SCF Baseball Readies for Suncoast Play

With non-conference out of session, the SCF baseball team (11-10) can focus on Suncoast Conference play as they open their series against South Florida State College (13-9). The first game will begin at Panther Field in Avon Park Monday night, March 2 at 6 pm. The second game will then travel back to Wynn Field Wednesday night, March 4 at 6 pm before the third game is wrapped up back at Panther Field Friday night, March 6 at 6 pm.

Last Time Out:
The Manatees recently competed this past weekend at home where they split Friday and Saturday winning 16-3 against the University of Tampa JV Team Friday before losing to Pasco-Hernando 14-7 Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore John Malcom is leading .325 with a team-leading 25 hits, four home runs and 19 RBI. Malcom was 2-for-5 on the weekend with three walks, an RBI and two runs.

Sophomore Remi Patry follows Malcom on the RBI with 15 and batting .269 with a home run, while freshman Owen Ayers is batting a team-leading .353 with two home runs and 13 RBI. Patry was 3-for-10 on the weekend with four RBI and two runs, while Ayers was 3-for-6 with three RBI, four runs and three walks.

A players that's been hot on the base path is freshman Cameron Lee. Despite batting .220, Lee leads the team in walks (13) and stolen bases (14). On the weekend, Lee was 2-for-7 with a home run, two RBI, four walks and four stolen bases. In fact, the native of Frankfurt, Illinois hit his first collegiate home run of the season against UT JV.

Sophomore Jake Smith has been the lead man on the mound as he is 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA and 34 strikeouts. Smith threw two scoreless innings in the game against UT JV with six strikeouts.

Despite getting the loss to Pasco-Hernando with eight strikeouts in four innings, sophomore Justin Wrobleski is 2-1 with a 1.54 ERA and 20 strikeouts.

As far as being in relief, freshman David Barrett has made nine appearances with a 0.95 ERA and 24 strikeouts. Barrett threw two and two-thirds innings against PHSC, giving up four unearned runs and striking out two batters.

Scouting South Florida State:
The Panthers are coming off of a weekend in defeat as they fell to Daytona State (3-1) Friday on the road before losing Saturday to NJCAA Region 12 Kalamazoo Valley (8-4).

Sophomore Mike Bessell is their lead offensive player batting .338 with 19 RBI. Bessell was 4-for-7 with three RBI on the weekend.

Classmate Casey Asman is batting .300 with a home run and 15 RBI despite going 0-for-6 on the weekend with two walks.

On the mound, sophomore Dylan Kelley is 3-2 with a 3.97 ERA and 32 strikeouts. In his last appearance, Kelley threw three innings and gave up five runs on five hits with three strikeouts in a loss to Kalamazoo Valley.

Series History (2012-present):
Overall, the Manatees are 21-12 against the Panthers. Last season, the Manatees took the series 5-1 with the loss coming on April 18 by a score of 3-2.

Livestats will be available via GameChanger and fans can keep up to date with both teams on Twitter:

SCF: @SCFBaseball
SFSC: @SFSCAthletics

GameChanger Link: https://gc.com/t/spring-2020/state-college-of-florida-manatees-varsity-5e26db014cf88f41b4aaf1c1