"The first game was a little heartbreaking for us," said head coach Tim Hill II. "While Ed (Wagner) and Daniel (Hartley) threw good games, we left a lot of runners on base. I'm glad we won the second game, even with a few miscues and a lot of walks thrown. I give credit to the guys for battling back to win the series."

 

"It was definitely a good team win to take the series over Polk State," said freshman Luke Boykin. "I did feel like a lot of things were going their way, but it was good to see us battle back in the end of the second game."

 

"We went through a lot of adversity," said sophomore Preston Wetherell. "But I thought we all came together as a team and battled our butts off."

 

"We went through a lot of adversity," said sophomore Santiago Ordonez. "In the end we were able to pull off the win."

 

Game One:

Hill II sent sophomore Ed Wagner (2-1, 3.15 ERA) to start game one for the Manatees while Polk State head coach Al Corbeil went with freshman JT Long (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to counter.

 

The first three innings were a pitcher's duel between Wagner and Long as both put together a combined nine strikeouts. At the top of the fourth, the Eagles would eventually buckle Wagner as freshman Evan Wainman would hit an RBI single. Two innings later, freshman Daniel Hartley would come in for Wagner for relief before the Eagles extended the lead to 3-0 after a Manatee fielding error and another Wainman RBI single.

 

In the bottom half of the sixth, the Manatees would cut the lead to one run beginning with a back-to-back singles by Ordonez and freshman Hayden Gustavson. After sophomore Luis Garrido grounded into a fielder's choice, Boykin would send a double to left to bring in Ordonez before Garrido was called out trying to reach third. Sophomore LT Cockrill would then single to right to bring in Boykin to make it 3-2 Polk State.

 

The Manatees would try to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, but to no avail as the Eagles took the first game.

 

Wagner would fall to 2-2 after giving up three runs (one earned) on three hits with four walks and five strikeouts in five innings. Hartley threw two scoreless innings of relief with one strikeouts.

 

Long would improve to 1-0 after throwing four scoreless inning, giving up three hits with five strikeouts. Sophomore Ryan Combs would earn the save after giving up two runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in three innings of relief.

 

Both Ordonez and Gustavson went 3-for-4 at the plate with Ordonez adding a run.

 

Cockrill (1-for-3) and Boykin (1-for-4) each had one hit and one RBI with Boykin adding a run.

 

Sophomores Erick Almonte (1-for-3, one walk and one stolen base) and Jalen Hairston (1-for-3, one walk) had the remaining two hits, while freshman Devan Meran (one stolen base) also contributed in the game.

 

For the Eagles, Wainman lead the way in hitting and offense as he finished 2-for-3 with two RBI.

 

Game Two:

Looking to take the rubber match, Hill II sent sophomore Liam Best (1-2, 7.50 ERA) to the mound, while Corbeil went with freshman Wade Johnson (1-2, 2.40 ERA).

 

Similar to the first game, the first three innings were completely scoreless with Best having the advantage in strikeouts. Corbeil would then make a change in the bottom of the second and send sophomore Trevor Caldwell for three innings.

 

At the top of the fourth, Best would sustain an injury after throwing a walk. This would have Hill II pull him and send freshman Palmer O'Beirne to the mound. After the pitching change, the Eagles would take the lead as redshirt sophomore Kelsen Johnson would hit an RBI single before sophomore Roberto Odor would bring in a run with a suicide squeeze play to make it 2-0 Polk State. 

 

One inning later, sophomore Aaron Stelogiannis would bring in a run with a bases loaded walk, but the Manatees would not endure being shutout in the bottom of the fifth as Hairston would send a solo home run to right for his fourth of the season.

 

At the top of the sixth, the Eagles would increase the lead to 5-1 after an RBI single by sophomore Aris Rivera and a base loaded walk by Wainman before extending the lead to 7-1 after they scored on a Manatee fielding error and an RBI single by freshman Liam O'Neil at the top of the seventh.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, the Manatees decided to start a rally. After Gustavson drew a two-out walk and freshman Allan Gil-Fernandez hit a double to put runners in scoring position, Ordonez would showoff his bat and send a double to left-center to bring in Gustavson and Gil-Fernandez to make it 7-3 still in Polk State's favor.

 

In the bottom of the eighth, the Manatees would put together a strong rally to try and take the lead beginning with a leadoff pinch hit single by freshman James Asmus. After a strikeout, Hairston would send a double to right-center to bring in Asmus while he advanced to third on the throw. This would have Corbeil send sophomore Damion Kenealy to come in from first base to pitch.

 

After the pitching change, Gustavson and Gil-Fernandez would draw back-to-back walks to load the bases for Ordonez and on a 2-1 count, the Florida State would reach first on a fielding error while Hairston scored. With the bases still loaded, freshman Walker Vanecek would give the Manatees the chance they were looking for as he grounded a single to left to bring in Gustavson and Gil-Fernandez to tie the game at 7-7. After a groundout to move the runners to scoring position, Boykin would go into a full count and send a double to deep left to bring in Ordonez and Vanecek to make it 9-7 SCF. 

 

"I was trying to keep it simple," said Boykin on the go-ahead hit. "In the at-bat before, I thought I did too much, so I hit it down the middle and it worked out."

 

From there, Wetherell would shut the door at the top of the ninth and seal the series win for the Manatees.

 

Best and Johnson would both end up with a no-decision. Best would give up one run on two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in three and a third innings, while Johnson threw one and two-third scoreless innings with one hit, four walks and three strikeouts.

 

Wetherell would earn the win after throwing two and two-third scoreless innings of relief with one hit and a career-high five strikeouts.

 

"When I came in and we were down, I knew there was nothing to lose," said Wetherell. "I just came in throwing strikes and I knew I had the team was behind me and it went my way"

 

"I thought Preston was our player of the game in the second game," said Hill II on Wetherell. "He really gave us a moment of light on the mound."

 

Kenealy would be hit with the loss after giving up four runs (one earned) on two hits with two walks in two-thirds of an inning of relief. He was also 2-for-4 with two runs.

 

Ordonez would lead the way in hitting as he went 3-for-4 with two RBI, one run and one walk in game two and finished 6-for-8 in the series. Hairston would finish 2-for-4 with two RBI, two runs and one walk.

 

"I felt really good," said Ordonez. "All I was trying to do was get the next man up and it worked out."

 

Vanecek (1-for-4, two RBI, one run and one walk), Boykin (1-for-5, two RBI), Gustavson (1-for-2, two runs and two walks), Gil-Fernandez (1-for-4, two runs and one walk), Garrido (1-for-4, one walk) and Asmus (1-for-2, one run) had the remaining six hits, while Almonte (one walk), O'Beirne (two-thirds of an inning of relief), sophomores Jayce Blalock (two walks) and Bryan Gomez (two innings of relief with three strikeouts) and freshman Dylan DeLeo (one-third inning of relief) also contributed in the game.

 

For the Eagles, aside from Kenealy's hits, O'Neil would finish 2-for-4 with an RBI and one walk.

 

Other Citrus Conference Scores:

Seminole State College of Florida (12-6, 3-3 Citrus) split a doubleheader with Miami Dade (11-9, 3-3 Citrus) winning game one 10-0 in five innings before losing game two 10-0.

 

Eastern Florida State (9-9-1, 2-4 Citrus) pulled off an upset sweep over College of Central Florida (11-6, 3-3 Citrus) winning by scores of 8-3 and 5-2.

 

Santa Fe (12-7, 3-3 Citrus) split with Daytona State (9-8, 2-4 Citrus) winning game one 5-1 before losing game two 9-7.

 

Indian River State (11-5, 4-2 Citrus) split with Florida Southwestern (13-6, 5-1 Citrus) winning game one 3-2 before losing game two 6-3.

 

Hillsborough (14-5, 5-1 Citrus) split with St. Pete (6-10, 1-5 Citrus) losing game one 8-2 before winning game two 11-5.

 

Citrus Conference Standings:

1. Hillsborough (14-5, 5-1)

2. Florida Southwestern (13-6, 5-1)

3. Indian River State (11-5, 4-2)

4. Seminole State College of Florida (12-6, 3-3)

5. SCF (12-6, 3-3)

6. College of Central Florida (11-6, 3-3)

7. Santa Fe (12-7, 3-3)

8. Miami Dade (11-9, 3-3)

9. Daytona State (9-8, 2-4)

10. Eastern Florida State (9-9-1, 2-4)

11. Polk State (11-11, 2-4)

12. St. Pete (6-10, 1-5)

 

Up Next:

The Manatees will take another break from Citrus Conference play as they travel to Tampa to play the University of Tampa JV team (2-2) at the UT Baseball Field Tuesday night, February 27 at 6 pm.