FORT MYERS, Fla.- Christian Lucio was 3-3 with two doubles, a home run, and four RBIs to lead the #17 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers past St. Petersburg 5-2 in Suncoast Conference action Saturday afternoon at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers.  The win for FSW secures their fourth straight series win and pushes the Bucs to 10-2 in league play.  

 

FSW got the scoring started right away as four straight hits to open their half of the 1st including an RBI single from Matthew Corpas and an RBI double from Christian Lucio gave the Bucs a quick 2-0 lead on the Titans. 

 

Bucs starter Alex Ayala kept it right there through four, running through the St. Petersburg lineup like a buzz saw to keep FSW in front 2-0. 

 

The Titans finally broke through against Ayala in the 5th with a run, but the Bucs southpaw struck out his eighth of the game to limit any further damage to keep FSW up 2-1.  

 

The Bucs answered right back in the bottom half though as Warnner Rincones reached on an error to start the frame and Abimelec Ortiz walked to put two on with nobody out.  After a pitching change and a fly out, Lucio unloaded on a 1-0 pitch deep and out to right for a three run shot to open the Bucs lead up to 5-1. 

 

St. Petersrburg got a run without hitting the ball out of the infield in the 6th on a pair of walks, a hit batter, and an infield single to make it 5-2, but Marc Davis spun a wicked breaking ball in the dirt and caught the Titans fishing to end the threat there and keep the Bucs up by three at the end of six.  

 

The Bucs bullpen did the rest from there as Riley Skeen threw two scoreless frames striking out five before Antonio Knowles came in in the 9th and locked down his seventh save of the season to close out a 5-2 win for FSW to clinch the series.  

 

Lucio led an 11 hit attack for FSW, going 3-3 with two doubles, and home run, and four RBIs.  Simon Baumer joined Lucio with three hits, going 3-4 in the seven hole for FSW.  Ayala earned his fifth win of the season, going five innings and allowing four hits and one run while striking out eight.  It is the fourth straight start for Ayala with five or more innings pitched and 1 or less runs allowed. 

 

FSW wins their fourth straight Suncoast Conference series with the victory, improving to 26-9 overall and 10-2 in league play.  St. Petersburg drops back to .500 in conference play at 6-6 and moves to 16-11 overall.  

 

Next up for the Bucs is a huge three game set with #15 State College of Florida, who FSW leads by one game in the conference standings.  The Bucs and Manatees will get that series started Monday in Bradenton before moving to Fort Myers for game two on Wednesday.