March 13, 2024
Bucs Blank Manatees Twice In Doubleheader Sweep
The #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers posted back to back shutouts Tuesday afternoon, blanking the State College of Florida Manatees 8-0 and 10-0 in a doubleheader sweep to move back into a first place tie in the Citrus Conference standings at 11-1 on the year.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers posted back to back shutouts Tuesday afternoon, blanking the State College of Florida Manatees 8-0 and 10-0 in a doubleheader sweep to move back into a first place tie in the Citrus Conference standings at 11-1 on the year.
Both the Bucs and Manatees went down in order in each of the first two innings in game one of the doubleheader before SCF had the game's first scoring opportunity in the top of the 3rd. The Manatees loaded the bases with one out before FSW starter Lea Chevrier dialed up a strikeout and then got a nice play from Mia Terito at short to get out of the jam and keep it scoreless after 2 1/2.
The Bucs used the momentum to get on the board themselves in the bottom of the inning as Kmari Williams walked with two outs, stole second to put herself in scoring position before Sydney McCray drove a ground rule double out to center to bring her in and put the Bucs up 1-0.
The Bucs doubled their lead in the 4th as Emily Allegood crushed an 0-1 pitch out to deep left field for a solo shot to make it 2-0 FSW at the end of four.
The Bucs offense continued to swing it in the 4th as Sietske Drijvers lined a two run triple to right center to double the lead to 4-0 and later in the inning Skylar Brennan lined a single through the right side to score two more to up the lead to 6-0.
Leah Meyer came in from the Bucs bullpen in the 6th and worked a quick 1-2-3 frame and FSW put the game on ice in the bottom half of the inning as Virginia Mambelli drove a sacrifice fly out to deep right center to kick in the run rule with FSW taking game one 8-0 in six.
Chevrier went five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out six to earn the win to improve to 11-0 in the circle on the year. McCray and D'Yani McKinley had two hits each in the win while Drijvers and Brennan had two RBIs apiece.
Game two followed a similar script as FSW jumped out early and never looked back.
After Esmee Ames struck out a pair in a scoreless top of the 1st, the Bucs offense wrapped five hits including RBI singles from Skylar Brennan and Ella Moore to score four times to take a quick 4-0 advantage.
Drijvers drilled her second run scoring triple of the afternoon with one out in the 2nd to make it a 5-0 game and later in the frame Mambelli drove her home to up the lead to 6-0 at the end of two.
Ames struck out the side in the 3rd to keep the Manatees off the board and the Bucs offense continued to pile on their lead in the bottom half of the frame as Giulia Bancora tripled down the right field line to bring home a run and Katey McGee brought her home with an RBI single to left to extend the lead to 8-0.
The Bucs made it a 10-0 game in the 4th as Kmari Williams singled to center to bring home Mia Terito and Bancora drove home another run with a groundout later in the inning to all but put the game away for FSW.
In for her second inning of work out of the FSW bullpen, Leah Meyer closed the Manatees out in the 5th, striking out a pair and getting a groundout to second to end it as the Bucs finished off a 10-0 win in five for their second run rule victory of the day.
The Bucs outhit the Manatees 14-3 in the game two win as three different FSW hitters had multiple hit games including Drijvers and McKinley who each went 2-2 with two runs scored. Ames fired the first three innings of the shutout, allowing just three hits while striking out seven to improve to 9-2 on the year.
FSW improves to 24-2 overall on the year with the sweep while moving to 11-1 in Citrus Conference play where they move into a tie with Central Florida at 11-1 atop the conference standings.
The Bucs will square off with the aforementioned Patriots Thursday with first place on the line when they two hook up in Ocala with the doubleheader set for a 2 PM start.