SCF Baseball Takes First Game at SPC

Clearwater, Fla - The SCF baseball team (23-18, 8-8 Suncoast) were able to get their conference record back at even as they defeated St. Pete (14-23, 4-15 Suncoast) 16-12 at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater. Game two will take place at Wynn Field Wednesday night, April 6 at 6 pm.

Head coach Tim Hill II sent freshman Michael Murphy to the mound, while SPC head coach Jeremy Graf went with freshman Tanner Walker.

The Manatees would gain the early lead at the top of the first. After a leadoff single by freshman Tayden Hall and a double from sophomore Kevin Karstetter, sophomore Owen Ayers would ground out and bring in Hall for the first run. Classmate Harrison Long would then groundout as he sent Karstetter home. With two outs, sophomore Brandon Fields would send a double to right before freshman Lucas Isamli lined a single to the middle to bring in Fields for a 3-0 SCF lead.

At the top of the second, the Manatees extended the lead to 6-0 as Ayers would drive in freshman Dillon Cerrone and Karstetter with a three-run homer to right for his ninth of the season.

The Titans would then get their first run of the game in the bottom of the third as freshman Nicholas Yedman would hit an RBI single to make it 6-1 still in SCF's favor.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Manatees made a pitching change as Hill sent sophomore Nick Gotilla to the mound. After the pitching change, the Titans would the Manatees lead to 6-5 thanks to an RBI singles by freshmen Austin Coultas, a sacrifice fly by Yedman and a two-RBI single by Sam Bianco before Gotilla ended the inning.

The Manatees would extend the lead to 7-5 at the top of the fifth after a sacrifice fly by Fields brought in Karstetter, but the Titans would gain their first lead in the bottom half of the inning after Coultas reached on an error to bring in sophomore Jadier Morelos, Yedman hit a two-RBI double and Bianco hit an RBI double to put the lead to 9-7 SPC.

At the top of the sixth, the Titans would make a pitching change and send sophomore Jared Kapurch to the mound. After the pitching change, the Manatees would attempt to regain the lead. Harbison would get a single before being called out trying to extend it to a double before freshman Gabe Wright hit a ground-rule double to start it off before Hall sent a single down the middle to bring in Wright. Karstetter would then send a triple to center to bring in Hall and tie the game at 9-9. After Ayers drew a walk, Karstetter would score on a passed ball to give the Manatees a 10-9 lead.

After the seventh inning went scoreless, the Manatees wanted to extend their lead with insurance runs at the top of the eighth. After the Titans sent sophomore Logan Scheu to the mound, sophomore Miguel Larreal would lead-off the inning with a pinch-hit single. After Karstetter hit an infield single to move Larreal to third before stealing second to put runners in scoring position. After Ayers was intentionally walked to load the bases, Long would send a single to right to bring in Larreal before the Titans sent freshman Jacob Torres to replace Scheu.

After the change, Fields would draw a bases-loaded walk to bring in Karstetter before Ayers scored on a wild pitch. Ismali would then a sacrifice fly to right to bring in Long before Harbison hit a double to left to bring in Fields to make it 15-9 SCF.

At the top of the ninth, the Manatees would add their final run of the game as Hall drew a walk before scoring on a fielding error with Karstetter reaching base to make it 16-9 SCF.

After Hill pulled Gotilla and sent sophomore Nick Cosentino to try and finish the top of the ninth, the Titans tried to get one more gasp of air on the offensive end after an RBI groundout by freshman Ben Maskin and an RBI single by Bianco. It signaled the end for Cosentino as Hill would make his final change and send sophomore Jake Jackson to the mound to get the final out.

After freshman Nick Garagozzo hit an RBI single, Jackson was able to freshman Roberto Gutierrez to fly out and end the game for a Manatees win.

Both Murphy and Walker earned no-decisions in the game. Murphy gave up one run on three hits with two strikeouts in three innings, while Walker gave up seven runs (six earned) on seven hits with one strikeout in five innings.

Gotilla would get his eighth win of the season after giving up nine runs (six earned) on 10 hits with two walks and five strikeouts in five innings of relief. He is now 8-2 on the year.

Cosentino would give up on three runs on two hits with one strikeout in two-thirds of an inning, while Jackson gave up one hit in the final one-third of the ninth.

Kapurch would fall to 0-2 on the year after giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits with one walk in two innings of relief.

Scheu gave up four runs on three hits with one walk in a third of an inning of relief, while Torres gave up one run on one hit with two walks in two-third of an inning and freshman Trey Bacon gave up one hit with two walks and two strikeouts in one scoreless inning.

Five Manatees had at least two hits in the game. Harbison lead the team in hits as he went 3-for-6 with an RBI. Karstetter, who was a home run shy of a cycle, followed going 3-for-4 with an RBI and five runs.

Ayers was the leader in offense as he went 2-for-3 with a home run, four RBI, two runs and three walks, while Long was 2-for-6 with two RBI and two runs. Hall would round out the order going 2-for-5 with an RBI, two runs and a walk.

Fields (1-for-4, two RBI, two runs and a walk), Ismali (1-for-3, two RBI and one walk), Wright (1-for-4, one run and one walk), Cerrone (1-for-3, one run and one stolen base) and Larreal (1-for-2, one run) had the remaining five hits for the Manatees.

Morelos lead all the Titans in hits as he went 5-for-5 with three runs, while Bianco lead the Titans offense overall as he went 3-for-4 with four RBI.


Other Suncoast Scores:
#8 FSW (29-12, 16-3 Suncoast) defeated Hillsborough (15-22, 5-11 Suncoast) 6-3. Both teams play each other Wednesday afternoon, April 6 at 3 pm at George Steinbrenner Field.

Polk State (28-16, 11-7 Suncoast) defeated the Florida Southern College junior varsity team (9-6) 11-6. The Eagles will play the Mocs again Wednesday night, April 6 at 5:30 pm.


Suncoast Standings:
1. #8 FSW (29-12, 16-3)
2. Polk State (28-16, 11-7)
3. SCF (23-18, 8-8)
4. HCC (15-22, 5-11)
5. SPC (14-23, 4-15)

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