By Pat Clines

"The guys played really well today," said head coach Tim Hill II. "Ed (Wagner) was very dominant on the mound. With the exception of the eighth inning, they (Polk State) did not have a runner get to third base majority of the game, so Ed was in control from the very first pitch. Connor (Hults) came in and did an awesome job on the mound too. Hats off also to Mario Lopez, Kevin Karstetter and Brayden Woodburn for their big home runs in the game. That really set the tone offensively."

"The team came to play today and we're definitely getting in a groove now with every aspect of the game," said freshman Ed Wagner. "It definitely felt good getting a win a their place and keeping our winning streak alive."

Hill sent Wagner to start game two for the Manatees, while Polk State head coach Al Corbeil went with freshman Aiden Butler.

After the first inning went scoreless, the Manatees would open on the board as sophomore Mario Lopez, Jr. would send a solo homer to left for his third of the season and gave the Manatees a 1-0 lead. One inning later, classmate Kevin Karstetter would show his power as he brought in sophomore Richie Morales and freshman Erick Almonte with a three-run homer to center for his ninth of the season and extend the Manatees lead to 4-0.

While the Manatees offense remained in tact on scoring, Wagner and the defense continued to keep the Eagles from scoring and hitting with a plethora of strikeouts for five innings straight.

At the top of the sixth, the Manatees continued to add to their lead as sophomore Brayden Woodburn would bring in classmate Lucas Ismaili and himself in as he sent a two-run blast to right-center for his fourth of the season.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Eagles would get Wagner to buckle as they secured their first hit of the game after a leadoff single by sophomore Ray Mercer, but for the former George Washington Colonial would barely be fazed by it as he was able to get the next three batters out.

At the bottom of the eighth, Wagner, despite giving up a one-out single, would strikeout two batters, but after over 100 pitches and showing signs of tiredness, Hill decided to pull Wagner and send sophomore Connor Hults to the mound. Despite walking his first batter, the transfer from Jacksonville University would strikeout the next one and get the Manatees out of the eighth.

At the top of the ninth, the Manatees would add their final runs on the board beginning with a beginning with a leadoff double by sophomore Ben Gilbert. After one out, freshman LT Cockrill would send a double to right to bring in Gilbert. After Morales was hit by a pitch, he would be called out on a fielder's choice by Almonte. Karstetter would then hit a single to right and bring in Cockrill before Almonte scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-0 SCF. From there, Hults would strike out the side after a lead-off single and sealed the shutout for the Manatees.

Wagner would improve to 5-1 after throwing 7.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits with one walk and a career-high 12 strikeouts. Hults threw 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up one hit with one walk and four strikeouts.

"I definitely felt like I had a good command today," said Wagner on his game. "It makes things so much easier when the defense plays the way they did today and we get off to an early lead."

Butler would fall to 2-3 after giving up six runs and six hits with one walk and four strikeouts in seven innings. Freshman Sam Duvall gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits with one walk in two innings of relief.

Karstetter would lead the way for the Manatees in hitting and offense as he went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. Woodburn would follow Karstetter offensively as he went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run and two RBI.

Ismaili (1-for-4, one run, one walk and one stolen base), Lopez (1-for-5, one RBI and one run), Almonte (1-for-4, two runs and one walk), Morales (1-for-4, one run), Gilbert (1-for-4, one run) and Cockrill (1-for-4, one RBI and one run) had the remaining six hits for the Manatees.

For the Eagles, the only three hits came off the bats of Mercer, sophomore Cole Griffith and freshman Roberto Odor.

Notes:

Karstetter pushes his hitting streak to 28 games in a row. Additionally, his three hits put him at 195 career hits and his four RBI put him at 141 career RBI. He will need five more RBI to break Corbeil's career RBI record (145, 1998-99).

Other Suncoast Scores:

St. Pete (10-20, 4-6 Suncoast) defeated Hillsborough (6-28, 1-9 Suncoast) 11-10 in game two.

Suncoast Conference Standings:

1. SCF (20-18, 9-1)

2. Polk State (21-15, 6-4)

3. St. Pete (10-20, 4-6)

4. Hillsborough (6-28, 1-9)

Up Next:

Game three between SCF and Polk State returns to Wynn Field Monday night, March 27 at 6 pm. Sophomore Ryan Stefiuk (1-3, 5.27 ERA) will start game three for the Manatees.