By Christina Cadicamo

On April 22nd, the SPC Titans baseball team took on the SCF-Manatee team at Joe DeMaggio Field at 6pm with the first pitch being thrown at 6pm. The bleachers were packed on the Titans side with many supporting fans and the SPC Girls Softball Team in attendance at this third to last game of the season.

The Titans starting pitcher was #20, Brandon Grigsby, who put on a great pitching performance for the Titans, but unfortunately, it just was not enough to help make the Titans the winners of this game. In the 2nd inning, #10 Kellen Brown, the lead-off hitter for the Titans, got a double and was tagged out at 2nd base, caught trying to steal. The Titans got another double by outfielders, #15 Trey Amburgey and #23 Duke Stunkel got a walk from the SCF-Manatee pitcher to put two runners on base for the Titans. A runner got caught stealing at 3rd base, which made the inning over and the score to remain 0-0 at the top of the 2nd inning. Next, pitcher Grigsby struck out the second SCF-Manatee batter with two outs, but the 3rd batter got a base hit and ran for home to make the score 1-0 for SCF-Manatee.

The Titans got a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd for Grigsby and another 1-2-3 inning to end the top of the 3rd. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Titans got two runners on 1st and 2nd base and a base hit to center field by #18 Brad Myott, and the runner on 3rd base ran for home to put points on the board for the Titans with the score tied 1-1. SCF-Manatee got base hits to put runners on 1st and 3rd base and got another base hit to take the lead with the score being 2-1, as well as a fly ball to center and scored another run, making the score 3-1 in the bottom of the 6th inning.

As the game headed into the top of the 7th inning, Titans outfielder #15, Trey Amburgey got a base hit to center and hustled around the bases to make it to 3rd base with an impressive triple as the first and only triple of the game! Pitcher #12 Buddy Dougherty started pitching for the Titans in the 7th inning, and #15 Trey Amburgey was a hustler with an awesome diving catch in center field. In the bottom of the 7th inning, infielder, #7 David Hollins singled to center field with 1 runner on base for the Titans. Marcus Guzman, #2 tripled with a fly ball to right field due to an error by the SCF-Manatee right fielder and a runner scored for the Titans with the score now being 3-2. SCF-Manatee doubled on a ground ball to right field with 2 outs and another single to right field with another run for SCF-Manatee, making the score now 4-2.

The Titans got a base hit from #6 Alex Hanson which gave them some hope in the bottom of the 8th inning, but he got caught for trying to steal 2nd base. Titans #15, Trey Amburgey singled to the infielder with a runner on base once again, but they were unable to score any additional runs. In the 9th inning, Titans #34 Logan Blum was able to get a walk to 1st base and did not add any more points on the board. The final score ended up staying 4-2, making SCF-Manatee the winners of this close, nail-biter game.