March 23, 2024
Bucs Trade Blowouts With Titans
The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers and Eastern Florida State Titans traded a pair of blowouts Saturday afternoon in Melbourne with Eastern taking a 9-1 decision in game one before FSW answered with a 15-6 run rule win in game two of the doubleheader to salvage the split.
MELBOURNE, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers and Eastern Florida State Titans traded a pair of blowouts Saturday afternoon in Melbourne with Eastern taking a 9-1 decision in game one before FSW answered with a 15-6 run rule win in game two of the doubleheader to salvage the split.
Things started bad and didn't get any better for the Bucs in game one as FSW went down in order in the top of the 1st and Eastern picked up four straight two out singles in the bottom half of the inning to score a pair of runs and take a 2-0 lead.
A leadoff double from Nate Earley and a two out single from Michael McAloose cut the Titans lead in half to 2-1 in the 2nd and it remained that way into the 4th as both teams went scoreless in the 3rd.
The Bucs looked like they were ready to push ahead as they loaded the bases with one out in the 4th, but a 1-2-3 double play ended the threat and kept Eastern in front 2-1.
A two out FSW error in the bottom of the 4th allowed the inning to continue and after three straight two out hits for the Titans, Eastern Florida blew their lead open to 6-1 at the end of four.
Eastern added to their lead with a run in the 5th and two more in the 6th to close the Bucs out 9-1 in game one of the doubleheader.
The Titans out hit the Bucs 11-6 in the game with Earley and McAloose accounting for four of the Bucs six hits in the game with two hits each. Jordan Huskey allowed nine hits and seven runs in five innings of work on the mound to fall to 4-2 on the year.
The Bucs accepted some Eastern gifts in the 2nd inning of game two to get on the board first as they loaded the bases on a trio of hit batters and then plated a run on a Titan error to take a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning Justin Thomas lined a two run single to left to up the Bucs lead to 3-0.
Eastern threatened to get back into it in the bottom of the 2nd , but FSW starter Abel Albarran picked off a Titan runner for the second straight inning to bring the inning to a close and keep the Bucs in front 3-0.
Cooper Clapp legged out a two out infield single to bring home a run for the Bucs to make it a 4-0 game in the 4th .
A single, a walk, and a hit batter loaded the bases for Eastern in the bottom of the 4th and a second hit batter of the inning allowed a run to come home to cut the Bucs lead to 4-1.
The Bucs got the run back and then some in the 5th as Clapp pulled a two run single through the right side and Evan Kircher brought another run home on a safety squeeze to make it 7-1 FSW midway through.
Just when it looked like the Bucs were in complete control, Eastern came flying back, playing small ball with six singles in seven batters to score four times and get right back in the game at 7-5 at the end of five.
The runs continued to come around in the FSW 6th as Earley doubled home two to make it a 9-5 game and later in the inning a pair of wild pitches scored runs and Clapp singled home another to cushion the Bucs lead to 12-5.
Eastern got a run back in the 6th but the Bucs put up another crooked number in the 7th with Earley ripping another RBI double and McAloose a single to bring home another to open the Bucs lead to 15-6 at stretch time.
Bucs reliever Ryan Grzesiak cleaned things up from there, striking out a pair in a scoreless bottom of the 7th to finish things off and kick in the run rule with the Bucs taking the series finale 15-6.
FSW banged out 14 hits in the win with a number of different Bucs putting together big games. Clapp finished 2-4 with four RBIs while Earley was 3-5 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs and Thomas went 2-5 with three driven home. Albarran earned the win on the mound, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing four hits and three runs to improve to 3-0 on the year. Grzesiak closed things out with 2 1/3 innings of two hit baseball to earn his first save as a Buc.
Eastern Florida takes the season series from the Bucs for the second straight season as FSW moves to 21-13 overall and 12-6 in Citrus Conference play where they drop out of first place in the conference standings for the first time this season. Eastern Florida moves to 17-16-1 overall and 8-10 in league play with the split.
FSW comes back home on Tuesday when they entertain Indian River in a 3 PM non-conference contest at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.