contributed in the Buccaneers pitching rotation.

Malcolm went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Ellington went 1-for-4 with two RBI. Malcom was the only Manatee with a multi-hit game, while Ellington had the only multi-RBI game.

Rincones had the Buccaneers only multi-hit game as he went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Notes:
Ayers, Batcher, Lyons, Malcom, McKeithan, Fritz, Steinberg, Rodriguez, Ellington, Smith, Dorso, Callan and Barrett all made their debuts for the Manatees. Batcher (West Virginia), Lyons (UCF), Malcolm (Vanderbilt), McKeithan (Tulane), Fritz (Evansville), Ellington (Kentucky) and Smith (UNC) all transferred from NCAA DI schools with Batcher, Malcom, Ellington and Smith coming from a Power 5 conference school.

Other Suncoast Scores:
Hillsborough (0-1) opened their season at home as they fell to Eastern Florida State 4-2 in eight innings. The Hawks will travel to Melbourne for a rematch with EFSC Wednesday night, January 29 at 6 pm.

Polk State (1-2) opened their season with a split Friday January 24 against ASA Miami. The Eagles won the first game 7-0 before losing the second game by a score of 2-0 in which both game ended in seven innings. The Eagles would then lose to NJCAA DII Pasco-Hernando State 10-7. The Eagles will travel to Melbourne to take on EFSC Friday night, January 31 at 4 pm.

South Florida State College will open their season at home Friday afternoon, January 31 at 4 pm. The Panthers will welcome the IMG Academy Post-Grad team.

St. Pete College will open their season in Auburndale as they will face Northwest Florida State Friday morning, January 31 at 11 am.

Up Next:
The Manatees will travel to neutral grounds again as they head to Fort Myers this weekend to play at City of Palms Park. The Manatees will face Broward College (Jan. 31 @ 7 pm), Gulf Coast State (2-0) (Feb. 1 @ 7 pm) and #5 Chipola College (1-0) (February 2 @ 1 pm).