In front of over 50 scouts from all 30 Major League Baseball teams and several universities, the SCF baseball team (4-1) pulled away with a walk-off win over Central Florida (3-1) winning by a score of 3-2 in their home opener at Wynn Field. With the win, the Manatees are now 9-6-2 (2012-present) against the Patriots.
"I thought the game tonight was a state tournament style game," said head coach Tim Hill II. "I felt like CCF had a pretty good club because they threw some really good arms at us and I thought we threw some good arms at them. There were a lot of strikeouts tonight and every pitch meant something. Just being able to open in that kind of game on our home field and come across with the win feels good."
For the starters, Hill II sent sophomore Jakob Mattos to the mound, while CCF head coach Marty Smith sent sophomore Adam Tulloch to counter.
For the first three innings of the game, it was a back and forth battle between Mattos and Tulloch as both continued to trade off a combined 11 strikeouts, two hits and seven walks.
Evidently, Mattos would be stopped after three innings as Hill II sent freshman David Barrett to the mound. Meanwhile, Tulloch was continuing to hold the Manatees not only scoreless, but hitless too.
At the bottom of the fifth, Smith would pull Tulloch out and sent sophomore Carson King to the mound. This gave the Manatees the first crack of getting on the board first. The bottom half of the inning began with a leadoff single to center by sophomore Remi Patry before he advanced to second on a wild pitch. After back-to-back outs, sophomore AJ Fritz would bring Patry home on a single to give the Manatees a 1-0 lead. Following the Fritz single, classmate Jamarcus Lyons would send Fritz home with a double to center before removing himself after hurting his ankle. Freshman Owen Ayers would come in as a pinch runner before the end of the inning.
At the top of the sixth, the Patriots would get on the board after an RBI groundout by sophomore JC Mendez sent sophomore Colton Vincent home to make it 2-1 SCF.
While the Manatees continued to hold on to their lead, they were also making pitching changes. At the top of the seventh, Hill pulled Barrett out and sent freshman Austen Kessler to the mound for the next two innings. At the top of the eighth, the Patriots were able to tie the game at 2-2 after redshirt freshman Matthew Cedarburg scored on a Kessler wild pitch even though he was able to finish to the end of the eighth.
With one out at the top of the ninth, Hill made one more pitching change as he sent Clay Callahan to the mound to pitch and was able to strikeout Cedarburg to end the top half.
In the bottom, the Manatees secured their moment to shine. With sophomore Evan Michelson on the mound, Patry struck out on a drop third strike to start the inning. Following that, freshman Steven Nitch would hit a one-out single to left. After sophomore Rook Ellington drew a walk, all eyes turned to Fritz to try and get the game winner. On a full count, the native of Lebanon, Ohio smacked a hard single past redshirt sophomore Taber Mongero and sent home Nitch for the win.
"It felt great and the pitchers really helped us hold it down even though our offense struggled a bit," said Fritz on the win. "Credit also goes to CCF's pitching as well because their staff did a really good job and we just capitalized when we needed to."
"It was coming right at him (Mongero) and I got lucky with a tough hop and he was in a great position, but sometimes the ball doesn't go your way," said Fritz on the game winner. "Coincidentally, it was karma because Remi (Patry) had a tough hop earlier in the game and that came as a way to justify itself."
Although both pitchers threw scoreless innings, Mattos and Tulloch both had no decisions in their starts. Mattos gave up two hits with four walks and struck out four batters in three innings, while Tulloch threw four hitless and scoreless innings with three walks and eight strikeouts.
Callahan would earn the win for the Manatees after throwing two-thirds of an inning with one strikeout.
"It was breath taking," said Callahan on his first collegiate win. "It's your first college home game and to get the win in that kind of situation was breath taking."
Barrett gave up one run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in three innings, while Kessler gave up one unearned run on two hits with one walk and three strikeouts in 2.1 innings.
Michelson would be credited with the loss after giving up one unearned run on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
King gave up two runs on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts, while freshman Parker Seay pitched 2.1 scoreless innings giving up two hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Fritz would finish 2-for-3 with two RBI, a walk and a run scored, while Lyons went 1-for-3 with the RBI double.
Patry and sophomore John Malcolm had one hit each. Patry had one run scored Malcolm drew two walks.
"The kids battled hard to the end," said Hill II. "They didn't try to do too much and squared it up and that paid it off."
Cedarburg had the Patriots lone multi-hit game as he went 2-for-4 with a run.
*Side Note: This was the first postgame interview with coach Hill II for the 2020 season, while Fritz and Callahan were the first two baseball players at SCF to be interviewed.
Fun Fact(s) (2012-present):
The Manatees are unbeaten in their home opener. In fact, they are 9-0.
Other Suncoast Scores:
South Florida State (5-0) defeated Lake Sumter State (4-3) 8-5 on the road. The Panthers will resume play in Ocala as they take on Central Florida Friday afternoon, February 7 at 1 pm
Florida Southwestern (3-3) defeated Broward College (0-4) 6-5 in 10 innings. The Buccaneers will return to action on neutral grounds in Marianna, Florida for the weekend to face #3 Walters State (2/7 @ 4 pm and 2/8 @ 2 pm), San Jacinto College-North (2/8 @ 8 pm) and #5 Chipola (2/9 @ 12 pm).
Polk State (3-4) defeated Daytona State (2-2) 8-3 at Daytona. The Eagles will resume action Friday afternoon, February 7 at 2 pm against Palm Beach State.
Hillsborough (2-4) defeated Pasco-Hernando State 8-2 Monday night. The Hawks will face Broward College on the weekend (2/7 and 2/8 @1 pm).
St. Pete (0-4) fell to Santa Fe College Monday night by a score of 11-2. The Titans will play Santa Fe College Friday afternoon at 1 pm.
Other FCSAA Scores:
Santa Fe (5-2) defeated Tallahassee Community College (2-3) 9-5.
Florida State College at Jacksonville (2-4) defeated Abraham Baldwin (0-5) 3-1.
Eastern Florida State (5-4) defeated Seminole State (3-2) 5-2.
Palm Beach State (4-4) fell to the St. Thomas University (NAIA) JV team by a score of 6-4.
Up Next:
The Manatees will remain at home as they welcome Miami Dade (3-1) Thursday afternoon, February 6 at 4 pm.
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