May 3, 2024
All Bucs In Regional Opener Against Santa Fe
Landen Burch fired six shutout innings and Victor Figueroa drove in three runs as the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers defeated the Santa Fe Saints 8-1 in the opening game of the Fort Myers Regional at Buccaneers Park on Friday.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Landen Burch fired six shutout innings and Victor Figueroa drove in three runs as the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers defeated the Santa Fe Saints 8-1 in the opening game of the Fort Myers Regional at Buccaneers Park on Friday.
It was a pitcher's dual early on between the Bucs and Saints as FSW's Landen Burch and Santa Fe's Matthew Jenkins matched zeros through the first three innings with Jenkins holding the Bucs without a hit and Burch retiring eight in a row after a pair of Santa Fe hits in the 1st.
The Bucs got on the board first in the 4th as Justin Thomas was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning to get things going and later scored on a two run double from Jared Davis to give FSW a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning Cooper Clapp lifted a sacrifice fly to right to plate the Bucs third run of the inning to make it 3-0 Buccaneers at the end of four innings of action.
Burch fired a quick 1-2-3 top of the 5th with a pair of strikeouts and came up with another big punchout to get out of a mini jam in the 6th to keep FSW in front 3-0.
FSW had a chance to put the game away in the bottom of the 6th as they loaded the bases with nobody out, but they managed just one run as a pair of strikeouts foiled the big inning as they padded their lead to 4-0 at the end of six.
The Bucs went to the bullpen in the 7th and Nate Ward came out and fired a big 1-2-3 frame to send the game to stretch time with the Bucs in front 4-0.
The Bucs continued to build on their lead in the 7th, getting an RBI single to left from Victor Figueroa with one out to make it 5-0 after seven complete.
Santa Fe finally broke through in the 8th , taking advantage of back to back FSW walks to begin the inning to score their first run, but a double play and a strikeout thwarted any further damage to keep the Bucs in front 5-1 after 7 1/2.
The Bucs put the game away in the 8th as they loaded the bases with one out before Figueroa lined a single back up the middle to bring home two followed by the Saints second error of the inning to allow another run to score and up the Bucs lead to 8-1 as the teams went to the 9th.
Ward came back out for his third inning of work in the 9th and locked it down, retiring the Saints in order including a highlight reel play by FCSAA Defensive Player of the Year Salvador Alvarez in foul territory to close it out as the Bucs took game one 8-1.
Burch put together his best start of the season, going six shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out eight to earn the win and improve to 5-3 on the year. Ward threw three innings, allowing just one hit and one run to earn his fourth save of the year. Figueroa led the offense, going 2-5 with three RBIs while Davis also recorded a multi-hit game, going 2-3 with the Bucs lone extra base hit of the game and a pair of RBIs.
FSW wins their third straight to improve to 36-19 on the year while Santa Fe falls to 31-21.
The teams will hook up again on Saturday in game two at Buccaneers Park with first pitch moved up to a 1 PM start due to forecasted weather later in the day. A win would send FSW onto the FCSAA State Tournament Final Four next week in Tampa and end the Saints season while a Santa Fe win would push the series to a deciding third game on Sunday in Fort Myers.