“FSW is a very good ball club,” said head coach Tim Hill II. “This is a big series since we’re both tied for first in the Suncoast. It’s nice to get the series started with a ‘W’. They’re well coached and have some very good players. I thought tonight was a pretty crisp game, obviously with us throwing the shutout is always nice. I thought their pitchers did a good job as well.”
Hill went with sending sophomore Matt Gelorme to the mound, while FSW head coach Ben Biziernsent went with sophomore Enrique Cotto to counter.
While he did give up a leadoff single at the top of the first, Gelorme was able to breeze through the first with three straight strikeouts.
While the first two innings went scoreless, the Manatees would get on the board first. After sophomore Cameron Lee hit a leadoff single before advancing to second on a balk and third on a throwing error, classmate Tucker Mitchell would hit a hard ground ball single to center and bring in Lee for the first run of the game. After freshman Kevin Karstetter hit a two-out single and classmate Brayden Woodburn drew a walk to load the bases, freshman Jake Jackson would send a hard ground ball single to center and bring in Mitchell and Karstetter for a 3-0 SCF lead.
“It felt good to have another quality at-bat and come through for the boys,” said Jackson on his hit. “At the end of the day, they (FSW) did not put up any runs because of Matt and David.”
After Anderson hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth, Biziern would make a change to the mound as he sent sophomore Robert Weigelnik to the mound where he would get out of the inning.
After throwing a leadoff walk, Hill decided to pull Gelorme and send sophomore David Barrett to the mound. With a big double play by freshman Joel Perez, Barrett was able to get out of the seventh with a fly out.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Manatees would extend their lead after sophomore Owen Ayers reached first and advanced to second on a fielding error, while Lee scored to make it.
From there, Barrett would be able to seal the deal with one final push and get the final groundout for the win.
Gelorme would go to 2-0 for the win after throwing six shutout innings, giving up three hits with three walks and a career-high 11 strikeouts.
“Anytime I go out on the mound, I know my defense has my back and that’s usually a good feeling,” said Gelorme. “When we get runs early, it makes my job a lot easier. All I have to do is get ahead of offensive hitters and strikeouts will come, but my job is to make them put the ball in play and I felt like I did that tonight and my defense really backed me up.”
“It’s a great feeling,” said Gelorme on his strikeout career-high. “I like to attribute that to getting ahead in the count early. If I can get the hitter down on two strikes and one ball or no balls, then it makes it a lot easier because I can waste pitches and get them to swing at something. If they don’t swing, then I’ll just back with a strike and hopefully get the miss.”
Barrett threw three shutout innings of relief for his second save of the season, giving up three hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
“It felt good to be back on the mound,” said Barrett. “Matt dominated the whole game and made it pretty easy going out there with the three-run lead and Jake (Jackson) comes in timely with his hitting when we need him.”
“Matt has been throwing really well for us,” said Hill on Gelorme. “He throws three pitches for strikes, he’s got good stuff and competes. He was the story of the game. I thought he was in control of the whole way. David came in and picked up where Matt left off and it was nice having the both of them do what they’re capable of doing while facing really good hitters on their part and they pitched really well.”
Cotto would be dubbed with his first loss of the season after giving up three runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts in four and a third. He is now 3-1 on the year.
Weigelnik gave up one unearned run with six walks and six strikeouts in three and two-thirds of relief.
Ayers, Mitchell, Anderson, Karstetter, Jackson and Lee each had one of the team’s six hits.
Sophomore Warnner Rincones was the only Buccaneer with a multi-hit game as he went 2-for-4. In fact, he was the only player out of both teams to have a multi-hit game.
Notes:
This was career win #304 for Hill as head coach for the Manatees.
Other Suncoast Scores:
Polk State (22-14, 8-5 Suncoast) defeated St. Pete (16-12, 6-7 Suncoast) 14-4.
South Florida State College (12-22, 2-11 Suncoast) defeated Hillsborough (9-18, 3-10 Suncoast) 6-3.
Suncoast Standings:
1. #15 FSW (26-10, 10-3)
2. #17 SCF (25-10, 10-3)
3. Polk State (22-14, 8-6)
4. SPC (16-12, 6-7)
5. HCC (9-18, 3-10)
6. SFSC (12-22, 2-11)
Up Next:
The Manatees will travel to Fort Myers for the second game against FSW Wednesday afternoon, March 24 at 3 pm. Sophomore Tony Rossi will be given the nod to start the game.
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