By Pat Clines

Bradenton, Fla - The RV SCF baseball team (33-23, 18-6 Suncoast) closed out the regular season at Robert C. Wynn Field as they defeated the IMG Academy postgraduate team 11-6.

"It was good to play a game so we didn't have to sit so long between our last game last Wednesday and open up with the state tournament Friday," said head coach Tim Hill II. "I thought it was important to get this game as a tune up for us. I thought IMG did pretty good against us. They threw some decent arms at us, but it was good to have a competitive game and nice to come out on top."

"We knew it was the last game before going to the playoffs," said sophomore Mario Lopez, Jr. "We wanted to finish on a good note rolling into a Friday and we did a good job of that."

"Our pitchers threw a lot of strikes today and establish the fastball in the zone a lot" said freshman Trey Clucas. "I think that has been the key for us when we throw strikes and we keep that up, we're tough to beat. The hitters did really well too and it was a great team win overall."

"I thought it was a great team win overall," said freshman Bryan Gomez. "Pitching did great and the batters swung the ball really well. We had a few bumps in the road, but we got the job done."

Hill sent Gomez to start the first inning of the game. After the first inning went scoreless and Gomez finished his inning with two strikeouts, freshman Brandon Clarke would come in at the top of the second and do the same result as Gomez as she struck out two batters.

In the bottom of the second, the Manatees would get on the board first beginning with a leadoff single by Lopez. After sophomore Ben Gilbert drew a one out walk, sophomore Austin Dearing would chop a hard ground ball to right to bring in Lopez for the first run. Classmate Liam Moreno would then bring in Gilbert with a groundout to make it 2-0 SCF.

Sophomore would then come in at the top of the third and breeze through with ease. In the bottom half of the inning, the Manatees would extend the lead further as Lopez would bring in sophomores Kevin Karstetter and Brayden Woodburn with a three-run homer off the right field scoreboard for his sixth of the season to make it 5-0 SCF.

The Manatees would then send freshman Jeremy Weaver to the mound for the fourth before the Ascenders scored on a failed pickoff attempt and a wild pitch. In the bottom half of the inning, the Manatees would make the score 6-2 after a sacrifice fly to bring in Moreno.

Freshman Ed Wagner would then come in at the top of the fifth and breeze through it. In the bottom half of the inning, the Manatees continued to bring in more runs. After Lopez (single), Gilbert (walk) and freshman LT Cockril (walk) loaded the bases, Dearing would pop a single to left to bring in Lopez before Moreno drove in Cockrill with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-2.

Sophomore Cameron Clines would then come in at the top of the sixth, but would give up three runs on a two-run double and and an RBI single to make it 8-5 still in favor of SCF. Clines would get out of it and strike out the next two batters.

After sophomore Nick Romagnola shut out the seventh and Clucas shutout the eighth, the Manatees would add their final runs on the board in the bottom half of the inning. After a single by Karstetter and a walk drawn by sophomore Lucas Ismaili, freshman Evan Mastromauro would pop a double to right to bring in Karstetter and Ismaili before Lopez drove Mastromauro with a single to left to make it 11-5 SCF.

The Ascenders would add one final run off of a solo home run, but freshman Preston Wetherell shook it off and sealed the deal for a Manatee win.

Gomez would earn a no-decision after throwing one scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Wagner would improve to 8-1 after throwing one scoreless inning of relief.

Three Manatees finished with a multi-hit game. Lopez would lead the way in hitting and offense as he finished a game-high 4-for-5 with a home run, four RBI and three runs scored.

"I knew we had a couple days off and I wanted to clean things up with those two days," said Lopez. "The biggest thing is to be confident come Friday."

"Mario had a good day," said Hill on Lopez. "It was nice to see that home run go backside off the scoreboard. He swung the bat really good."

Karstetter would finish 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs and one walk, while Dearing rounded out the order finishing 2-for-4 with two RBI and a stolen base.

Ismaili (1-for-4, one run), Mastromauro (1-for-2, two RBI and one run), Woodburn (1-for-3, one run) and freshman Erick Almonte (1-for-5) had the remaining two hits, while Cockrill (one run and one walk), Gilbert (one run and two walks) and Moreno (two RBI and one run), Clarke (one scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts), Stefiuk (one scoreless inning of relief with one strikeout), Weaver (one inning of relief with one walk and three strikeouts), Clines (one inning with two walks and three steikouts), Romagnola (one scoreless inning of relief), Clucas (one scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts) and Wetherell (one inning of relief with two strkeouts) also contributed in the game.

Notes:

With his two hits and one RBI, Karstetter now has 229 career hits and 164 career RBI. Additionally with the the double, it was his 30th this season and the 58th in his career. He is four away from setting the single season doubles record held by Paul Stryhas (1997).

Up Next:

While the regular season has come to a close, the Manatees will continue to play on as they face #9 Santa Fe (39-8) in the regional portion of the NJCAA Region 8 State Tournament. It will be best two out of three game and will take place at Wynn Field on Friday night, May 5 at 6 and Saturday afternoon, May 6 at 1 pm. If necessary, game three will take place Sunday afternoon, May 7 at 1 pm.

Freshman Michael Forret (10-2, 3.38 ERA) will be given the nod to start game one, while Wagner (8-1, 3.65 ERA) will start game two.