February 15, 2020
Big Sixth Lifts FSW Over Vikings
The comeback kids did it again on Saturday, as the Florida SouthWestern State Baseball team came from three runs down in the final two innings to defeat St. Johns River 8-6 to improve to 9-5 on the year.
PALATKA, Fla.- The comeback kids did it again on Saturday, as the Florida SouthWestern State Baseball team came from three runs down in the final two innings to defeat St. Johns River 8-6 to improve to 9-5 on the year.
The first two innings flew by as neither team was able to mount anything significant on the offensive end as the game remained scoreless to the 3rd.
The Bucs broke through first in the top of the 3rd as Tommy Joseph drove in a run on a groundout and Connor Bagnieski brought another in on a two out RBI single to put FSW in front 2-0.
The Vikings got a run back in the bottom of the 3rd and then got to the Bucs bullpen in the 4th for two more, taking their first lead of the game at 3-2.
Things were looking bleak for the Bucs as St. Johns River scored two more in the 5th to stretch their lead to 5-2 with just two innings left to go.
But FSW fans know not to count their Bucs out until the last out is recorded and they showed why once again on Saturday.
Jared Campbell doubled to start the FSW 6th and Bagnieski singled behind him to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out in the frame. Jose Marcano ripped a single to bring Campbell home and one batter later, Matthew Corpas singled to center to make it a one run game at 5-4. After a walk, an RBI groundout from Ronny Medina knotted the game back up at 5 and two batters later, Joseph continued his early season tear with a two run single to put FSW on top 7-5.
Danny Galvan worked a scoreless bottom of the 6th out of the FSW bullpen and the Bucs added an insurance run in the 7th on an RBI single from Marcano to push the lead to 8-5.
The Vikings scored a run in the 7th and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Galvan shut it down from there, inducing a groundball to end the threat and the game with the Bucs winning it 8-6.
FSW had 10 hits to St. Johns River's 6 and worked around 3 errors in the contest. The middle of the Bucs order came up big for the Purple and Aqua as Bagnieski, Marcano, and Corpas combined to to 6-10 with 4 RBIs and 4 runs scored in the win. Galvan earned his second win of the year on the mound, going 2 1/3 innings, allowing just 1 hit and 1 run to close the game out for the Bucs. Grant Besser started and went 3+ innings, yielding 3 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned, while striking out 5 in a no decision.
The Bucs improve to 9-5 on the year with the win while St. Johns River drops to 11-5.
FSW will close out their trip to Palatka on Sunday when they take on a familiar foe in Miami Dade in a 10 AM start.