Posted: Mar 09, 2023
By Pat Clines
Bradenton, Fla - The SCF baseball team (11-17) will look to focus on Suncoast Conference play after a tough non-conference schedule. The Manatees will face St. Pete College (5-14) and open the series Friday night, March 10 at Wynn Field. They will then travel to St. Pete to play at Jack Russell Stadium on Saturday, March 11 at 1 pm for game two. Game three will return to Wynn Field on Monday, March 13 at 6 pm before returning to St. Pete Wednesday night, March 15 at 6 pm.
Suncoast Conference Standings:
1. Polk State (14-11)
2. SCF (11-17)
3. St. Pete (6-14)
4. Hillsborough (6-17)
Last Time Out:
The Manatees are coming off of a 18-5 win over the IMG Academy postgrad team after completing a sweep over Seminole State College of Florida after defeating them 11-3 in Sanford. They are currently in second place in the standings.
Wagging the Wins:
Freshman Ed Wagner has been leading the way for the Manatees on the mound. Wagner is currently 3-0 with a 3.45 ERA, 13 walks and 31 strikeouts. In his last start, the former George Washington Colonial threw six innings with one walk and four strikeouts in the win over Seminole State.
Walking Along:
Sophomore Brayden Woodburn has been one of the players that has been walked a lot in the games. Woodburn is batting .286 with 26 hits, one home run, 13 RBI and 13 stolen bases, but what the Winter Springs native has been doing in his plate appearances is by drawing walks and getting hit by pitch as he leads the team with 32 walks. In his last game, Woodburn went 1-for-2 against IMG Academy with an RBI and drew three walks.
In his career, Woodburn has 72 career walks so far and can actually break two records in walks. He needs 21 to surpass Jody Reed (59; 1981-82) for the most walks in a single season and 38 to surpass Joey Collis (109; 1994-95) for most career walks.
Woodburn is not the only player getting walked a lot as freshman Erick Almonte follows along on the path. Almonte is batting .316 with 30 hits, 18 RBI and 24 walks. He was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI in the win over IMG Academy.
Starting the Engines for Records:
Woodburn is not the only player looking to set a record. Sophomore Kevin Karstetter is on a path of setting some records of his own for batting. Currently, he is batting .373 with 44 hits, seven home runs and 37 RBI. He was 1-for-5 with two RBI against IMG Academy.
Kaestetter has 176 hits in his career so far and need seven to surpass former Manatee and current Polk State head coach Al Corbeil (184, 1998-99). Additionally, he has 37 career doubles and needs 13 to surpass Paul Stryhas (49, 1996-97).
Rhythm Hitting:
Sophomore Mario Lopez, Jr. has been hitting the bat well as of late for the Manatees. Lopez, Jr. is batting .397 with 29 hits, two home runs and 18 RBI.
Wild Power:
On the power side of the bats, sophomores Lucas Ismaili and Ben Gilbert and freshman Jayce Blalock have been showing off some power as of late.
Ismaili is batting .361 with 34 hits, five home runs and 30 RBI. The former University of Pittsburgh Panther had one of his offensive outings at the plate as he went 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI against IMG Academy.
Gilbert is batting .326 with 14 hits, two home runs and 10 RBI. The former Ole Miss Rebel and HCC Hawk was 1-for-4 against IMG Academy.
Blalock is batting .227 with 10 hits, three home runs and nine RBI.
Wild Ones:
Sophomores Victor Sanchez, Austin Dearing and Richie Morales and freshmen Michael Forret, LT Cockrill, Trey Clucas, and Jalen Hairston are the wildcards of the team.
Sanchez is battng .318 with 21 hits, three home runs and 16 RBI.
Dearing is batting .286 with 27 hits and eight RBI. He was 1-for-1 with a triple against IMG Academy.
Morales is batting .357 with 10 hits and eight RBI, while going 2-0 with a 5.29 ERA, one save and two strikeouts on the mound. He went 1-for-5 with two RBI against IMG Academy while throwing one inning of relief with two strikeouts.
Forret is 3-2 on the mound with a 3.59 ERA, nine walks and 29 strikeouts. In his last appearance on the mound, he earned the win over IMG Academy and threw one scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts.
Cockrill is batting .279 with 12 hits, one home run and nine RBI. He went 1-for-1 with two RBI against IMG Academy.
Clucas is 1-1 on the mound with a 4.97 ERA, eight walks and 14 strikeouts. He threw a no-decision against IMG Academy after throwing three innings with three strikeouts.
Hairston is batting .333 with eight hits, one home run and three RBI while going 1-0 with a 6.57 ERA, five walks and 11 strikeouts.
Scouting St. Pete:
The Titans enter conference play in third place in the standings and are on a four-game winning streak after defeating the University of Tampa JV (10-6), Minnesota Post Grad (17-1 and 13-5) and Inspiration Academy (14-1).
At the plate, freshman Andrey Martinez leads the overall offense batting .377 with 20 hits, three home runs and 16 RBI. Classmate Kelsen Johnson follows batting .250 with 11 hits, two home runs and 12 RBI. On the mound, sophomore Manuel Meilan leads the way going 2-1 with a 5.74 ERA, four walks and 18 strikeouts.
Series History (2013-Present):
Overall, the Manatees are 42-11 against the Titans.
How to Keep Up:
Games one and three will air on the SCF Sports Network, while game two will air on the St. Pete Athletics Website. Livestats will possibly be provided by GameChanger and fans can keep up the Manatees on Twitter.
Livestream Links:
At St. Pete - https://athletics.spcollege.edu/broadcast/watch
GameChanger Link: https://gc.com/t/spring-2023/state-college-of-florida-baseball-63d48f85286d367aef01de22/schedule/games
Twitter - @SCFBaseball