Gainesville, Fla - The SCF baseball team (25-21, 13-14 Citrus) were able to pull a split against Santa Fe (26-18, 15-12 Citrus) winning game one 11-5 in 12 innings before losing game two 6-4.
Game One:
Head coach Tim Hill II sent redshirt freshman Palmer O'Beirne (5-1, 5.72 ERA) to start game one, while Santa Fe head coach Johnny Wiggs went with sophomore Justin Jackson (9-2, 2.00 ERA) to counter.
The Saints would get on the board first in the bottom of the first as sophomore Corey Filey would send an RBI double to left for a 1-0 lead. After the second inning went scoreless, the Manatees would respond at the top of the third beginning with a leadoff single by redshirt freshman Mario Trivella. After sophomore Erick Almonte hit a double to right to put runners in scoring position, classmate Jalen Hairston would line a single to right and bring in Trivella and Almonte for a 2-1 SCF lead. Two batters later, sophomore would hit a single to right before classmate Luis Garrido sent a double to left to bring in Hairston and make it 3-1 SCF.
Meanwhile, O'Beirne would continue to put zeros on the Saints' board with the defense backing him up for the next three innings. At the top of the seventh, the Manatees would increase their lead to 5-1 after Gil-Fernandez sent a two-run home run to left-center for his eighth of the season. This would send freshman Nick Staszak to the mound to finish the seventh.
The Saints would not go without a fight in the bottom of the seventh. After O'Beirne got the first out and threw two walks to load the bases, Hill II would pull him out and send sophomore Bryan Gomez (4-0, 5.17 ERA) to come in for relief. This would give the Saints a chance to put their offense up where they would eventually tie the game at 5-5 after an RBI single by Filey, a bases-loaded walk by sophomore Grant Gallagher and a two-run single by freshman Javier Soto. Miraculously, Gomez was able to strikeout the next two batters and force the seventh inning game to extra innings.
For the next four innings, it would be a pitcher's duel between Gomez and Staszak as both pitchers would throw a combined eight strikeouts with Gomez having seven of them.
At the top of the 12th, the Manatees would push themselves to take the lead beginning with a leadoff single by freshman Luke Boykin before Trivella moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. After Almonte reached first on a bobbled fielding error by the Saints and Boykin moved to third, Hairston would draw an intentional walk to load the bases for Smalley. On a 1-2 count, the upcoming transfer for the University of Houston would line a single to center to bring in Boykin and give the Manatees a 6-5 lead. They would not stop as Gil-Fernadez would up the score with a double to left to bring in in Almonte and Hairston before sophomore Santiago Ordonez would hit a hard single ton left to bring in Smalley. After Garrido moved Ordonez to second with a sacrifice bunt, sophomore Jayce Blalock would put the finishing touches of run as he sent a single to right to bring in Gil-Fernandez and Ordonez and make it 11-5 SCF before Gomez sealed the 12th for a Manatee win.
O'Beirne and Jackson would both earn no-decisions in their starts as they each threw six and a third innings. O'Beirne would give up four runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts, while Jackson gave up five runs on 11 hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.
Gomez would improve to 5-0 after giving up one run on six hits with two walks and a career-high 11 strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings of relief.
Staszak would fall to 3-4 after giving up six runs (three earned) on six hits with six walks and two strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings of relief.
All nine Manatees in the starting lineup had at least one hit with five having a multi-hit game. It was Gil-Fernandez that lead the way offensively as he went 2-for-5 with a home run, four RBI, two runs and two walks.
Almonte (3-for-6), Hairston (3-for-5) and Ordonez (3-for-6) lead the way in hitting with three hits each. Almonte added two runs and one walk, while Hairston added three runs, two RBI and two walks and Ordonez added on RBI and one run.
Trivella rounded out the order as he went 2-for-5 with a run.
Smalley (1-for-7, one RBI and one run), Garrido (1-for-5, one RBI and one walk), Blalock (1-for-4, two RBI and three walks and Boykin (1-for-7, one run) had the remaining four hits.
For the Saints, Soto (3-for-6) and redshirt sophomore BJ Graham (3-for-5) would lead the way in hitting as they each had three hits with Soto leading the way with two RBI
Game Two:
Hill II sent sophomore Preston Wetherell (1-1, 4.95 ERA) to start game two while Wiggs went with redshirt freshman Macklin Miller (0-1, 10.80 ERA) to counter.
After the first inning went scoreless, the Manatees would get on the board first. After Garrido lead off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt, Trivella would pop a double to center and bring in Garrido. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Almonte would send a double to left-center bring in Trivella and make it 2-0 SCF.
The Saints would then cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the third after a sacrifice fly by Soto before taking a 5-2 lead one inning later thanks to two runs on two wild pitches, an RBI single by sophomore Connor Fosnow and an RBI double by Soto before adding their final run on another RBI by Fosnow to make it 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth.
The Manatees would try to rally at the top of the sixth after Blalock and Gil-Fernandez drove in runs on two RBI groundouts, but it would be all they could produce as the Saints took the series with the win.
Wetherell would fall to 1-2 after giving up four runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in three and a third innings.
Miller would earn a no-decision after giving up two runs on two hits with four walks in two innings. Redshirt freshman Lucas Johns would improve to 1-1 after giving up two runs on four hits with two walks and one strikeout in three innings of relief, while sophomore Nick Davidson threw two scoreless innings of relief with two walks to earn his first save.
Freshman Walker Vanecek would lead the way in hitting as he went 2-for-4 at the plate. Almonte (1-for-3, one run, one RBI and one walk), Hairston (1-for-1, three walks and two stolen bases), Trivella (1-for-3, one run, one RBI and one walk) and Ordonez (1-for-1, one run) had the remaining four hits, while Blalock (one RBI), Gil-Fernandez (one RBI and one walk), Garrido (one run and one walk) and Boykin (one walk) also contributed in game two.
For the Saints, sophomore AJ Barrios lead the way in hitting as he went 3-for-4, while Fosnow lead the way offensively after going 2-for-3 with two RBI.