WINTER HAVEN, Fla.- A four run 4th inning was too much for the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers Baseball team to overcome on the road at Polk State on Wednesday as the Eagles won a 4-3 decision to even their early season Suncoast Conference series at one game a piece with the rubber match coming Friday at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers. 

 

Both starting pitchers were good early on as FSW and Polk combined for just three hits through the first three innings of the contest as the game moved to the 4th scoreless.  

 

The Bucs had a prime scoring opportunity in the top of the 4th, putting two on with no out, but couldn't come through, leaving both runners stranded at the end of the frame to keep it a 0-0 game.  

 

They wouldn't get so lucky in the bottom half of the frame as Polk used five walks and an error to score four unearned runs on just one hit, taking a 4-0 lead after four complete. 

 

The Bucs got on the board for the first time in the 5th as Tommy Joseph drove home a run with a groundout and a Polk error allowed another run to score to cut the Eagle lead in half at 4-2 at the midway point of the game. 

 

FSW added an unearned run in the 6th to get back to within one and had a chance to do further damage, but they were picked off at second to end the frame with the score 4-3.  

 

Ronny Medina and Brendan Koester gave the Bucs a chance out of the bullpen, but FSW just couldn't come through with the big hit as the 4-3 score held through the late innings and that is the way they would finish with the Eagles knotting up the series at one game a piece. 

 

Kalvin Alexander finished a perfect 3-3 at the bottom of the Bucs order in the loss while Joseph had the only FSW RBI in the contest.  Marc Davis suffered the loss on the mound, falling to 1-2 on the year as he lasted just 3 2/3 innings, allowing 3 hits while walking 6. Medina and Koester combined for 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Bucs.  

 

FSW falls to 14-9 overall and 1-1 in Suncoast Conference play with the loss while Polk State improves to 12-10 and 1-1 in league play. 

 

The same two teams will wrap up the series on Friday at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers when they get after things in a 3 PM first pitch.