“It was a great team win tonight,” said head coach Tim Hill II.
For the second game of the series, Hill sent sophomore Daniel Batcher to the mound while SPC head coach Ryan Beckman went with freshman Channing Young.
After the first two innings went scoreless, the Manatees took it to the scoreboard first at the top of the third. After sophomore Rook Ellington lead off the inning with a single, classmate Tucker Mitchell would send a towering two-run homer to left for his fifth of the season.
After freshman Jake Jackson hit a double and sophomore Owen Ayers drew a walk, freshman Kevin Karstetter sent a single to right to bring in Jackson for a 3-0 SCF lead.
The Titans would get their first run of the game as freshman Gabriel Rincones hit an RBI single. The Manatees would respond back and extend their lead at the top of the fourth beginning with a lead off single by freshman Harrison Long. After freshman Joel Perez was hit by a pitch and Mitchell hit a single to load the bases, Jackson would send a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Long before Ayers followed with an RBI single to center to bring in Perez.
Sophomore Jack Anderson would then load the bases before Karstetter drew a walk of his own to bring in Mitchell. Freshman Brayden Woodburn would hit a single and bring in Ayers to make it 7-1 SCF before the end of the inning.
Freshman Carlos Castillo would then hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth for the Titans, but it made the Manatees offense hit harder at the top of the sixth. After Jackson lead off the inning with a single with Ayers following with a walk, Karstetter would send a pop single to bring in Jackson before Woodburn sent a sacrifice fly to right to bring in Ayers for a 9-2 SCF lead.
At the top of the eighth, the Manatees continued to send SPC a message with their offense. After Jackson and Ayers drew back-to-back walks and Anderson hit a single to load the bases, Karstetter would send a single of his own and bring in Jackson for the 10th run of the game. Woodburn and Long would then draw back-to-back bases loaded walks to bring in Ayers and Anderson to invoke the the mercy rule in effect before Ellington sent a infield single to bring in Karstetter. With the bases still loaded, Mitchell decided to add one more final touch as he sent a double to right and bring in Woodburn and Long and make it 15-2 SCF.
Sophomore Clay Callan would then come in for Batcher and give up a two-run home run by freshman Colton Olasin for his first of the season, but it was all the Titans could produce as the Manatees pulled away with the win.
“The team did great,” said Batcher on the win. “We hit the ball well, played great defense and just overall had a great game.”
“It felt great to win the series,” said Karstetter. “The job is not done yet though as we’re aiming for the sweep Saturday.”
Batcher would earn his seventh win of the season after giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in seven innings. He is now 7-3 on the year.
“I felt great out there,” said Batcher on his game. “I had command of all my pitches, including my changeup. I was ahead in all the counts and threw strikes. It was overall a great outing.”
“Daniel threw very well tonight,” said Hill on Batcher. “He was in control the entire time and set the tone for the game.”
Callan threw one inning of relief, giving up two runs on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.
Young would fall to 3-4 after giving up seven runs on eight hits with three walks and one strikeout in three and two-thirds.
Five players had a multi-hit game. Mitchell and Karstetter both had three hits and four RBI each. Mitchell (3-for-6) added a home run, while Karstetter added a walk.
“I felt good in the box and looked to help my team any way I could” said Mitchell. “I made sure to tell (Daniel) Batcher that I was going to get him some runs tonight because he was shutting them (SPC) down on the defensive side.”
“I was seeing the ball well,” said Karstetter on his game. “It’s always nice to get multiple hits, but I think more importantly multiple RBI is what really matters.”
“Tucker and Kevin both did a great job tonight,” said Hill on Mitchell and Karstetter. “They both had some good at-bats and it showed.”
Jackson (2-for-3, one RBI, one walk and three runs), Woodburn (2-for-3, three RBI, one walk) and Ellington (2-for-5, one RBI) each had two hits and at least one RBI.
Ayers (1-for-3, one RBI, three runs, three walks and one stolen base), Anderson (1-for-4, one run, one walk) and Long (1-for-4, one RBI, two runs and a walk) had the remaining three hits.
For the Titans, Rincones, Olasin and freshman Ben Maskin each had two hits.
Notes:
This was program win #1,999. The team needs one more to reach 2,000 wins in their program.
“I think we’re going to be the first Juco program in Florida to get 2,000 wins,” said Hill. “We had a lot of great players, coaches and teams over the last 60 plus years and I am very proud of our rich baseball tradition.”
This was win #310 for Hill.
Other Suncoast Scores:
#15 Florida Southwestern State (36-13, 17-6 Suncoast) defeated South Florida State College (19-28, 6-17 Suncoast) 5-2.
Polk State (30-18, 14-9 Suncoast) defeated Hillsborough (16-23, 8-15 Suncoast) 14-8.
Suncoast Standings:
1. #15 FSW (36-13, 17-6)
2. SCF (31-17, 15-8)
3. Polk State (30-8, 14-9)
4. SPC (21-19, 9-14)
5. HCC (16-23, 8-15)
6. SFSC (19-28, 6-17)
Up Next:
The Manatees will look to go for the sweep over SPC as they return home to Wynn Field Saturday afternoon, April 17 at 1 pm. Sophomore Cole Ayers will be given the nod to start the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment