FORT MYERS, Fla.- If Wednesday was truly the final game in the history of City of Palms Park, the #11 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers made it a memorable one, scoring three times in the bottom of the 8th and getting dominating pitching out of their bullpen to defeat Suncoast Conference rival State College of Florida 4-1 to end the Manatees season.  

 

In a must win game for them, the Manatees struck first, loading the bases with nobody out in the top of the 2nd and getting a run on a sacrifice fly to take an early 1-0 lead.  The Bucs defense used a double play and a pop out to avert further damage which would come back to bite SCF later in the contest. 

 

The Bucs drew even in the 3rd as Kendry Noriega singled with two out and stole second before coming home on a pair of SCF errors to tie the game at 1. 

 

Pitching dominated the middle innings of the contest as both teams put traffic on, but couldn't push anything across through six as it remained a 1-1 game with the game flying to the 7th. 

 

The Manatees looked like they had something going in the top of the 7th has they loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of singles with one out, but FSW reliever Marc Davis came up with two big strikeouts to end the threat and keep the game tied at 1. 

 

Davis came back out for the 8th and was locked in, striking out the side to keep it a 1-1 contest.  

 

The Bucs finally broke through against SCF starter Cole Ayers in the 8th as Abimelec Ortiz reached on an error to start the inning and came around to score on a Kendry Noriega triple off the left center field wall to give the Bucs the lead 2-1. With two on and one out later in the inning, a ground ball to first looked like it would net the Manatees their second out of the frame, but a poor throw home allowed Noriega to score to extend the FSW lead to 3-1. Two pitches later Ronny Medina drove a pitch deep enough to right to score the runner from third to add an insurance run for the Bucs to cushion their lead to 4-1.  

 

SCF put up a fight in the 9th, putting two runners on to start the inning against FSW closer Antonio Knowles, but the Suncoast Conference Fireman of the Year lived up to the billing, striking out the next three Manatee hitters to lock down a 4-1 win for the Bucs and end SCF's 2021 season.  

 

Each team had nine hits in the contest.  Noriega led FSW with three hits in four trips to the plate and drove in the eventual game winner with his 8th inning triple. Medina and Matthew Corpas each had two hits for FSW.  In their final home game as Bucs, three FSW righthanders shined on the mound for the Purple and Aqua. Enrique Cotto threw six solid frames for the Bucs, allowing five hits and one run while striking out five, but didn't factor into the decision.  Davis earned the victory on the bump, going two shutout innings while striking out five to improve to 4-1 on the year. Knowles nailed down his NJCAA leading 13th save of the year by punching out the side in the 9th to close things out. 

 

FSW finishes the regular season with a program record 42 wins, improving to 42-14 overall and wins the Suncoast Conference Title going away at 23-7.  The loss, coupled with a Polk win over St. Petersburg, ends the Manatees season at 34-21 overall and 18-12 in league play, one game out of a spot in the postseason.  

 

The Bucs will now turn their attention to the postseason where they will begin the FCSAA State Tournament next Wednesday in Lakeland against Indian River in the first game of the tournament at 10 AM from Joker Marchant Stadium.