FORT MYERS, FLA.- The #13 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers committed four errors and had a number of other less than perfect plays on the defensive end Wednesday night against Hillsborough to allow the Hawks to escape City of Palms Park with an 8-5 win and once again throw the top spot in the Suncoast Conference standings into a virtual three way tie with four games remaining. 

Things actually started good for the Bucs on the defensive end Wednesday night as Shamir Morales gunned down a would be base stealer and starting pitcher Rafael Santos picked off another runner on the bases in the top half of the first inning. 

FSW had a chance to grab an early lead in the bottom half of the inning with back to back two out hits, but couldn't come through with a third and remained scoreless after an inning of action. 

Hillsborough cracked the scoreboard first in the third using small ball to get the job done.  A leadoff walk, a pair of bunts, and a sacrifice fly manufactured a run for the Hawks to give them the early 1-0 lead and with two outs in the inning the Bucs couldn't take care of a ground ball to let another run to score and put Hillsborough up 2-0 after 2 ½. 

FSW showed some grit, fighting back in the third with a run of their own as Tyler Solomon crushed a ball to the deepest part of the park for a leadoff triple and later came around to score on a two out RBI single from Tommy Joseph to cut the Hawks lead to 2-1. 

The Bucs came apart at the seams defensively in the fourth, committing a pair of errors while misplaying another to allow Hillsborough to score four unearned runs to open up a 6-1 lead. 

FSW used some more two out magic in the fifth to get back into the contest as Connor Bagnieski found a hole on the right side with a dribbler to bring home one and Victor Florentino doubled to deep left center field behind him to plate two more to all of a sudden make it a two run game once again at 6-4. 

A scary situation happened to start the Hillsborough sixth as their leadoff hitter of the inning lined a 2-1 pitch right back up the middle and off of the head of FSW pitcher Nate Madej.  Madej left the field under his own power and showed early signs of avoiding any significant injury despite the contact. 

The Bucs put runners at second and third with nobody out in the bottom half of the sixth and used a sac fly from Solomon to get one run, but couldn't come up with the equalizer at the top of their lineup and fanned on strike three to end the inning, trailing 6-5. 

Hillsborough came up with two insurance runs in the seventh after yet another FSW error on defense to make it 8-5 and that is the way it would end as the Bucs went down in order in the seventh and eighth and only managed to get the tying run to the on deck circle in the ninth before falling by that 8-5 final. 

Each side had 11 hits in the contest, but it was FSW's four errors that were the difference as they led to four unearned runs for the Hawks.  Five different players had two hits for the Bucs including Florentino who had a pair of doubles and two RBI's in the defeat.  Santos suffered the loss on the mound, allowing seven hits and three runs in 3 1/3 innings to fall to 4-4 on the year. 

The Hillsborough win sets up an exciting finish to Suncoast Conference play.  FSW is now 36-12 overall and 17-9 in conference action where they are tied with State College of Florida for the top spot with four games to go. The Hawks improve to 25-21 overall and 16-9 in conference play, they will play a makeup game Thursday against Polk State to get level in the games played column with the Bucs and Manatees. 

FSW and Hillsborough will close out their season series with each other on Friday in Tampa in the rubber game of the three game set.  First pitch is scheduled for 3 PM. 

#13 FSW/HILLSBOROUGH GAME TWO BOX SCORE