Hill Earns 300th Win With SCF Baseball

Bradenton, Fla - History was made for a soaked head coach Tim Hill II at Robert C. Wynn Field as the #11 SCF baseball team (21-9, 6-2 Suncoast) defeated St. Pete (15-8, 5-3 Suncoast) 23-13 in seven innings. With the win, the Manatees tied the series and are now 33-13 against the Titans.

“Brayden Woodburn said it best when he was on third base last inning and said ‘Coach, this is the craziest game I have ever been in’, said Hill II. I’ve been plenty of crazy games and it didn’t look good for us for a while, but we didn’t play very well defensively and our pitching wasn’t sharp as it usually was, but the guys kept battling, kept swinging the bats with 14 runs in seventh, which is something you don’t expect and that’s one of those things that appears once in a long time, so I’m glad we were on the winning side of it.”

“It was a rough start and a rough game,” said sophomore Tucker Mitchell. “We knew that we would have to fight throughout it all and we tried as a group to just stay positive and get our pitchers backs and keep swinging.”

“It was a great game,” said freshman Kevin Karstetter. “We battled the whole game, made some mistakes, but we dug ourselves out of it and piled up some runs late and that’s the type of team we are hitting and hopefully keep it going.”

“Overall, we battled the whole game,” said freshman Joel Pérez. “We had a lot of hits, scored 23 runs to end the game with a bang. It was a group effort and the guys did a great job.”

Hill sent freshman Nick Consentino to the mound, while SPC head coach Ryan Beckman sent sophomore Ivan Martinez to counter.

The Titans would score 3-0 in the first two innings while hold the Manatees scoreless in the first. In the bottom of the second, the Manatees’ bats would respond begin with a leadoff single by sophomore Jack Anderson. One batter later, freshman Brayden Woodburn would double before sophomore Jacob Steinberg sent a infield single and bring in Anderson for the Manatees first run of the game. After Pérez hit a single to load the bases, sophomore Owen Ayers would draw a walk and bring Woodburn home to cut SPC’s lead to 3-2.

At the top of the fourth, the Titans would extend their lead to 5-2 after a two-RBI double by sophomore Justin Turk, but the Manatees decided to respond again in the bottom half of the inning. After Steinberg drew a leadoff walk, freshman Charlie Davidson would send a double to left and bring in Steinberg. Ayers would soon tie the game with a two-run homer to right for his fifth of the season. After Mitchell hit a single and advanced on fielding error, freshman Jake Jackson would groundout and send Mitchell home to give the Manatees a 6-5 lead.

St. Pete would then regain their lead and make it 8-6 in their favor at the fifth before the Manatees regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth beginning with Pérez getting hit by a pitch to leadoff. After Ayers hit a single, Mitchell would hit into a fielder’s choice and bring in Perez to cut the deficit to 8-7. After Anderson hit a double, Karstetter would send Mitchell and Anderson home to give the Manatees a 9-8.

The Titans would not back down at the top of the seventh and regained the lead to 13-9 after sophomore Christian Rivera was a hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, freshman Chris Williams hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, freshman Carlos Castillo hit a two-RBI double before scoring on a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Manatees energy would not back down as they were determined to get the win. Woodburn would open the bottom half by getting hit by a pitch. Sophomore Richard Rodriguez would then folllow with a single before being called out after classmate Rook Ellington hit into a fielder’s choice. Pérez would continue the Manatees rally as the Miramar native lined a single to left and bring in Woodburn. Ayers would then draw a walk to load the bases while Beckman made a pitching change. Mitchell would cut the deficit to one run with a bases-loaded double and bring in Ellington and Pérez before Jackson tied the game to 13-13 after an RBI single that brought in Ayers before leading to another Titan pitching change.

After Anderson drew a walk to load the bases, Karstter would send a single to left and bring in Mitchell to make it 14-13 SCF.

The Manatees batted around as Woodburn would single to right and bring in Jackson. Rodriguez would then hit a single to bring in Anderson before Ellington brought in Karstteter after drawing a bases-loaded walk. Pérez would then hit a bases-loaded two-RBI single and bring in Woodburn and Rodriguez before Ayers loaded the bases after reaching on a fielding error. Mitchell would send a sacrifice fly to center and bring in Ellington for the Manatees 20th run of the game before Jackson sent a single to center and bring in Pérez.

After Anderson drew a walk to load the bases once again, all eyes were turned to Karstetter to seal the deal. On an 0-2 count, the Pennsylvanian would send a hard single to left and bring in Ayers and Jackson and seal the 10-run mercy for the win.

“Driving in runs was it was all about,” said Karstetter on bringing in the the game-winning runs. “When you drive in runs, good things happen and you help your team. It happened to be a walk-off again and it was great to do so again.”

Consentino and Martinez earned no-decisions for the game. Consentino gave up five runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in three and a third, while Martinez gave up four runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in three innings.

Freshman Eli Thurmond would earn the win after throwing a third of a scoreless inning. Thurmond is now 3-1 on the season.

Freshman El Rico Riley was dubbed with his first loss after giving up eight runs (four earned) on six hits with three walks in a third of a innings of relief. He was also 3-for-4 with two RBI and two walks.

Karstetter was the leader of the game after going 4-for-6 with five RBI.

“Kevin has had a ton of RBIs this season and a bunch more today,” said Hill on Karstetter. “He’s a good player and I’m excited he’s with us.”

Anderson and Perez were both 3-for-4. Anderson added three runs and two walks, while Perez added three RBI.

“I just go out there and have fun,” said Perez on his game. “That’s what it’s all about. I enjoy playing with these guys and I do what I can to help the guys win.”

“While Joel hasn’t played as much as some of the other guys, but I tell him like I tell the others that I like this team and we got a lot more depth than we usually have and have to be ready to go,” said Hill on Pérez. “Joel is making the most of his opportunities, he plays with a lot of energy, which is why we signed him, and I like the energy he brings to the field and he did a nice job.”

Mitchell (2-for-5, four RBI, three runs), Ayers (2-for-4, three RBI, three runs, two walks), Jackson (2-for-6, three RBI, two runs scored), Woodburn (2-for-4, one RBI, three runs) and Rodriguez (2-for-2, one RBI, one run) each had two hits and at least one RBI. Jackson also threw a third of an inning of relief, giving up two runs on one hit with one walk and one strikeout.

“I got outside myself the first two at-bats and then had a little with Donnie (Robinson) to figure out what I needed to do to go forward," said Mitchell. "It felt really good in my the last two at-bats to keep it going.”

“Tucker always does his thing at the plate and is one of the better hitters in the state,” said Hill on Mitchell.

Steinberg (1-for-2, one RBI, one run and one walk) and Davidson (1-for-3, one RBI and one run) had the remaining two hits.

Williams, Castillo and Turk each had two hits for the Titans.

Notes:

It was announced that Mitchell has committed to play for North Carolina State University in Raleigh

The 23 runs were the most scored under the Hill II era.

This was Hill II’s 300th career win as head coach for the Manatees

“When you coach long enough like I have, then you’ll start having games of recognition like that,” said Hill II on his 300th win. “I appreciate it all the guys making a big deal of it, which is great, but it’s about them and it means I’ve been coaching for a while, so it’s nice to be recognized for sure, but I follow two really good coaches here and I’m proud to be the coach at SCF and the team that I’m with right now.”

“It’s a great feeling,” said Mitchell on Hill’s 300th win. “We work so hard and play for each other so much and for coach Hill. We want him to succeed just as much as we want to succeed and getting him to that milestone is great and something we’ll remember for a while.”

Other Suncoast Scores:

#20 Florida Southwestern State (23-8, 7-1 Suncoast) defeated South Florida State College (11-18, 1-7 Suncoast) 7-0 to open their series.

Hillsborough (8-14, 2-6) defeated Polk State (17-4, 3-5) 5-4.

Suncoast Standings:

1. #20 FSW (23-8, 7-1)

2. #11 SCF (21-9, 6-2)

3. SPC (15-8, 5-3)

4. Polk State (17-14, 3-5)

5. HCC (8-14, 2-6)

6. SFSC (11-18, 1-7)

Up Next:

The Manatees will be looking to claim their third series as they head back to Clearwater Monday night, March 15 at 6 pm. Sophomore Matt Gelorme will be given the nod to start the game.