Baseball Walks it Off Over #11 FSW

Bradenton, Fla. - In their last non-conference game of the season, the SCF baseball team (32-19, 17-13 Citrus) were able to pull off a walk-off victory at Wynn Field as they defeated #11 Florida Southwestern (36-13, 21-9 Citrus) 12-11 in 10 innings.

"A nice win tonight against a really good FSW team," said head coach Tim Hill II. "It was a back-and-forth game, but in the end it was nice to come out on top, especially after a rough series against Eastern Florida where we did not play our best baseball like we're capable of. Myles (Davis) had a big night And Holden (Brauner) came up big when we needed it. Both are good players who have done some good things for us this season. We're looking to finish strong with the St. Pete series to punch our ticket to postseason."

"I felt like the team brought the energy tonight," said freshman Myles Davis. "We played really good especially after a hard weekend series. It was very good to carry this game into this weekend where we can bring the energy for our series against St. Pete."

"The team handled business well," said freshman Holden Brauner. "We just went in treating it like the most important game of the season. The more we start building up as a team towards the playoffs, the better."

Hill II sent sophomore Gavyn Bowen (2-0, 6.59 ERA) to the mound, while FSW head coach Zac Cole went with redshirt sophomore Logan O'Leary (2-0, 3.00 ERA) to counter.

After the first two innings went scoreless, the Buccaneers would get on the board first at the top of the third after RBI singles by sophomore Anthony Ruocco and Carlos Sanchez and an RBI groundout by sophomore Jake Mueller made it 3-0 FSW. The Manatees would respond in the bottom half of the inning beginning with freshman Ryan Kaitz hitting a leadoff solo home run to left for his third of the season. After classmate Clayton Evans hit a single of his own before moving to second and sophomore Allan Gil Fernandez drew a walk, Davis would show his power as he sent a three-run homer to left for his third of the season and give the Manatees a 4-3 lead.

FSW would then retake the lead at the top of the fourth after a sacrifice fly by freshman Alex Kuenzle and sophomore Ty Hamilton scored on a wild pitch. One inning later, they would make it 7-4 after a two-run double by redshirt freshman Nathan Fink.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Manatees would start to rally beginning with a leadoff single by Davis. After sophomore Luke Boykin hit a double, classmate Mario Trivella would send a double of his own to right to bring in Davis and Boykin before freshman Dominic Donatucci brought in Trivella with a single to right and tie the game at 7-7. After a wild pitch moved Donatucci to second, Kaitz would send a single to right and bring in Donatucci to make it 8-7 SCF.

The Buccaneers would continue their back-and-forth onslaught at the top of the seventh as Mueller would tower a solo homer to left for his 11th of the season before redshirt sophomore Michael McAloose hit a two-run double to make it 10-8 FSW. The Manatees would then cut the lead to 10-9 in the bottom half of the inning as Trivella brought in sophomore Walker Vanecek with a single to right.

At the top of the eighth, Muller would once again show off his power as he sent another solo home run to right for his 12th of the season and second of the game to make it 11-9 FSW. 

After the Buccaneers failed to score at the top of the ninth, the Manatees would pull off the moment they needed. After Gil Fernandez was hit by a pitch, Davis would pull it together on a full count and send a two-run homer to right for his fourth of the season and second of the ballgame before the game went into extra innings with the International tiebreaker rule in effect.

After FSW failed to bring in a run at the top of the 10th, the Manatees would have a go at it as they placed Kaitz on the second. After one out, Brauner would become the hero as he sent a single to right-center to bring in Kaitz and seal the victory for the Manatees.

"I felt good helping the team secure the win," said Brauner on the game-winning hit. "Without the guys getting the job done throughout the entire season, I wouldn't have been blessed enough to be out in that position. I honestly knew as soon as Hayden (Gustavson) shut the door in the 10th, it would be me or Connor (O'Sullivan) would finish the game off."

Both Bowen and O'Leary earned a no-decision for their starts. Bowen gave up five runs on four hits with six walks and three strikeouts in three and a third innings, while O'Leary gave up four run on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts in three innings.

Sophomore Hayden Gustavson would earn the win after throwing one-third of a scoreless inning of relief. Freshman Bernard Barnes threw three innings of relief, giving up one run on one hit with one walk and two strikeouts, while sophomore Duke McCarron gave up two runs on two hits with one walk and one strikeouts in one inning of relief and freshman Austin Monahan gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits with one walk and one strikeout in two and a third innings of relief.

Sophomore Brett Dennis would get the loss after giving up one run on one hit in one-third of an inning.

Three Manatees had a multi-hit game. It was Davis that lead the way in hitting and offense as he went 4-for-5 with a two home runs, three runs scored and five RBI.

"I felt good today," said Davis. "It was just one of those days. The only thing on my mind when I hit those home runs was just trying to drive the ball into the gap and that was my approach all night and it worked for me."

Trivella would follow going 2-for-4 with three RBI, one run, one walk and one stolen base, while Kaitz rounded out the order going 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs and two RBI. Brauner (1-for-6, one RBI), Boykin (1-for-5, one run) and Evans (1-for-3, one run) had the remaining hits.

For the Buccaneers, Mueller was their offensive leader as he went 2-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI.

Notes:

Davis' two home run game was the first time a Manatee had a multi-home run game since Owen Ayers on March 28, 2022.

Other Citrus Conference Scores:

Miami Dade (27-21, 15-15 Citrus) defeated #7 Indian River State (32-13, 22-8 Citrus) 14-7.

Citrus Conference Standings:

1. #7 Indian River State (32-13, 22-8)

2. #11 Florida Southwestern (36-13, 21-9)

3. #21 Central Florida (33-14, 18-12) 

4. SCF (32-19, 17-13)

5. Eastern Florida State (29-18, 17-13)

6. Miami Dade (27-21, 15-15)

7. Seminole State College of Florida (27-21, 15-15)

8. Polk State (27-25, 14-16)

9. Santa Fe (23-24, 14-16)

10. Daytona State (13-28, 11-19)

11. Hillsborough (18-29, 10-20)

12. St. Pete (9-36, 6-24)

Up Next:

The Manatees wrap up the regular with their finale against St. Pete College (9-36, 6-24 Citrus). Game one will take place at Robert C. Wynn Field Thursday night, April 24 at 6 pm, while games two and three take place at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater Saturday afternoon, April 26 at 1 and 4 pm.