March 7, 2024
Manatees Too Much For Bucs In Series Opener
The #17 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers' five game winning streak came to an empathic end Thursday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers as the State College of Florida Manatees came in and hammered the Bucs 11-3 in an eight inning run rule to start a big three game Citrus Conference series between the two.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #17 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers' five game winning streak came to an empathic end Thursday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers as the State College of Florida Manatees came in and hammered the Bucs 11-3 in an eight inning run rule to start a big three game Citrus Conference series between the two.
The Manatees got the scoring going right away as they strung together three straight 1st inning singles to push a run across and take an early 1-0 lead.
State College of Florida added another in the 2nd on a two out wild pitch and then took advantage of an FSW error to score a pair of unearned runs in the 3rd to stretch their lead to 4-0.
The Bucs got on the board for the first time without a hit in the 3rd as they used a pair of hit batters, a successful double steal and then a groundout from Victor Figueroa and a wild pitch to cut the Manatees lead in half to 4-2.
FSW starter Landen Burch shook off a bit of a rough patch to begin the game to keep the Bucs in it in the middle innings, blanking the Manatees in the 4th and 5th to keep it a two run game at 4-2.
The Bucs went to the bullpen in the 6th and a two out FSW error proved costly as SCF made them pay with three unearned runs including a two out, two run triple to cushion their lead to 7-2.
A pair of singles and a hit batter loaded the bases with nobody out for SCF in the 8th and with one swing of the bat the Manatees blew the game wide open with a grand slam to make it an 11-2 game.
The Bucs needed a pair to keep the game going to the 9th, but they managed just one as they left the bases loaded to end the inning and subsequently the game as the run rule kicked in with SCF taking it 11-3.
SCF outhit FSW 12-5 in the contest while the Bucs made four errors to just one for the Manatees. Nik Pereira had the lone two hit game for FSW, finishing 2-3 while also drawing a walk in the defeat. Burch took the loss on the mound to fall to 1-1 on the year, going five innings and allowing six hits and four runs, two earned, while striking out six.
FSW sees a five game winning streak come to an end as they drop to 17-8 overall and 8-2 in Citrus Conference play on the season. SCF improves to 16-8 overall and draws to within two games of the Bucs at 6-4 in conference action.
The Bucs and Manatees will be back at it on Saturday in Bradenton when they play games two and three of the series beginning at 1 PM.