'Red Hot Friday' Means State Semifinal for Manatee Parents

The buzz continues with a text message: “Are we white on Friday?”

Kelsie Sandberg picks up her cell phone. She is the only one in the stands Thursday at during 's final baseball practice before it heads to the Class 5A state semifinal Friday.

She responds: “No. Red Friday, blue Saturday.”

Saturday. The day Manatee will play in the state championship if it defeats Lakeland at Port St. Lucie's Digital Domain Park on Friday. The parents already are counting on a win.

They're calling the state championship Blue Light Special Saturday.

Friday, of course, is Red Hot Friday.

Those are the colors the players are going to wear, and so their families will dress to match.

Perhaps state championships cannot be won any other way. It takes unity like the linking fence that towered before Sandberg at home plate. Sandberg is the mother of Manatee players Cord and Chase Sandberg. But it's the father of this team who taught the Hurricanes about family. Manatee coach Dwayne Strong is turning high school baseball players into grown men, and they behave as brothers.

When one player bops another on the back of his helmet with a bat — as was the case during Wednesday's practice — they know it's tough love. When a pair of chest-rattling pushes are exchanged in the dugout, smiles are traded as well. First name Manatee. Last name Canes.

And families must match.

“Everybody has to find out for Sunday what to wear,” Kelsie Sandberg said, cell phone still in hand. “And we have to have our white towels to wave around.”

Unless you are part of the family, you could not tell players Trevor and Tyler Beeman apart.

A man asked Thursday, “Excuse me. Are you Trevor?”

“Nope. Tyler,” Beeman said with a chuckle. “It's tough.”

And who is this guy the players are callling, “Braan,” to rhyme with "ran"?

Oh, that's Bryan. Bryan Voelkl. Teammate Trevor Stern changed Voelkl's name long ago, and whenever Voelkl returns to the dugout after crossing the plate, chants of, “Good job, Braan,” ring out.

“I even have teachers call me 'Braan' ” Voelkl said. “I don't know 'Bryan' anymore. I only know, 'Braan.' ”

Manatee ace pitcher Correlle Prime knows the score. “You can't take things personal on this team,” Prime said, “or you get your feelings hurt real easily.”

Coach Strong made sure to tell his players during the end of practice that this weekend is about business. Bringing a state championship back to Bradenton. That's when the party would begin.

Sure, the players are having fun.

But the parents?

“They're having more fun than we are,” Prime said.

Red Hot Friday will be here soon, as hot as Manatee's bats have been throughout the playoffs. The Canes have three wins via the 10-run mercy rule. They've built the hype, and the fans and parents are coming.

Sandberg said the families plan to car pool for a drive they expect to last three hours. They'll bring the white towels and, of course, the blue shirts to match the players for Blue Light Special Saturday.

What happens if a parent is caught wearing white?

“Nothing,” Sandberg said. “We would just know you didn't read your text."