April 2, 2022
Tomaini Walks Off Titans to Complete Sweep
The #9 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers missed a number of scoring chances Saturday afternoon at City of Palms Park as they took on the St. Petersburg Titans, but with the game on the line, FSW's Paxton Tomaini made them forget all of them as the sophomore came through with a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th to give the Bucs a 4-3 win and complete FSW's fourth conference sweep of the season.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #9 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers missed a number of scoring chances Saturday afternoon at City of Palms Park as they took on the St. Petersburg Titans, but with the game on the line, FSW's Paxton Tomaini made them forget all of them as the sophomore came through with a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th to give the Bucs a 4-3 win and complete FSW's fourth conference sweep of the season.
The Bucs took the lead right off the bat as Hunter Fitz-Gerald muscled a ball up and out the other way in the bottom of the 1st to give FSW a 1-0 lead after one.
Following a quick 1-2-3 top of the 2nd including a pair of strikeouts from FSW starter Magnus Ellerts, the Bucs were back at it offensively in the bottom of the frame with Jose Izarra launching a two run double to the gap in right center to open up a 3-0 lead.
It remained a 3-0 game to the 5th when St. Pete got their first run of the afternoon on a one out single to cut the Bucs lead to two.
It looked like it would stay a 3-1 game to the 7th, but a two out walk and a home run behind it for the Titans knotted the score at 3 and chased Ellerts from the contest.
The Bucs looked like they were going to take the lead right back as Satchell Norman walked with one out in the 6th and was trotting around third on a bullet to the gap from Simon Baumer, but Baumer's shot hopped over the wall in right center for a ground rule double, sending Norman back to third with two outs. Four pitches later a strikeout ended the frame and kept the score tied at 3-3.
FSW had another golden scoring opportunity in the 7th as they put runners on second and third for the heart of their order, but a pop out on the infield, a strikeout, and a groundout later, the runners remained aboard with the inning coming to a close and the teams went to the 8th deadlocked at 3.
Nothing was going for either side in the 8th and Bucs reliever Ben Petschke worked a quick 1-2-3 9th to send the game to the bottom of the last frame still tied at 3.
Izarra just missed a walk off home run, but got the Bucs going in the right direction with a double off the wall in left to begin the FSW 9th and moved to third on a good team at bat by Fitz-Gerald with a ground ball to second. With two bases open and the winning run 90 feet away, St. Petersburg decided to pitch to Paxton Tomaini and he would make them pay as the sophomore slashed the first pitch he saw to left for a walk off single, giving the Bucs a 4-3 win.
Izarra led the Bucs offense with three of their seven hits in the contest including a pair of doubles. Petschke earned his fourth win of the season out of the FSW bullpen, going 3 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out four and allowing just two hits to improve to 4-0 on the year. Ellerts drew a no decision after going 5 2/3, allowing seven hits and three runs while striking out nine.
The Bucs improve to 28-12 overall and 15-3 in Suncoast Conference play where they now have a four game lead with 10 games left on the league slate. St. Petersburg falls to 14-22 overall and 4-14 in league play.
FSW is back in action Monday in Tampa where they will play the first of three straight on the road at Hillsborough.