Baseball Takes Lead in Series over SPC

By Pat Clines

Bradenton, Fla - Sophomore Brayden Woodburn's walk-off homer combined with a complete game by classmate Ryan Stefiuk helped lead the SCF baseball team (13-18, 2-1 Suncoast) to an 11-1 mercy rule win over St. Pete College (7-16, 1-2) in seven innings. With the win, the Manatees take a 2-1 lead in the conference series and are now 44-12 overall against the Titans.

"It was great to get a big win on our home field, especially with it being a conference win to recover from the disappointing loss to them (St. Pete) on Saturday," said head coach Tim Hill II. "The kids bounced back from that and played the way they were capable of playing."

"I thought we did good," said Woodburn. "Ryan (Stefiuk) set the tone for us on the mound and the offense swung the bats early and Ryan just cruised the rest of the way and the offense was able to help him out."

"The offense set the tone for us early," said Stefiuk. "It's a lot easier to pitch when you have a big lead and takes a big weight off the shoulders, but I just tried to keep the infield alive and on their toes a little bit with some balls in play. Today was great."

Hill sent Stefiuk to start game three for the Manatees, while St. Pete head coach Oscar Espada went with sophomore Manuel Meilan to counter.

Stefiuk would get into an early fix at the top of the first as he loaded the bases full of Titans, but with the defense behind him, the former Vanderbilt Commodore would get the out of it with a double play.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Manatees would get on the board first. After loading the bases from a walk by freshman Erick Almonte, a single by sophomore Kevin Karstetter and sophomore Lucas Ismaili getting hit by a pitch, classmate Mario Lopez, Jr would send a sacrifice fly to the second baseman to bring in Almonte before sophomore Brayden Woodburn sent a single to center to bring in Karstetter to make it 2-0 SCF.

In the bottom of the second, the Manatees would add to their lead as sophomore Ben Gilbert would send a solo shot to right for his third of the season. After classmate Liam Moreno hit an infield single before stealing second and tagging to third on fly out, Almonte would bring in Moreno on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 SCF. Sophomore Victor Sanchez would then make it 5-0 SCF after hitting an RBI double to bring in Ismaili in the ottom of the third.

The Manatees would make it 7-0 in the bottom of the fourth as sophomore Richie Morales (single) and Almonte (walk) would get on base and commit a double steal before taking advantage of two fielding errors by the Titans to score.

At the top of the fifth, the Titans would get their first run on the board as sophomore Logan Sanders would send a solo homer to left for his third of the season.

While Stefiuk was busy putting the Titans on notice on the mound for the next two innings, the Manatees would come away in the bottom of the seventh to seal the deal. After Karstetter was hit by a pitch with one out, Ismaili would pop a double to right to put runners in scoring position for Lopez, Jr. as he lined a single to left to bring in Karstetter. All eyes turned to face Woodburn as the Winter Springs native sent a line-drive to right off the scoreboard on the first pitch for his second home run of the season and give the Manatees the walk-off mercy rule win.

"I try not to take being the hero after the walk-off homer, ," said Woodburn on the walk-off home run. "I saw a few pitches and was jumping on the first pitch where I saw a good pitch that I liked over the plate and just elevated the ball as best I could with the wind and I had to do what I had to do."

"That was a great swing by Brayden," said Hill on Woodburn's home run. "He's a great player and seeing that home run go opposite field and look like it did not go seven feet above the ground and going straight off the scoreboard was one of the hardest hit balls I've seen in a long time to help us win."

Stefiuk would earn his first win after throwing a seven-inning complete game, giving up one run on eight hits with three walks and four strikeouts. He is now 1-3 on the season.

"I felt alright," said Stefiuk on his game. "In the early innings, I was kind of struggling with where I wanted to go and was hoping to just get it over the plate. It ended up working out well and was able to pitch out of several tough situations, which was the key again."

"I thought Ryan pitched a great game and set the tone all the way to the end a did a great job overall," said Hill on Stefiuk.

Meilan would fall to 2-2 after giving up all 11 runs (eight earned) on 10 hits with two walks and four strikeouts in six innings.

Woodburn and Ismaili would be the leaders at the plate as they both had two hits apiece. Woodburn (2-for-4) had a home run and three RBI, while Ismaili (2-for-3) had two runs scored.

Lopez, Jr would follow offensively as he went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run.

Karstetter (1-for-3, two runs), Morales (1-for-4, one run and one stolen base), Sanchez (1-for-4, one RBI), Gilbert (1-for-3, one home run) and Moreno (1-for-3, one run and one stolen base) had the remaining five hits, while Almonte (one RBI, two walks, two runs and one stolen base) also contributed in the game.

For the Titans, Serrano and freshman Brett Wagner lead the way as they both had two hits apiece, while Sanders had the Titans lone RBI after the home run.

Notes:

The single for Karstetter was his 181st career hit. He needs four to surpass Al Corbeil (184, 1998-99) for all-time career hits record. Additionally, the hit pushed his hitting streak to 21 straight game and to hit in six straight games to set the record held by Tom McKay (26, 1967).

Other Suncoast Scores:

Polk State (18-11, 3-0 Suncoast) defeated Hillsborough (6-21, 0-3 Suncoast) 9-6 to take the first conference series this season.

Suncoast Conference Standings:

1. Polk State (18-11, 3-0)

2. SCF (13-18, 2-1)

3. St. Pete (7-16, 1-2)

4. Hillsborough (6-21, 0-3)

Up Next:

The Manatees look to take the first conference series between the two teams as they head back to Clearwater to face St. Pete Wednesday night, March 15 at 6 pm. Freshman Jeremy Weaver (1-1, 5.24 ERA) will be given the nod to close the series and get the win.