Baseball Takes Down HCC in Extras

Tampa, Fla - Back to back home runs in the 10th inning helped lift the SCF baseball team (21-11, 10-6 Citrus) to a 10-8 victory over Hillsborough (12-17, 5-11 Citrus) in 10 innings.

"Tonight was a very hard fought game on both sides," said head coach Tim Hill II. "I thought both teams had some big hits and it came down to the wire. Looking for Lochlan (Radloff) and Oscar (Hernandez) to give us quality innings this Saturday."

"I thought our pitching was awesome," said sophomore Mario Trivella. "Daniel Hartley coming down to close the game and keep us alive was very good while our hitting really came in clutch. We did a pretty good job today and we just ave to take that to Saturday and keep playing the game that we play."

"I thought overall, our team did what was needed to finish on top of this dogfight of a game," said freshman Ryan Kaitz. We made a few mistakes throughout the game that ended up giving HCC a few runs, but we stuck through and battled it out."

Hill II sent freshman Aidan Ray (2-0, 3.16 ERA) to the mound, while Hillsborough head coach Raydon Leaton went with freshman Caleb Clover (2-4, 4.01 ERA) to counter.

After the first inning went scoreless, the Hawks would get on the board first in the bottom of the second after an RBI single by freshman Zacharias Walker, but the Manatees would respond at the top of the third beginning with freshman Mattie Counts getting hit by a pitch before moving to second on a groundout. After a single by Trivella, freshman Holden Brauner would bring in Counts with a sacrifice fly. After a single by sophomore Hayden Gustavson put runners on the corners, freshman Ben Ryan would show his power and send a three-run home run to left for his fifth of the season to give the Manatees a 4-1 lead.

The Manatees would make it 5-1 at the top of the fourth as Trivella brought in redshirt sophomore Connor O'Sullivan with a fielder's choice. The Hawks would respond in the bottom half of the inning and cut the Manatees' lead to 5-3 after a solo home run by redshirt freshman Justin Allen and an double by Walker, but Ray would stay calm as the Alaskan would get out of the inning.

After a scoreless fifth, the Manatees would extend their lead. After a double by Counts and a walk by Trivella before they moved to scoring position on a wild pitch, Gustavson would send a single to left to bring in Counts and Trivella to make it 7-3 SCF. The Hawks however would not go down without a fight in the bottom half of the inning as they tied the game at 7-7 after a three-run home run by Walker and an RBI single by sophomore Luke Fikar.

The Manatees would regain the lead at the top of the seventh off of a one-out solo home run by sophomore Luke Boykin for his seventh of the season, but the Hawks would retie the game at 8-8 in the bottom half of the inning as sophomore Blake Opie would hit a solo home run to left. After both teams fail to score in the next two innings, the game would go into extra innings.

At the top of the 10th, Trivella would give the Manatees the spark as the Venezuelan would send a solo home run to left for his fifth home run of the season.

"I felt great when I hit the home run," said Trivella. "As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone. I was just waiting for the pitch and didn't miss it."

It would not stop there as Kaitz, who came in to pinch hit for Brauner would follow Trivella with a solo home run of his own to left for his first collegiate home run before the Manatees sealed the victory.

"It was such an awesome moment when me and Mario (Trivella) hit back-to-back home runs to give us the lead," said Kaitz on his first collegiate home run. "I went completely blank when I hit it and knew it was way out. An awesome feeling hitting it, but also an awesome feeling knowing it contributed to our win."

"Both home runs by Mario and Ryan in the 10th made the difference for us," said Hill II.

Both Ray and Clover would earn no-decisions in their starts. Ray gave up seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits with five strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings, while Clover gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in four and a third innings.

Sophomore Daniel Hartley would improve to 3-1 as the reigning NJCAA Region 8 Pitcher of the week threw one and two-thirds scoreless innings of relief with one walk and one strikeout. Redshirt freshman Cole Dement gave up one run on three hits with six strikeouts in two and two-thirds innings of relief.

"Daniel has been doin a really good job and is starting to get consistent outs," said Hill II on Hartley. "His stuff is really good and it's good seeing him have success.

Sophomore Sammy Seplowe would fall to 0-1 on the year for the Hawks after giving up two runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts in one and two-third innings of relief.

Four Manatees had a multi-hit game. It was Gustavson that lead the way in hitting as he went 3-for-5 with two RBI, one run and one walk. Ryan would lead the way offensively as he went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and two walks, while Trivella followed going 2-for-5 with a home run, two RBI, three runs one walk and one stolen base. Boykin rounded out the order going 2-for-5 with a home run.

Counts (1-for-4, two runs and one walk), Kaitz (1-for-1, one home run), Brauner (1-for-4, one RBI) and freshman Myles Davis (1-for-5, one walk) had the remaining hits for the Manatees.

For the Hawks, Walker would lead the way offensively and in hitting as he went 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI.

Other Citrus Conference Scores:

#10 Indian River State 8, Seminole State College of Florida 3

#15 Central Florida 11, Santa Fe 1 (5)

Daytona State 11, RV Polk State 6

Miami Dade 11, St. Pete College 1

#5 Florida Southwestern 15, Eastern Florida State 9

Citrus Conference Standings:

1. #10 Indian River State (22-7, 12-4)

2. #5 Florida Southwestern (25-7, 11-5)

3. #15 Central Florida (24-7, 10-6)

4. SCF (21-11, 10-6)

5. RV Polk State (20-14, 10-6)

6. Seminole State College of Florida (19-13, 8-8)

7. Daytona State (10-17, 8-8)

8. Eastern Florida State  (18-13, 7-9)

9. Miami Dade (15-15, 7-9

10. Santa Fe (15-17, 7-9)

11. Hillsborough (12-17, 5-11)

12. St. Pete (3-27, 1-15)

Up Next:

The Manatees will look to go for the sweep against Hillsborough in a doubleheader Saturday afternoon, March 22 at 1 and 4 pm. Freshman Lochlan Radloff (4-2, 3.95 ERA) will start game one, while sophomore Oscar Hernandez (5-2, 2.79 ERA) starts game two.