“We’ve been walked off three time this young season, which included the walk-off loss to a pretty good Central Florida (CCF) team,” said head coach Tim Hill II. “I thought Pasco had a good team. We got down and didn’t play really well early, but the guys battled back and we got the walk-off for ourselves, so it feels good to be on the right end of a walk-off.”
“We struggled in the beginning and as things kept going on, we started picking up and believing in ourselves to come back and pull it off,” said sophomore Owen Ayers.
“We started off slow and made some very bad errors,” said sophomore Tucker Mitchell. “We’ve done that in the past, which was nothing new to us, but we stayed positive and up in the dugout with a lot of energy today and really the team and the guys on the bench really got behind us today, so it was great.”
Hill II sent sophomore Tony Rossi to the mound while Pasco-Hernando head coach Lyndon Coleman sent redshirt sophomore Jeremy Goins to counter.
The Bobcats would answer first at the top of the first after an RBI double by freshman Adam Berry before classmate Kyle Murphy added a two-run home run to make it 3-0 PHSC. It was Murphy’s first home run of the season.
The Manatees would then get on the board in the bottom half after Ayers brought in redshirt sophomore Rook Ellington on a fielder’s choice to make it 3-1 still in favor PHSC.
The Bobcats would add two more runs at the top of the thirds thanks to solo home runs by freshmen Jackson Ross and Jack Burke. It was Ross’s third home run of the season and Burke’s second.
Pasco-Hernando would add four more runs at the top of the fourth after freshman Michael Machin scored on a wild pitch before Murphy and freshman Matthew Coker hit back-to-back RBI singles to make it 9-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Manatees were slowly trying to make a comeback. Beginning with a leadoff single by sophomore Jack Anderson, the Manatees would draw back-to-back walks from sophomore AJ Fritz and freshman Brayden Woodburn to load the bases for classmate Kevin Karstetter. On a 1-2 count, Karstetter would send a single to left to send Anderson home for the Manatees second run. Freshman Jake Jackson would then draw a bases-loaded walk to send Fritz home before Ellington sent Woodburn home with a sacrifice fly that turned into a double play to make it 9-4 still in favor of Pasco-Hernando.
“After we were down 9-1, we knew that we still had a a lot of game left to play and we decided to keep chipping,” said Anderson. “At the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, we really hunkered down and win those three innings and that was definitely huge for us.”
In the bottom of the sixth, the Manatees continued to cut down the deficit beginning with a Karstetter lead-off single. After Jackson reached first on a fielder’s choice, before advancing to third on a wild pitch and Ellington drew a walk, Mitchell would send a single to center and bring in Jackson. Ayers would then send a double to left to bring in Ellington before Mitchell scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-7 still in PHSC’s favor, but the Bobcats would respond back and extend the lead to 10-7, thanks to a Machin RBI single.
The Manatees would then cut the deficit to two in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to an RBI single by Ayers that brought in freshman Harrison Long and then in the bottom of the ninth became the opportunity for the Manatees. After Karstetter began with another lead-off single, sophomore Richard Rodriguez would send a single to left and bring Karstetter to third setting up an opportunity for Long to cut the deficit to one with an RBI single. Tucker would tie the game at 10-10 after sending Rodriguez home with an RBI double.
“The pitcher was pitching at me inside the earlier at-bat and were getting the call,” said Mitchell on tying the game. “I knew they were going to throw inside again and when threw a bad breaking ball, I saw the opportunity to take it and sure enough he came back inside and I wanted to hit it out, but I ended up hitting a double and it worked out well.”
After Ayers drew a walk to load the bases, it was all up to Anderson. On a 2-0 count, the Northwestern transfer would get hit on the wrist as he brought in freshman Drew Macciocchi, who came in to pinch run for Long, for the game-winner.
“Although I got hit hard on the wrist, it was worth it to help get the win,” said Anderson on getting the game-winner. “It felt great though, even though it hurt a little bit, but after touching first base it felt awesome to know that we got the W for the win.”
“There were so many big hits and good at-bats in the ninth inning and the guys really hung with it,” said Hill on the end of the game. “Of course Tucker got that big hit to tie the game and Jack got hit in the hand, so we’re hoping he’s ok because he’s a big part of our team. Both of them battled really hard and didn’t give up, which I hope was a lesson that they’re learning because we’ve been on a bad side of these game where we gave up a lot of runs in the end and now we’ve flipped it around.”
Rossi and Goins would be dubbed with no-decisions. Rossi threw three and two-thirds innings, giving up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts, while Goins gave up four runs on four hits with six walks and six strikeouts in five innings.
Jackson would earn his first win of the season after throwing one and a third scoreless innings with one strikeout. He was also 0-for-4 with an RBI.
Freshman Dylan Vega gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits with four strikeouts in two and two-thirds innings of relief, while sophomore Jacob Steinberg threw one and two-thirds scoreless innings with one walk.
Freshman Justin Clark would be dubbed with the loss after giving up three runs on four hits with one strikeout in a third of an inning.
Five Manatees had a multi-hit game Karstetter would finish 3-for-4 with an RBI and a walk, while Ayers lead the way offensively going 2-for-5 with three RBI and a stolen base.
“I was very upset with the start of my game,” said Ayers on his performance. “But I was able to come back from going 0-for-3, push through it and ended up getting two hits and scored some runs.”
Anderson would finish 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
“I felt pretty good tonight,” said Anderson on his game. “I thought the first two at-bats where I had a couple of singles up the middle, which I thought was pretty good. Even though the last three were a little under, I thought I did pretty well.”
Mitchell (2-for-4, two RBI, one run and one walk) and Long (2-for-2, one RBI) also had two hits apiece, while Ellington (1-for-3, one RBI, two runs and a walk), Fritz (1-for-1, one RBI, one run scored and four walks), and Rodriguez (1-for-5, one run scored) had the remaining three hits.
Coker lead the way for the Bobcats as he finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs, while Murphy finished 3-for-5 with four RBI and two runs and Machin and freshman Adam Berry each had two hits.
The win for coach Hill was his 282nd as head coach for the Manatees. He is 18 away from reaching 300 in his career.
Up Next:
The Manatees remain at home at Wynn Field as they welcome back Miami Dade (4-3) Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader at 2 and 5 pm. This will be the fifth and sixth time the Manatees play the Sharks.
Hill will give sophomore Cole Ayers the nod to pitch the first game and redshirt freshman Daniel Batcher to pitch the second.
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