TAMPA, FLA.- The #8 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers just couldn't get their bats going Wednesday afternoon in Tampa, falling 1-0 to Hillsborough in the two teams series opener, wasting a solid effort from their pitching staff that allowed the Hawks just five hits in the game.
Scoring chances were few and far inbetween for both sides on Wednesday. The lone run of the game wasn't even really a scoring chance per se, but one big swing by Hillborough's Michael Marin, who launched a 3-1 pitch out of the yard to start the second inning to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead.
The Bucs had a chance to even things up in the fourth, but after a leadoff walk got them going, a pickoff at first base doused the flames as Hillsborough remained on top 1-0 after four.
FSW put two on with nobody out in the fifth, but again a rally killing double play axed their chances at a run and kept them behind 1-0.
Rafael Santos kept the Bucs right there with a 1-2-3 fifth but FSW did the same in the top of the sixth as they continued to chase their first run of the game.
A one out double and a Hillsborough error again put two on for FSW in the seventh, but a strikeout and a weak ground ball ended the threat to send the game to stretch time still 1-0.
The Hawks made some noise with two outs in the eighth, getting a triple and a pair of walks to load the bases, but Mason Adams worked out of the same trouble he pitched himself into to give the Bucs a chance to extend the game in the top of the ninth.
The Bucs had their best scoring chance of the night in their final at bats of the night as they loaded the bases with a single and a pair of walks while down to their last out of the game, but their Achilles Heel, the strikeout bug bit again in the most inopportune time, ending their threat and thus the game, as they went down 1-0.
The game only featured eight hits, five for Hillsborough and three for FSW. Warner Rincones had two of those hits for the Bucs. The top three hitters in the FSW order were a combined 0 for 9 with six strikeouts. Santos was saddled with a tough luck loss to drop him to 3-2 on the year. He worked five innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out three.
The Bucs fall to 25-6 overall and 7-3 in Suncoast Conference play on the season while Hillsborough jumps into a first play tie in conference play at 7-3 while pushing their overall record to 16-14.
The same two teams will finish up the series on Friday and Saturday at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers with game two set for a 2 PM start and the finale at 1 PM.