SCF Baseball Heads to Neutral Grounds

Bradenton, Fla - After a strong start to their season, the SCF baseball team (1-2) will look to set their sights on their first road trip of the season as they travel to Panama City Beach to participate in the three-day Visit Panama City Beach Baseball Classic at Publix Sports Park, hosted by Gulf Coast State College. The Manatees will open their part of the classic against #11 McLennan CC Friday afternoon, February 4 at 12:30 pm (11:30 am CST). It will be the first matchup between both teams.

Last season, the Manatees finished 2-2 in the classic where they upset then #10 Chipola College (3-2) and #6 San Jacinto - North (11-3) to win the Bronze Bracket.

If the Manatees defeat McLennan CC, then they will face the winner between Wallace-Dothan and Meridian CC in the main bracket, but if they lose they will bump down to the gold bracket and face the loser between the two teams.

The following teams will be participating with the Manatees and McLennan:

Gulf Coast State (host)

Pearl River (Mississippi)

St. John's River State

Dyersburg State CC (Tennessee)

RV Andrew (Georgia)

#2 Wabash Valley (Illinois)

#16 Florida Southwestern

#6 Northwest Florida State

Wallace CC-Dothan (Alabama)

#13 (NJCAA DII) Meridian CC (Mississippi)

RV Chipola

#15 Florence Darlington Tech (South Carolina)

Miami Dade

Chattahoochee Valley CC (Alabama)

All 16 teams are guaranteed four games in the classic.

Game Starters:

February 2: Game one vs McLennan CC - Brandon Clarke (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

February 3: Game two vs Wallace Dothan CC or Meridian CC - Ed Wagner (0-0, 7.36 ERA)

Game three vs TBD - Bryan Gomez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

February 4: Game four vs TBD -  Liam Best (0-1, 3.00 ERA)

Last Time Out:

The Manatees are coming off of opening their season with the second annual three-day SCF Legends Classic. They would fall to Gulf Coast State (4-3) and upset #6 Northwest Florida State (7-5) before falling to Indian River State (9-0).

Scouting McLennan CC:

McLennan CC hail from Waco, Texas and represent NJCAA Region 5 (North Junior College Athletic Conference). They are lead by Tyler Johnson, who enters his second season as head coach.

The Highlanders are coming off of finishing last season 40-18 overall with a 22-10 record in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Association (NTJCAA). They would finish fourth in conference play before losing both games in the NJCAA Region 5 West Championship.

Playing a big part for the Highlanders' pitching is freshman Gavyn Jones, who is ranked #2 in the Perfect Game Top 500 JUCO Prospects List.

How to Keep Up:

All the games will feature livestats provided by PerfectGame and will air livestream. Fans can also keep up the Manatees on all social media platforms.

Livestats Link: https://www.perfectgame.org/DiamondKast/Game.aspx?gameid=919032

Livestream Link: https://www.perfectgame.tv/

Social Media:

X - https://twitter.com/SCFBaseball