PALATKA, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers Baseball team wrapped up day one at the Capital City Bank Classic 1-1 on Friday, falling to #7 Northwest Florida State 3-0 in their opener before defeating Gulf Coast State 12-5 in the night cap of their split doubleheader.  

 

In their first game of the day, the Bucs took on yet another top 10 ranked foe in Northwest Florida State.  

 

FSW had a golden scoring opportunity right away in the 1st, loading the bases with two outs on a walk, a single, and a hit batter, but they couldn't bring any of them home and little did they know then, that would be their best scoring chance of the afternoon.  

 

Northwest Florida got on the board in the 2nd, using a one out RBI single to left to take an early 1-0 lead.  

 

After the Bucs went down in order in both the 2nd and 3rd, the Raiders extended their lead to 2-0 in the 4th without the benefit of a hit as FSW starter Marc Davis plunked the first hitter of the inning and watched him move all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on a dropped third strike to push the lead to two.  

 

Davis worked his way out of another jam in the 5th, getting a pop up with the bases loaded to close the frame and keep it a 2-0 ballgame.  

 

An FSW error allowed the Raiders to plate an insurance run in the 7th, but they wouldn't need it as the Bucs couldn't come up with anything in their final at bats and with that, were shutout for the second time on the year in a 3-0 loss.  

 

The Bucs managed just two hits in the defeat, getting singles from Warnner Rincones and Cameran Brantley. Davis went 5 innings, allowing 7 hits and 2 runs while striking out 7, but suffered his first loss of the season to fall to 1-1.  Robert Wegielnik pitched the final two innings for FSW without allowing a hit.  

 

 

A frustrated Bucs offense wasted no time in getting on the board in their second game of the day against Gulf Coast State.  Connor Bagnieski began the game with a double and scored moments later on a Rincones single to put FSW in front early 1-0.  

 

A one out solo home run for the Commodores in the 2nd tied things up at 1, but the Bucs quickly regained the lead on a sac fly from Jared Campbell and a Gulf Coast error to go back in front 3-1 in the top of the 3rd.  

 

FSW starter Enrique Cotto struck out the side in the bottom of the 3rd, but allowed his second long ball of the game in the 4th as Gulf Coast got back to within one at 3-2.  

 

Tommy Joseph continued his red hot start to the season in the 5th when he lined a two out RBI single to right to cushion the Bucs lead back to two at 4-2.  

 

Brantley walked with one out in the FSW 6th and stole second ahead of an RBI single from Matthew Corpas to give the Bucs  a 5-2 lead.  

 

Gulf Coast got the run back in the bottom half of the inning, but left the tying runs on base at inning's end thanks to a Brendan Koester strikeout to keep it a 5-3 game.  

 

The Bucs gave themselves some breathing room in the top of the 7th, getting a two out RBI single from Rincones and then a ringing two run double to right from Brantley to stretch the lead to 8-3.  

 

The ball continued to roll downhill for FSW in the late innings as a bases loaded walk in the 8th made it 9-3 and three more in the 9th, highlighted by a two run double from Joseph, blew it open to 12-3. 

 

Gulf Coast put up a crooked number in the 9th, but it wasn't enough as the Bucs finished them off to secure the 12-5 win.  

 

FSW outhit Gulf Coast 15-9 in the victory with six different players finishing with multi-hit games.  Bagnieski and Joseph led the way at the top of the order with 3 hits each while Rincones and Brantley had 2 a piece and both drove in 2 runs.  Ronny Medina flipped the lineup over all night, going 2-3 with 4 runs scored from the nine hole.  Cotto earned the win on the mound, going 5 innings allowing 4 hits and 2 runs while fanning 7 for his first collegiate win. Koester threw 3 solid frames of relief, yielding just 2 hits and 1 unearned run while punching out 5.  

 

 

The Bucs go to 8-5 on the year with the split. 

 

FSW will take the field again on Saturday when they take on the tournament host St. Johns River in a 3:30 first pitch from Palatka.