BRADENTON, Fla.- The #11 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers saw an eight game winning streak come to an end on Monday night on the road in Bradenton, yielding a three run 8th inning to allow the State College of Florida to come from behind for a 4-3 victory in their penultimate game of the 2021 regular season. 

 

There were fireworks early on between the Bucs and the Manatees as Abimelec Ortiz ripped a two run single in the top half of the 1st to give FSW an early 2-0 lead and SCF answered with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning to make it 2-1 after one. 

 

Things settled down from there as both teams went down in order in the 2nd and 3rd and neither could take advantage of traffic on the basepaths in the 4th to keep it a 2-1 game after four innings of play. 

 

Pitching continued to dominate through the middle innings as neither FSW or SCF managed another runner past first base through the 7th as it remained a 2-1 game to the 8th. 

 

FSW went down in order again in the top of the 8th and the Manatees finally took advantage in the bottom of the frame. 

 

A one out walk and an error on the infield by the Bucs allowed the Manatees to level the score at two.  Later in the inning two more free passes loaded the bases and a single up the middle plated a pair and gave SCF their first lead of the game at 4-2. 

 

The Bucs showed some fight in their final trip to the plate in the 9th, loading the bases ahead of a walk to Luis Tuero to make it a one run game at 4-3.  With the bases still loaded and the tying run 90 feet away, a strikeout ended the FSW threat and the Manatees hung on for a 4-3 victory. 

 

Offense was at a premium in the contest as the Bucs managed just six hits to SCF's five on the night.  The Manatees leadoff home run in the 1st was the lone extra base hit for either side in the game. Matthew Corpas and Christian Lucio each had two hits for the Bucs and Lucio scored two of the three runs for FSW in the game. Robert Wegielnik started and went five innings on the mound for the Bucs, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out five.  Ronaldo Fernandez suffered the loss out of the FSW bullpen, allowing two unearned runs in 2/3 innings of work to fall to 3-2 on the year. 

 

The loss snaps an eight game winning streak for FSW as they fall to 41-14 overall and 22-7 in Suncoast Conference play.  It is a huge win for SCF as the Manatees keep pace in second place in the conference standings at 18-11 while improving to 34-20 overall on the year.  

 

The two teams will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers with first pitch scheduled for 3 PM.  Prior to the game, the Bucs will honor their sophomores, playing in their last regular season game for FSW, in a pregame ceremony.