Matt Corpas (Photo by Roy Allen)
Posted: Jan 30, 2021
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers stole 13 bases and banged out 19 hits Saturday afternoon, sweeping a doubleheader against ASA Miami by scores of 10-9 and 13-4 to improve to 7-1 on the year.
As they are becoming accustomed to, the Bucs got off to a quick start, scoring six times in the bottom half of the 1st inning of game one to jump in front 6-0. RBI singles from Yadiel Santana and Christian Lucio along with an RBI double off the wall from Simon Baumer highlighted the inning that was also helped along by a pair of ASA errors.
The Bucs added a run in the 2nd to make it 7-0, but the Silver Storm chipped away with three in the 4th to trim the FSW lead back to 7-3 after four.
A two run triple off the bat of Lucio stretched the lead back to six and a wild pitch gave the Bucs a touchdown lead once again at 10-3 after seven.
ASA scored what seemed like a meaningless run in the 8th to make it 10-4 and that is when things got interesting.
Needing just three outs to finish off the game, the FSW bullpen imploded. Five walks and three wild pitches allowed the Silver Storm to score a run and load the bases with nobody out in the inning. A double play pushed another run across, but proved huge for FSW later in the inning. A hit batter, a single, and two more walks, including a bases loaded free pass made it a 10-9 game with two outs in the frame. Finally a groundball on the infield was handled by the FSW defense to end the threat and a scary frame on the mound as they finished the Silver Storm off 10-9 to clinch the series win.
The Bucs needed just eight hits to score their 10 runs, taking advantage of seven ASA free passes. Lucio finished 2-4 with three RBIs for FSW while Baumer was 2-3 with a pair of doubles and Carter Cunningham was 2-4 atop the Bucs order. Enrique Cotto earned the win on the mound, going five innings and allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Ronaldo Fernandez threw two scoreless innings with three punchouts behind him.
In game two, ASA took their first lead of the weekend right off the bat, scoring a run in the 1st and another in the 2nd to jump up 2-0 on the Bucs.
Their lead didn't last long though as RBI singles from Luis Tuero, Axel Melendez, and Warnner Rincones erased the Silver Storm advantage and put FSW on top 4-2 after two.
An RBI single from Daniel Maldonado in the 5th made it a 5-2 game in favor of the Bucs and it stayed that way to the 7th when the FSW bats came alive with Lucio and Yadiel Santana ripping RBI doubles and Baumer launching an opposite field, two run home run to blow the game open to 11-2.
ASA got a pair in the top of the 8th, but the Bucs matched it with two of their own in the bottom and then finished the Silver Storm off in the 9th for a 13-4 win to sweep the series 3-0.
FSW had 11 hits and used 11 walks to have traffic on the basepaths all day long in game two. They took advantage of that, stealing nine bases, including three from Rincones and two each from Cunningham and Lucio in the victory. Four different Bucs had multiple hits in the win including Baumer who finished 2-5 with a homer and three RBIs and Rincones who was 2-6 with a pair of RBIs at the top of the lineup. Brandan Koester earned the win out of the bullpen, he went 2 1/3 scoreless, allowing just one hit in the middle innings.
FSW has won five straight and improves to 7-1 on the year with the victories while ASA remains winless at 0-5.
The Bucs take the field again on Wednesday at home at City of Palms Park when they host Indian River in a 2 PM first pitch in Downtown Fort Myers.
