March 8, 2022
Bucs Complete Sweep of St. Pete
The #18 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers finished off their first Suncoast Conference series sweep of what they hope to be many this season, Monday afternoon in Clearwater, hammering the St. Petersburg Titans 10-2 behind five no-hit innings from Frank Elissalt and a 15 hit attack from the offense to improve to 4-2 in conference play on the season.
CLEARWATER, Fla.- The #18 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers finished off their first Suncoast Conference series sweep of what they hope to be many this season, Monday afternoon in Clearwater, hammering the St. Petersburg Titans 10-2 behind five no-hit innings from Frank Elissalt and a 15 hit attack from the offense to improve to 4-2 in conference play on the season.
The Bucs got on the board first in the 2nd inning, using a pair of St. Pete errors to plate a run and jump out to a 1-0 advantage.
FSW added three more in the 3rd as Hunter Fitz-Gerald drove home a run with a groundout and Jose Izarra knocked in another with a triple off the right center field wall to make it 4-0.
Bucs starter Frank Elissalt was locked in on the mound for the Bucs, working a quick 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 3rd before an RBI double from Axel Melendez and a two run triple from Fitz-Gerald upped the Bucs lead to 7-0 in the top of the 4th.
FSW added another tally in the 5th on a passed ball from the Titans and Elissalt blanked St. Pete once again in the bottom of the frame to keep it an 8-0 game at the end of five complete.
FSW reliever Ronaldo Fernandez worked a clean 6th and the Bucs got back to back two out RBI doubles from Kendry Noriega and Matthew Corpas to extend their lead to 10-0 at stretch time.
St. Pete picked up their first hit of the game with one out in the 7th and ended the Bucs 28 1/3 inning scoreless streak as they pushed a run across to make it a 10-1 game.
The Titans got another run in the 9th, but it was too little too late as the Bucs finished off a 10-2 win to wrap up the series sweep.
The Bucs outhit the Titans 15-4 in the contest with five different players registering multi-hit games for FSW. Noriega went 3-5 with a double and three runs scored atop the lineup while Fitz-Gerald continued to rack up the extra base hits with a double, a triple, and three RBIs in the win. Elissalt put together his best outing as a Buc, dealing five no-hit innings, striking out four to earn the win and improve to 2-2 on the year.
FSW improves to 15-11 overall and 4-2 in Suncoast Conference play with the win while St. Pete drops to 8-13 overall and a league worst 1-5 in conference play.
The Bucs begin a five game homestand Wednesday at City of Palms Park, hosting the first of three against Hillsborough at 2 PM.