February 12, 2023
Bucs Split Pair of Lopsided Contests in Palatka
The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers split a pair of lopsided contests Sunday in the Capital City Bank Classic in Palatka as they were hammered 12-1 by #14 Florence-Darlington in their first game of the day before taking their frustrations out on East Georgia State 18-9 in their final game of the weekend.
PALATKA, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers split a pair of lopsided contests Sunday in the Capital City Bank Classic in Palatka as they were hammered 12-1 by #14 Florence-Darlington in their first game of the day before taking their frustrations out on East Georgia State 18-9 in their final game of the weekend.
The Bucs took an early lead on a Derek Williams RBI double against #14 Florence-Darlington Saturday before the Stingers answered back with one in the 2nd, two more in the 3rd, and two in the 4th before the skies opened up and forced the suspension of the game with Florence-Darlington up 5-1.
The game resumed on Sunday morning, but it wasn't the fresh start the Bucs were looking for as the Stingers scored two more right away to make it a 7-1 game before a two run home run upped their lead to 9-1.
Florence-Darlington added three more in the 5th to make it 12-1 and the Bucs weren't able to push anything across to extend the game as the Stingers took it 12-1 in a five inning run rule.
The Stingers outhit the Bucs 16-5 in the contest with Williams the only FSW hitter to manage a multi-hit game with a 2-3 effort. Tyler Kennedy suffered the loss on the mound to fall to 1-2 on the year, failing to get out of the 3rd inning while yielding five hits and three runs.
In their final game of the weekend the Bucs took on East Georgia State for the second time in three days.
Bucs starter Marty Gair was locked in early, striking out the first seven hitters he saw before a bunt back to him on the mound in the 3rd broke up the impressive streak.
FSW got on the board first as Austin Douglas was hit by a pitch to begin the Bucs 3rd and stole second before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a sac fly from AJ Shaver to put the Purple and Aqua up 1-0.
Gair continued to dominate in the 4th as he struck out the side for the third time in four innings and the Bucs bats opened things up in the 5th as Shaver drove in his second run of the game on an RBI single and Nathan Earley walked with the bases loaded to make it 3-0 before Eddie-Boe Rodriguez ripped a bases clearing double to double the lead to 6-0 at the end of 4 1/2.
Gair struck out two more in the 5th before the Bobcats finally scratched a run out against the big righty and chasing him from the game.
The Bucs got those runs back and more in the 6th as Earley crushed a three run homer to right to make it 11-2 before Rodriguez made it back to back with a solo shot of his own to put FSW up 12-2.
East Georgia got to the Bucs bullpen in the bottom of the 6th, scoring seven times on just three hits to claw all the way back to within three at 12-9.
The shootout continued in the 7th as the Bucs put together a two out rally, getting a two run double from Albert Serrano and a two run single from Earley to stretch their lead back out to 16-9. Four pitches later, Rodriguez launched his second home run of the game, cushioning the Bucs lead back to 18-9 at stretch time.
The six run inning from the Bucs took the wind out of the sails of East Georgia as Joel Gardner moved from third base to the mound to close things out, working a 1-2-3 bottom of the 7th to send the Bucs home on a winning note with an 18-9 victory.
Rodriguez paced the offense with a 10 total base day, going 3-4 with a double, two home runs, and six RBIs while Earley joined him with six RBIs while going 2-4 with his 6th inning homer.