The Manatees decided to cancel their games against Pensacola State and host St. John’s River State.
“The guys played pretty well today,” said head coach Tim Hill II. “The first game they came out swinging the bats as we hit four homeruns. The second game was back-and-forth with both teams battling. Our guys got some big two out hits and Eli Thurmond and Clay Callan pitched very well in relief. Daniel Batcher did some good things but just made a couple mistakes and we made a couple defense mistakes that allowed them to score some of their runs.”
“As a team we played really well and came out with a lot of energy,” said sophomore AJ Fritz. “Joel stealing 2nd really gave us a jump start, and Owen’s home run really added a fuel to the fire for us. The rain wasn’t too much of a factor for us because it didn’t last for very long today.”
“ The team did very well this weekend, our hitters are getting better as the games go on,” said sophomore Owen Ayers. “In 14 innings we only had 3 strike outs looking, which is a big step in the right direction compared to the beginning of the season.”
Game One:
For game one against Gulf Coast State, Hill II sent sophomore Jakob Mattos to the mound, while Gulf Coast head coach Mike Kandler sent freshman Avery Stephens.
As the game began two innings in on Friday, the rain started to come down heavy and delay the game to being pushed to Saturday day with the Commodores ahead 1-0, but the Manatees would get ahead 2-1, thanks to a two-run shot by sophomore Owen Ayers. It was Ayers’ second home run of the season.
“The rain made it difficult the first night but the next day we we fortune to be able to get some game time in while trying our best to dodge the rain,” said Ayers.
At the top of the fourth, the Manatees extended their lead to 3-1 thanks to a solo shot by Fritz. It was his first home run of the season.
At the top of the fifth, Ayers and freshman Harry Long would hit back-to-back solo shots to make it 5-1 SCF. It was Ayers’ third home run of the season, second of the game, and Long’s third.
Sophomore Matt Gelorme would then come in for Consentino at the top of the fifth, but would give up a bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to 5-2 still in favor of SCF.
At the top of the seventh, it was all in favor for the Manatees’ offense. Beginning with a leadoff single by Ayers, before Long reached first on a fielding error and freshman Kevin Karstetter drew a walk to load the bases, sophomore Jack Anderson would then draw a bases-loaded walk and bring in Ayers to make it 6-2 Manatees. Fritz would then send a single to right to bring in Long before freshman Brayden Woodburn hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Karstetter. Sophomore Richard Rodriguez would then send a single to right, bringing in Fritz and Anderson to make it 10-2 SCF before sealing the deal.
Mattos and Stephens would earn a no-decisions. Matto gave up one run on two hits with four walks and one strikeout in one and a third, while Stephens threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
Freshman Dylan Vega would earn his second win of the season after throwing two-thirds of a scoreless inning. Vega is now 2-0 on the year. Classmate Nick Consentino threw two and two-thirds innings of relief, giving up two runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts, while Gelorme earned his first save of the season after throwing two and a third innings of relief, giving up one hit, walking one batter and striking out three.
Redshirt freshman Brayden Gainey would be dubbed with the loss after giving up five runs on six hits with one walk and one strikeout in two and two-thirds innings.
Ayers lead the way in the first game going 3-for-4 with the two home runs and three RBI.
“It was a great feeling to hit two home runs,” said Ayers on his multi-home run game. “It was a very memorable experience and I hope to keep going up from here.
Fritz, Long and sophomore Jacob Steinberg all had two hits. Fritz added two RBI, which included the home run, while Long added an RBI and two runs scored.
Rodriguez had the remaining hit as he went 1-for-4 with two RBI.
Redshirt sophomore Colton Hipp had the Commodores only multi-hit game as he went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Game Two:
For game two against GCSC, Hill II went with sophomore Daniel Batcher to go to the mound, while Kandler sent freshman Laiten Hudson to counter.
The Manatees, who were the home team for the second game, would get on the board first in the bottom of the first, thanks to an RBI single by Anderson to bring in Karstetter. One inning later, Rodriguez would send an RBI single to center to bring in Woodburn for a 2-0 SCF lead.
Soon the Commodores would creep up on the Manatees for the lead from an RBI double by redshirt freshman Tyler Borges, classmate Mitch Landon scoring on a wild pitch and redshirt sophomore Colton Hipp hitting an RBI groundout to give the Commodores a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Manatees would regain the lead with a two-RBI single by freshman Charlie Davidson, but the Commodores wouldn respond back and take back the lead and make it 6-4 at the top of the fifth, thanks to a three-run homer by redshirt sophomore Max Ryerson. This signaled the end for Batcher as Hill would send freshman Eli Thurmond to the mound to take over.
The bottom of the fifth would be another rally moment for the Manatees beginning with a leadoff single from Long. After Karstetter was hit by a pitch and Anderson drew a walk to load the bases, a wild pitch occurred and Long seized the opportunity to score in success and cut the lead to one before Steinberg tied the game to 6-6 with an RBI single.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Manatees regained the lead, thanks to an RBI single by Fritz to make it 7-6 SCF.
“I wasn very fortunate to be up in a big game situation at the the end of the second game,” said Fritz on getting the game-winner. “I love to be in crucial situations like that. We have had a lot of one run ballgames this year and that experience for us is second to none.”
“Today, it was me with the big two out RBI, but I think because of our experiences this year, it could’ve been any of us at the plate and we would’ve got a big two out hit.”
At the top of the seventh, Hill made another switch and sent sophomore Clay Callahan for a save situation in success as the Venice High product would seal two strikeouts and the second win.
Batcher and Hudson both earned no-decisions. Batcher gave up all six runs (two earned) on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts in four and two-thirds, while Hudson gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits with one walk and four strikeouts in four innings.
Thurmond would earn his second win of the season after throwing one and a third scoreless innings with one walk and three strikeouts. He is now 2-1 on the season.
Callahan would earned his first save of the season after throwing a scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts.
Freshman Tyler Peterson would earn the loss after giving up one run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in one and two-thirds innings of relief.
Long, Karstetter, Anderson and Woodburn each had two hits. Long added a run scored, while Karstetter added three runs scored, Anderson added an RBI and a walk and Woodburn added two runs.
Ayers, Steinberg, Davidson and Rodriguez had the remaining four hits.
For the Commodores, Borges and freshman Mason Smith had a multi-hit game as they both had two hits each, while Ryerson was the only one with a multi-RBI game.
Other Suncoast Scores:
South Florida State College (7-7) dropped a doubleheader to Santa Fe (6-5) by scores of 16-9 and 15-4.
FSW (10-6) defeated Elev8 Academy 14-2.
Polk State (8-6) defeated TNXL Academy 24-0.
Hillsborough (2-4) dropped their game to Miami Dade (8-6) by a score of 10-3 this past Friday.
St. Pete (5-3) split a doubleheader with Eastern Florida State (5-7) losing game one 8-4 before winning game two 7-2.
Upcoming Weekly Suncoast Games:
February 15-
Hillsborough vs Pasco: 12 and 3 pm.
Polk State at Seminole State: 2 pm
FSW vs Ave Maria JV: 2 pm
SPC at Tampa JV: 6 pm
South Florida State at Warner JV: 6 pm
February 16-
Polk State vs St. John’s River: 5 pm
February 17-
SPC at Central Florida: 3 and 6 pm
South Florida State at Daytona State: 5 pm
February 19-
HCC vs Northwest Florida State: 1 pm
SPC vs Seminole State: 1 pm
SFSC at IMG Academy Post Grad: 2 pm
Polk State vs Santa Fe: 4 pm
FSW at EFSC: 4 pm
HCC vs St. John’s River: 4 pm
Up Next:
The Manatees remain on the road as they travel to New Port Richey to take on Pasco-Hernando State (5-8) Thursday afternoon, February 18 at 3 pm. The Manatees played the Bobcats earlier in the season and won by a score of 11-10.
“I expect a good ball game at Pasco this Thursday,” said Hill on Pasco. “We are going to their park and I think they have a very good team.”
“Pasco is a very solid team,” said Fritz. “We’re excited to play them again and to go on to their field to get us a win would give us a lot of momentum going forward.”
“I’m expecting the team to pick up right where we left off against Pasco,” added Ayers. I also expect our 1-2 punch (me and Harrison Long) to bring it to them.”
1 comment:
Great article Pat. Very informative. Thanks for putting these out
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