FORT MYERS, Fla.- The luck of the Irish was with the #17 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers on St. Patrick's Day Wednesday as the Bucs scored seven in the first two innings and then exploded for 10 in the 5th to blowout the visiting St. Petersburg Titans 18-2 in a run rule to begin the two teams three game Suncoast Conference series. 

 

Carlos Rodriguez started on the mound for the Bucs and with a bevy of professional scouts locked in on the righthander, he came out on fire, dialing up his fastball to 95 miles per hour in a 1-2-3 top half of the 1st inning while striking out a pair to give FSW the early momentum. 

 

In the bottom of the 1st his offense rewarded him as Warnner Rincones singled and made his way around the bases using his legs before scoring on a dropped fly ball in the Titan outfield to give the Bucs a quick 1-0 lead.  Three batters later Abimelec Ortiz ripped a double off the left field wall to scored two more and Ortiz scored on St. Pete's second error of the inning to make it 4-0. 

 

Rodriguez punched out the side in the 2nd and the FSW bats were right back at it in the bottom of the frame.  A hustle double from Matthew Corpas plated Rincones from second to make it 5-0 and a bullet back up the box off the bat of Christian Lucio scored another to push the Bucs lead to 6-0.  A sacrifice fly from Ortiz drove home his third run of the game and the Bucs third of the inning to give FSW a 7-0 lead after two. 

 

The Bucs added a run in the 4th on a line drive over the third baseman's head from Jared Campbell to make it 8-0 and Rodriguez twirled another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 5th to keep it an 8-0 game halfway home. 

 

FSW put the game away in the bottom of the 5th as Kalvin Alexander doubled into the gap to drive home a run and scored himself on a sac fly from Rincones to make it 10-0. Later in the inning an RBI single from Corpas stretched the lead to 11-0 and a rip through the right side of the infield from Ortiz plated two more to make it 13-0.  They still weren't done.  A double to left center from Kendry Noriega gave them a six spot in the inning and a dropped fly ball by the Titans shortstop allowed another run to score to make it 15-0 FSW.  With seven already in in the inning Alexander unloaded on a hanging breaking ball deep and out to left field for a three run shot to give FSW an 18-0 lead after five.  

 

St. Pete got on the board against the Bucs bullpen with a run in the 6th and added another in the 7th, but it was far too little too late as the run rule kicked in at stretch time in an 18-2 win for FSW. 

 

FSW outhit St. Pete 12-5 in the contest and took advantage of five Titan errors to score five unearned runs.  Rodriguez's outstanding effort was somewhat overshadowed by the offense as he improved to 6-1 on the year with five shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven on just 61 pitches.  Ortiz and Alexander powered the FSW offense in the win as Ortiz finished 2-4 with a double and five RBIs while Alexander was 2-4 with the 5th inning homer and four RBIs.  

 

The Bucs win their seventh straight to improve to 25-8 overall and maintain their lead in the Suncoast Conference standings at 9-1. St. Petersburg falls to 15-10 overall and drops back to even in the conference standings at 5-5.  

 

FSW and St. Pete will go at it again on Friday from Clearwater before returning back to City of Palms Park for the series final Saturday at 1 PM.