February 21, 2023
Williams/Douglas Power Bucs to Sixth Straight Win
Derek Williams and Austin Douglas each homered, albeit in very different ways, and combined for nine RBIs as the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers rolled past the St. Petersburg Titans 13-5 for their sixth straight win Tuesday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Derek Williams and Austin Douglas each homered, albeit in very different ways, and combined for nine RBIs as the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers rolled past the St. Petersburg Titans 13-5 for their sixth straight win Tuesday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
The Bucs got off on the right foot as FCSAA Player of the Week AJ Shaver legged out a one out double in the bottom of the 1st and was able to trot home when Derek Williams crushed his sixth home run of the season out to left to give FSW a quick 2-0 lead.
FSW starter Marty Gair cruised through the 2nd and 3rd frames, striking out the side in the 3rd to keep it a 2-0 game.
The Bucs stretched their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the 3rd as Joel Gardner extended the inning with a single up the middle before the red hot Williams just missed his second homer of the game with a double off the wall in left center to score him and put FSW up three.
St. Pete finally cracked Gair in the 4th, scoring three two out runs, the final coming on an FSW error, to level the score at 3 apiece.
The game didn't stay tied long as Albert Serrano crushed a leadoff double the other way to start the FSW 4th and Nate Early and Eddie Boe Rodriguez were issued free passes to load the bases with nobody out. Another hit batter and a four pitch walk forced runs home and gave FSW the lead back at 5-3. Later in the inning a sacrifice fly off the bat of Shaver made it 6-3 and Gardner singled up the middle with one out to make it an 7-3 game. They still weren't done as after St. Pete went to the bullpen, Williams collected his third hit of the game, an RBI single to left to put the Bucs on top 8-3 at the end of four complete.
The Titans got lone runs in the 5th and 7th innings, trimming the Bucs lead back to 8-5 at stretch time.
After a pair of walks to begin the FSW 7th, the most unusual play in Buccaneers Park short history occurred as Austin Douglas ripped a ball to the right center field gap that landed at the base of the fence and looked to have gotten stuck between the fence and the ground. However, the Titan outfielders dug the ball out while Douglas circled the bases and because of that, the play remained live and instead of a ground rule double and one run scoring for the Bucs, it went down as a three run inside the park home run for Douglas to blow the game open to 11-5.
The Bucs added a pair of insurance runs in the 8th on a sac fly from Williams and an RBI triple from pinch hitter Sergio Rivera on the first pitch he saw, but they wouldn't need it as Yehoshua Garcia came in out of the Bucs bullpen and finished things off in the 9th as FSW took it 13-5 in their sixth straight victory.
The Bucs finished with 10 hits and took advantage of 12 St. Pete free passes in the win. Williams finished 3-4, coming up just a triple shy of the cycle, while driving in five runs while Douglas was 1-3 with four RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Shaver extended his streak of multi-hit games to five with a pair of doubles in the two hole for the Bucs.
With a bevy of Major League Baseball scouts on hand to watch him, Gair earned his second win of the season, going four innings and allowing three hits while striking out four. Henry Hardie and Garcia each tossed scoreless innings for the Bucs out of the bullpen.
FSW improves to 10-6 on the year with their sixth straight win while St. Pete's rough start to the year continues as they fall to 2-11.
The Bucs are back in action at home on Wednesday when they host A3 Academy in a 2 PM first pitch from Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.