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State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota
Baseball Sets Focus on Postseason
May 4, 2023

Baseball Sets Focus on Postseason

By Pat Clines

Bradenton, Fla - The SCF baseball team (33-23) will look to put the regular season behind them as they will focus on their next task: the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 State Tournament. The Manatees will welcome Santa Fe College (39-8) to Wynn Field for the regional portion of the state tournament.

Overall, the Manatees are 6-5 against the Saints.

Final Suncoast Conference Standings:
1. RV SCF (33-23, 18-6) #^
2. Polk State (32-20, 13-9) #
3. St. Pete (18-29, 9-15) *
4. Hillsborough (13-38, 7-17) *
 
^: Suncoast Conference Champions
#: Clinched playoff spot
*: Eliminated from playoff contention

Last Time Out:

The Manatees are coming off of closing the regular season with an 11-6 win over IMG Academy in their final home game of the regular season. They finished the conference in first place and won the Suncoast Conference Championship as a result.

Tournament Participants:

Along with SCF, the following seven teams, conference regular season champions and conference runners-up, will also be participating in the tournament:

Mid-Florida: #3 CCF (46-6, 19-5)*

Mid-Florida Runner-up: Santa Fe (39-8, 15-8)

Panhandle: Northwest Florida State (30-16-1, 15-9 Panhandle)*

Panhandle Runner-up: Pensacola State (34-16, 12-12)

Southern: Miami Dade (31-13-1, 15-6)*

Southern Runner-up: Florida Southwestern (31-20, 11-10)

Suncoast Runner-up: Polk State (32-20, 13-9)

*Regular Season Champion

Breakdown of Tournament and What's at Stake:
The FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Tournament consists of the eight teams (conference champions and runners-up). The eight teams will play in four different regionals hosted by the conference champions (SCF, Miami Dade, Northwest Florida State and Central Florida). Each regional is a best two-out-of three style tournament. The winner of those regionals will travel to play in a final four double elimination style tournament at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.


The winner of the tournament will secure a spot in the NJCAA College Baseball World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Regional and Final Four Tournament Bracket and Times:
 
Regionals Game One Friday, May 5 - 
RV SCF vs #9 Santa Fe (@6 pm) - Bradenton Regional
#14 Miami Dade vs Pensacola State (@2 pm) - Miami Regional
Northwest Florida State vs Polk State (@ 6 pm/5 pm central) - Niceville Regional
#3 Central Florida vs Florida Southwestern (@2:30 pm) - Ocala Regional

Regionals Game Two Saturday, May 6 - 
RV SCF vs #9 Santa Fe (@1 pm) - Bradenton Regional
#14 Miami Dade vs Pensacola State (@1 pm) - Miami Regional
Northwest Florida State vs Polk State (@ 3 pm eastern/2 pm central) - Niceville Regional
#3 Central Florida vs Florida Southwestern (@1 pm) - Ocala Regional

Regionals Game Three Sunday, May 7 (If necessary) - 
RV SCF vs #9 Santa Fe (@1 pm) - Bradenton Regional
#14 Miami Dade vs Pensacola State (@1 pm) - Miami Regional
Northwest Florida State vs Polk State (@ 2 pm eastern/1 pm central) - Niceville Regional
#3 Central Florida vs Florida Southwestern (@1 pm) - Ocala Regional
 
Final Four:

Friday, May 12 - 
Miami Regional vs Bradenton Regional @ 1 pm
Niceville Regional vs Ocala Regional @ 5 pm

Saturday, May 13 - 
Game one loser vs game two loser @ 1 pm
Game one winner vs Game two winner @ 5 pm
 
Sunday, May 14 - 
Game four loser vs Game three winner @ 1 pm
Game four winner vs Game five loser @ 5 pm
 
Monday, May 15 (if necessary) - 
Game six winner vs Game six loser (if team loses) @ 11 am.

Baseball Awards:
As the regular season ended, 13 members of the team earned several accolades for the Suncoast Conference with three of the five big awards taken by the Manatees.
 
Suncoast Head Coach of the Year:
Head Coach Tim Hill II would win the Suncoast Conference Coach of the Year for the third time in his career and the first since 2018.

Suncoast Player of the Year:
This years' Suncoast Player of the Year was awarded to sophomore Kevin Karstetter. Karstetter was also named a member of the All-Suncoast First Team, which is his third All-Suncoast Team accolade in his career. He is the first Manatees since CJ Alexander (2018) to win the Player of the Year Award.
 
Karstetter is batting .421 with 96 hits, 30 doubles, 65 runs, 11 home runs and 73 RBI. The upcoming Arizona State University transfer wen 2-for-3 with an RBI in the final game against IMG Academy.
 
Throughout his three-year career with the Manatees, Karstetter has already set six records in the Manatees' program history so far: at-bats (641 and counting), hits (229 and counting), runs (162 and counting), doubles (58 and counting), RBI (164 and counting) and the longest hitting streak (31 straight games). He is four doubles away from setting the single season doubles record held by Paul Stryhas (1997).

Suncoast Pitcher of the Year:
For Suncoast Pitcher of the Year, the award was given to freshman Michael Forret. Forret was also named on the All-Suncoast First Team. He is the first Manatee since Zach Attianese (2018) to win the Pitcher of the Year award.
 
Forret is 10-2 this season with a 3.38 ERA, 17 walks and 95 strikeouts. He ranks #1 in the state and tied for #8 in the nation in wins. He will start game one in best of three regional against Santa Fe.
 
Defensive Player of the Year:
The Suncoast Defensive Player of the Year was awarded to sophomore Nelson Taylor from Polk State. Taylor finished the regular season batting .371 with 63 hits, 43 runs, six home runs, 46 RBI and 28 stolen bases.

 Fireman of the Year:
The Suncoast Fireman of the Year award is a pitching award for the best relief pitcher in the Suncoast. This year, freshman Ryan Combs from Polk State was named the award winner. Torres was 6-3 overall with a 5.18 ERA, 14 walks, 64 strikeouts and 10 saves. In fact, he is #1 in the state and #2 in the nation in saves.

 All-Suncoast First Team:
For the All-Suncoast First Team, alongside Karstetter and Forret, six Manatees were named to the team: sophomores Lucas Ismaili, Brayden Woodburn and Mario Lopez, Jr. and freshmen Ed Wagner and Erick Almonte.

Ismaili, who will be transferring to the University of South Alabama, is batting .402 with 84 hits, 55 runs, eight home runs and 65 RBI. He went 1-for-4 with a run in his last outing.

Woodburn, who will be transferring to the University of Tampa, is batting .340 with 70 hits, 69 runs, seven home runs, 41 RBI and 23 stolen bases and 47 walks (#7 in the nation). In his career, Woodburn has 86 career walks and is 19 away from surpassing Jody Reed (59, 1982) for the single season record and 24 away from breaking Joey Collis (109, 1994-95) for the career walks record.
 
Lopez is batting .327 with 54 hits, 43 runs, six home runs and 51 RBI. He went 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI in the win over IMG.
 
Wagner is 8-1 with a 3.65 ERA, 30 walks and 66 strikeouts. He earned the win in the game against IMG Academy after throwing one scoreless inning.
 
Almonte is batting .318 with 61 hits, 59 runs, two home runs, 40 RBI and 42 walks (tied for #23 in the nation). He went 1-for-5 in his last game.

Other members that joined the All-Suncoast First Team are the following by team:

HCC: Josean Sanchez, Jacob Griffith
Polk State: Nelson Taylor, Travis Stapleton, Ryan Combs, Evan Koehler
St. Pete: Andrey Martinez, Brett Wagner, Kelsen Johnson

All-Suncoast Second Team:
For the All-Suncoast Second Team,  there were four that made it for SCF: sophomores Connor Hults, Richie Morales, Ben Gilbert and Victor Sanchez and freshman Liam Best.

Hults, who will transfer to Florida State University, is 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA, 18 walks and 39 strikeouts. In one of his best outings on the mound, he threw 10 strikeouts in the 7-6 win over St. Pete.
 
Morales, who will be transferring to the University of Arizona, is batting .310 with 40 hits, 33 runs, one home run and 21 RBI at the plate. On the mound, he is 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA, two saves, four walks and nine strikeouts.
 
Gilbert, who will be transferring to Florida Atlantic University, is batting .275 with 36 hits, 30 runs, three home runs and 27 RBI at the plate while on the mound, he is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA, three saves, 13 walks and 32 strikeouts.

Sanchez is batting .301 with 40 hits, 24 runs, three home runs and 27 RBI.
 
Best is 3-0 on the mound with a 3.56 ERA, 26 walks and 49 strikeouts. In his last outing on the mound, he threw six innings with 10 strikeouts in the 14-1 win over Polk State.

Other members that joined SCF on the All-Suncoast Second Team included the following by teams:

HCC: Johnathan Bruno, Clark Springs, Logan O'Leary

Polk State: Damien Kenelay, Roberto Odor, Ray Bermudez, Ray Mercer

SPC: Marcus Sanders, Logan Sanders, Nick Yedman, Leo Bravo
 
The Wild Moments:
Aside from the conference team selectees, several other Manatees play key roles as the wildcards. Sophomores Ryan Stefiuk, Liam Moreno and Austin Dearing and freshmen Evan Mastromauro, Bryan Gomez, Brandon Clarke, Jayce Blalock and Jeremy Weaver pave that way.
 
Stefiuk is 2-3 with a 4.95 ERA, one save, 34 walks and 57 strikeouts. He pitched one scoreless inning of relief with one strikeout in his last game.
 
Moreno is batting .300 with 30 hits, 36 runs, one home run and 14 RBI.
 
Dearing is batting .295 with 41 hits, 33 runs and 15 RBI. He went 2-for-4 with two RBI in his last game.
 
Mastromauro is batting .298 with 17 hits and 10 RBI. He was 1-for-2 with two RBI last game.
 
While he is 0-2 on the mound, Gomez has a 4.71 ERA, 17 walks and 24 strikeouts. He threw one scoreless inning with two strikeouts last game.
 
Clarke, despite being 0-2 with a 12.27 ERA on the mound, has improved himself after returning from injury. The upcoming Liberty University transfer has six strikeouts in his name, which includes a scoreless inning with two strikeouts last outing.
 
Blalock is batting .238 with 20 hits, 15 runs, five home runs and 21 RBI.
 
Weaver is 2-3 on the mound with a 5.40 ERA, two saves, 44 walks and 66 strikeouts.
 
Scouting Santa Fe:
The Saints come off of finishing 39-8 overall this season with a 15-8 record in the Mid-Florida Conference. They finished as the runner-up behind Mid-Florida Champions #3 Central Florida and are ranked #9 in the nation in the NJCAA Top 20 polls. In their last outing, they swept Central Florida by scores of 12-1 in six innings and 11-3 in seven innings.
 
At the plate, redshirt sophomore JP Herrholz leads the way offensively as he is batting .323 with 53 hits, 12 home runs and 64 RBI. He was named a member of the All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team.
 
Other players at the plate that paved the way in accolades include Hunter Keen (.361, 69 hits, one home run and 29 RBI; All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team), Josh Houge (.410, 77 hits, seven home runs and 39 RBI; All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team), Drake Harman (.388, 64 hits, three home runs and 33 RBI; All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team), Zeth Rodriguez (.259, 37 hits, five home runs and 39 RBI; All-Mid-Florida Conference Second Team), Jahlani Rogers (.317, 53 hits, seven home runs and 49 RBI; All-Mid-Florida Conference Second Team), Jacob Guthrie (.250, 26 hits, six home runs and 19 RBI; All-Mid-Florida Conference Second Team) and Corey Filley (.231, 25 hits and 13 RBI; All-Mid-Florida Conference Second Team).
 
On the mound, the Saints are lead by sophomore Tobin Moran. The Mid-Florida Conference Pitcher of the Year and a member of the All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team, is currently 8-0 with a 2.42 ERA, eight walks and 71 strikeouts. 
 
Classmates Corey Braun (All Mid-Florida First Team) and Jacob Lauderdale (All-Mid-Florida Conference Second Team) follow behind Moran. Braun is 6-1 with a 3.70 ERA, 13 walks and 70 strikeouts, while Lauderdale is 6-1 with a 4.30 ERA, three saves, 19 walks and 55 strikeouts.
 
How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be provided by GameChanger and all three games of the regionals will air on the SCF Sports Network. The FCSAA State Tournament Final Four will be livestream on the FCSAA Digital Network. Fans can also keep up with the Manatees on Twitter
 
 
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